Employee HAPPINESS - Where organizations need to lead?

As published by Susheel Balakrishnan

1 Nov, 2017

"To be happy or not - isn't it an individual choice?" Asked the CEO of an organization I consult with.

He continued - "I know it feels good to be happy - but whats the hard, quantifiable basis to say happy employees produce better results? And even if I wanted them be happy, I don't know how to make them happy. What can I do?"

It got me thinking. I knew of countries pursuing Happiness - Bhutan, Canada, UK. Most recently Dubai has really taken an all out approach to make it a happy place - led by the top leadership in a planned, strategic manner. Part of awareness business included naming a main street - 'Happiness Street' in the downtown area.

Then I started scanning internet based articles on organizations creating happiness - As I read, I became excited by the possibilities. And quite confused by WHAT and HOW?

Excited because a variety of industries are reflected in top 10 2017 Happy Companies list. Some brick and mortar, some cutting edge...some with long legacies, others not so. And since many of these are large companies, it means collectively we can make the society happier if we can nudge one organization at a time along the happiness path.

And I can't help but wonder about two vexing questions -

One - If happy employees have higher engagement. I would love to see a more direct relationship between happiness at workplace and hard business results.

Two - Is it that higher engagement leads to improved topline and lower employee turnover? Or is it that better results lead to happier people.

I would love hear examples from other parts of the world, including public sector. I get the co-relationship, but not sure of causality.

And finally - if happiness leads to better results, what can organization do to create such an ecosystem? What would a happiness roadmap look like? Where do they start?

While I seek inputs, guidance, pointers on taking organizations on the 'happiness path', the melody of Don't Worry, Be Happy keeps ringing in my head.