33 min
Why Overlooking Happiness as a Core Business Metric Is a Big Mistake How People Work
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- Business
Happiness is underrated in the workplace. While most leaders understand that employee happiness is important, many have struggled to tie it to a core business metric.
How does workforce happiness impact costs, earnings, or efficiency?
Happiness is closely tied to productivity. According to research by MIT, self-reported happiness is a predictive measure of performance—a much more reliable predictor of productivity than employee engagement.
So why is it so often overlooked by many organizations?
In this episode, Jason and Jordan explain the connection between employee happiness and productivity, building a case for why employers should care about the happiness of their people from a business perspective.
They urge leaders to view human flourishing as an orienting principle in their business to support the happiness and productivity of their people.
Key ideas and highlights:
Most leaders dismiss happiness off-hand as a “soft” or “qualitative” metric that doesn’t have anything to do with real work.
People experience sustained happiness when they move toward a highly valued goal.
When we study the tie between employee happiness to productivity, we find that happy employees are more productive than their unhappy counterparts.
Studies mentioned in this episode:
Influence of Positive Affect on Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
Happiness and Productivity
When we view our work as a means of contributing to society, we start to view our personal productivity as a means of driving human flourishing. This orients us to something that’s bigger than ourselves and requires that we take our personal happiness seriously.- Jason Murray
Word of the day: Tantamount ✨
Chapters:
(0:00) Intro
(2:20) Why employee happiness is an important business metric
(5:00) 3 different definitions for happiness: Eudaimonic Wellbeing, Fulfillment, and Hedonic Pleasure
(8:29) How to accurately assess employee happiness
(9:35) Is happiness a “soft” metric or a core business metric?
(13:51) Why businesses aren’t set up to drive happiness
(16:47) Why leaders should care about the happiness of their people
(17:01) Why Gen Z is poised to be the most philanthropic generation ever
(20:30) Leadership approaches that inspire happiness and productivity vs those that don’t
(24:21) What happens when we view human flourishing as an orienting principle
(27:37) How does happiness tie to productivity?
Happiness is underrated in the workplace. While most leaders understand that employee happiness is important, many have struggled to tie it to a core business metric.
How does workforce happiness impact costs, earnings, or efficiency?
Happiness is closely tied to productivity. According to research by MIT, self-reported happiness is a predictive measure of performance—a much more reliable predictor of productivity than employee engagement.
So why is it so often overlooked by many organizations?
In this episode, Jason and Jordan explain the connection between employee happiness and productivity, building a case for why employers should care about the happiness of their people from a business perspective.
They urge leaders to view human flourishing as an orienting principle in their business to support the happiness and productivity of their people.
Key ideas and highlights:
Most leaders dismiss happiness off-hand as a “soft” or “qualitative” metric that doesn’t have anything to do with real work.
People experience sustained happiness when they move toward a highly valued goal.
When we study the tie between employee happiness to productivity, we find that happy employees are more productive than their unhappy counterparts.
Studies mentioned in this episode:
Influence of Positive Affect on Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
Happiness and Productivity
When we view our work as a means of contributing to society, we start to view our personal productivity as a means of driving human flourishing. This orients us to something that’s bigger than ourselves and requires that we take our personal happiness seriously.- Jason Murray
Word of the day: Tantamount ✨
Chapters:
(0:00) Intro
(2:20) Why employee happiness is an important business metric
(5:00) 3 different definitions for happiness: Eudaimonic Wellbeing, Fulfillment, and Hedonic Pleasure
(8:29) How to accurately assess employee happiness
(9:35) Is happiness a “soft” metric or a core business metric?
(13:51) Why businesses aren’t set up to drive happiness
(16:47) Why leaders should care about the happiness of their people
(17:01) Why Gen Z is poised to be the most philanthropic generation ever
(20:30) Leadership approaches that inspire happiness and productivity vs those that don’t
(24:21) What happens when we view human flourishing as an orienting principle
(27:37) How does happiness tie to productivity?
33 min