Actions For A Happier Workplace | Delivering Happiness at Work

Happier organisations also outperform their competitors. A study looked at the stock market performance of the “100 Best Workplaces” in the US (based on positive feedback from employees about working there) over a 12 year period from 1998 to 2010. The Best Workplaces achieved an average annual return of 10%, outperforming the benchmark S&P 500 index which returned an average of only 3.8% over the same period.⁵

Perhaps most importantly, our individual attitudes and actions really do make a difference. Taking a more positive approach at work doesn’t just increase our own happiness, it affects those we work with too. Research shows that the happiness of a close contact increases the chance of being happy by 15%. The happiness of a 2nd-degree contact (e.g. friend’s friend) increases it by 10% and the happiness of a 3rd-degree contact (e.g. friend of a friend of a friend) by 6%.⁶

We can all play a part in creating a happier workplace, by encouraging our employers to take happiness seriously and by doing what we can personally to create a more fulfilling, positive and collaborative working environment. Let’s start today!

Guest blogger Mark Williamson is Director of Action for Happiness, a movement of 20,000 people and organisations taking action to create a happier society for everyone.

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[1] Mercer (2011), “What’s Working” survey
http://uk.mercer.com/press-releases/1420025

[2] Diener, E., Chan, M.Y., Happy People Live Longer: Subjective Well-Being Contributes to Health and Longevity, Applied Psychology: Health and Wellbeing, 2011
http://www.uvm.edu/~pdodds/files/papers/others/everything/diener2011a.pdf

[3] Cohen, S et al, Positive Emotional Style Predicts Resistance to Illness After Experimental Exposure to Rhinovirus or Influenza, Psychosomatic Medicine, 2006
http://www.psy.cmu.edu/~scohen/Cohen_et_al_PM_Nov06.pdf

[4] Oswald, A.J., Proto, E., Sgroi, D (2009), Happiness and Productivity, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
http://ftp.iza.org/dp4645.pdf

[5] Russell Investment Group for Fortune Magazine (2011), How does trust affect the bottom line?
http://resources.greatplacetowork.com/article/pdf/how_trust_affects_the_bottom_line.pdf

[6] J.H. Fowler and N.A. Christakis, Dynamic spread of happiness in a large social network: longitudinal analysis over 20 years, British Medical Journal, December 2008
http://www.bmj.com/content/337/bmj.a2338.full

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