Look no further than the research that’s happening right now in our own backyard.  Dr. John Helliwell is a University of British Columbia economics professor who has been producing some astounding research on well-being, trust, life satisfaction and its importance in the workplace. [1]  It’s shocking that his studies haven’t become well-known in the HR world but let’s start correcting that.

What is Happiness?
Helliwell’s research resolves around the notion of human sustainability. There are five aspects to sustainability: social, human, economic, environmental and political (SHEEP).  Most of us focus on environmental sustainability but in HR’s case, we are most concerned with the human sustainability.

He states that sustainability in an organization is built off of human sustainability which comes from cooperation.  When people work together and cooperate, research shows that people state they are happier and being happy is a feeling of well-being. And why should we care about employee well-being? Again, research shows that a person can live several years longer when being positive and expressing positivity. To live several years longer must mean that a person is healthier and therefore less likely to use the company’s extended health benefits or call in sick. HR might be on to something here.

Be Happy, Save Money
So what does research say about how you can create happiness in an organization?  If “sustainability is cooperation” and cooperation builds happiness, then build cooperation!

1.    Flatten organizational structures, get employees working in teams, and build team work.  As Helliwell states, “the great leader is someone who can convert the “I” into “we”.

2.    Focus on the positive instead of downplaying the negative.

3.    Encourage employees to take charge of their lives.  Include them in decision-making and give them the power to make decisions on their own.  When communicating down a decision, give the rationale for the decision.

4.    Set up systems for interaction. This doesn’t mean making formal schedules for employees to talk to one another; instead, design your workforce and workspace so that interaction just happens naturally. Force employees to converse with each other by creating an office where you have no choice but to bump into one another (not literally!).

How to Make Your Employees Unhappy 101
Happiness also relies on trust.  If your employees trust one another, their manager and the organization, chances are they are happier than those who don’t trust the people in their workplace.  Canadian society, in general, is an untrusting bunch.  In a Reader’s Digest experiment in which wallets were randomly dropped in towns across the country, Canadians believed the majority would not be returned.  However, the majority of the wallets were returned. 

If you’re in the mood to eliminate the feeling of trust within your organization, demand the following:

·         recordkeeping

·         documentation, and

·         formal processes/administration.

Process and paperwork is a necessary evil in some instances while in others they are excessive.  Kill the formality where you can.  Government and regulatory organizations that are under public scrutiny aren’t as flexible for obvious reasons and they will likely need to maintain their paper trails.

Never Trust a Person That Says “Trust Me”
Since Helliwell says it’s ideal to focus on the positive instead of downplaying the negative, let’s describe some other ways you can increase the level of happiness in your employees.

Seeing as how Canadians are a sceptical bunch, know that as an employer you have to then earn your employee’s trust and not expect it.  Walk the talk, be honest, and trust your employees right back.

Beyond trust, generosity is another way to increase levels of happiness and well-being.  Research shows that people generally don’t have a good understanding that an act of generosity creates happiness.  However, in experiments in which participants were given money to spend, they were happier when they gave it away instead of keeping it for themselves.  While you obviously cannot force employees to give their money away, as an organization you can choose to give your own money away to a worthy cause.  Alternately, companies can give staff the gift of time to volunteer, create fundraising opportunities or by make it easy for people to donate from directly from their paycheques.

Given that the organization should be a role model to build trust, the organization itself needs to model generosity.  This is not about “giving away the farm”. When organizations can manage it, it shouldn’t cheap out on its employees in money, time or recognition.

Happiness in a Jar
Concepts such as the need to build trust, cooperation and teamwork in an organization are not new and in HR we’re already working towards this in many ways.  However, never before have these notions been linked to employee happiness. Moreover, there hasn’t been much hard research discussing the value of having happy employees. Happy employees will pay you back by requiring less of your benefit budget and that should make your CEO ecstatic.