As a news item, it was small, almost to the point of being innocuous. For many employers it must have seemed so.
Arlene Flock, the owner of a small US company called Flagworks, had increased its sales many-fold by some unconventional methods. She had made many changes when she took over the business. However, the one that had the biggest impact on the fortunes of the company was perhaps one that could have made her the laughing stock of the business community.
She decided to only hire people who were ‘happy'. She went even further and hired a Happiness Manager. His job, as you might expect, is to find ways to keep her happy employees… happy!
Goofy? Before you write her idea off, consider this: studies have proven that happy people are more productive, take fewer sick days, get along with others better and, don't miss this, their brains work better.
Power of positivity
"Those who have studied the role of personality, emotion and mood have found not surprisingly, that happy people, simply defined as those who experience positive emotions, are more successful at work," says Adrian Furnham, a British organisational and applied psychologist, management expert and Professor of Psychology at University College, London. He is also a consultant on organisational behaviour and management, writer and broadcaster
According to Furnham, the data collated by Ed Diener, distinguished researcher and writer, and Professor of Psychology at the University of Illinois, focuses on the measurement of well-being; temperament and personality influences on well-being; theories of well-being; income and well-being; and cultural influences on well-being.
"They reveal the following: compared to unhappy people, but matched on other criteria such as education, experience, and skills, happier people get better jobs - those with more autonomy, variety and meaning; happier CEOs have happier people working for them; happier people show better job performance; and happier people make more money. These findings occur across jobs from counsellors to cricketers and in different countries. The research was conducted on a wide variety of people, from German business people to Malaysian farmers."
Jessica Pryce-Jones, CEO of iOpener, a human asset management consultancy, and an expert in raising productivity through the ‘Science of Happiness at Work', concurs. Her credentials are impeccable. She works with organisations, teams and individuals to achieve ‘a sustainable and positive change in performance'. Her new book's title, Happiness at Work: Maximising Your Psychological Capital For Success, says it all.
Happiness takes you far
"We started our research project five years ago working with 14 focus groups, 67 interviews and we ran three studies. Sounds short but that took three years!" says Pryce-Jones. "We worked with international MBA students as volunteers - from the London Business School and Oxford. The students are only about 15 per cent British, so we have 68 nationalities in our database. So yes we've found some cultural differences. For example, people in the Middle East are generally happier than the British. And certainly happier than Americans and the Chinese. We didn't choose our countries, but we started a viral campaign to collect data, so we often got bursts of data when the link was forwarded."
Her research led her to conclude that happiness at work is closely correlated with greater performance and productivity as well as greater energy, better reviews, faster promotion, higher income, better health and increased happiness with life. "So it's good for organisations and individuals, too."
Happy equals smart
The percentage of increased productivity of happy workers was a surprisingly high 50 per cent. According to the study, unhappy workers spend about 40 per cent of their week doing actual work, while happy workers spend 80 per cent of their time on work-related tasks
So what explains these findings? Why is there a connection between positive moods, a sense of well-being, happiness and work success? According to Furnham, there appear to be various factors.
"There is the aspect of focus and distraction," he says. "Unhappy people are too prone to taking their eye off the ball at work. They tend to be more self-obsessed and not as vigilant about the needs of others, be they colleagues or customers.
Memory appears to be another important factor. "The mood conjuring effect is well established," explains Furnham. "People in a good mood recall more positive things and vice versa. Hence, we get virtuous and vicious cycles. Positive people recall happy customers and cooperative peers; unhappy people never let go their negative experiences. Positive people put in more effort to achieve the positive results they will recall."
Decision making is another factor that rules in the favour of happy people. "People with sunny dispositions make better decisions: they are faster, more accurate and more inclusive," says Furnham. "Unhappy people are too ‘hung up' about small, irrelevant issues and alienate those who are trying to help them. Optimistic people believe that problems are solvable and that they can [with help] make good decisions. The pessimists are hapless, hopeless and helpless...and often either procrastinate or make poorer decisions than the optimists."
It also weighs in while evaluating others, according to Furnham. "We all know bosses are best avoided when they are in a bad mood, particularly for annual appraisals. People in a good mood are more encouraging, more forgiving, more tolerant of others and their ‘little foibles'. Negative moods are associated with blaming and attacking others rather than helping them. Negative people make bad colleagues and team members."
Their cooperative attitude also sees them through. "Good moods make people more generous, more cooperative, more helpful," says Furnham. "People in a good mood tend to deflate crises and resolve conflicts. Those in a bad mood increase conflict."
A class in being positive
It might appear nebulous to the sceptic, but such research actually prompted the previous UK government to consider ‘happiness' lessons as part of the school syllabus. Though it didn't go very far, the fact that the theory was even considered speaks for itself.
"Actually there's only one school that has formally adopted a happiness syllabus and that's a private school, Wellington College," says Pryce-Jones. "There are initiatives to pilot ‘happiness' in other schools but for anything to be adopted in the state sector it needs to undergo extensive trials, studied and outcomes need to be assessed. There have been positive results training teachers in the USA and I hope we'll see similar results in the UK soon."
Evaluating happiness
So, how do you hire ‘happy' people? Especially if the candidate knows what you are looking for and fakes it? "It's actually quite tough to fake it, you know!" demurs Pryce-Jones. "Optimism is tough to fake; give people a difficult task and see how long they endure - this tells you something about resilience and confidence which happier employees have more of. Ask how they coped with several difficult times, what last reduced them to tears at work and why? That will tell you about how they manage emotions and what if anything triggers meltdown."
What employers should look for are proactive copers: that is, people who are widely networked, see blocks as avenues to success, have plan B and C at hand and can use humour when things go wrong, Pryce-Jones advises. "Ask who they had disagreements with and why? What was the best collaborative experience they had? How they found out when they didn't know something, which tells you about how networked they are and how they work together."
Pryce-Jones points out the big five personality factors that have to be kept in mind: people who are more open, more conscientious, more extroverted, more agreeable and less neurotic (or anxious) are generally happier. "The more introverted and less open the more they may have problems with team work. They may be the silent geniuses, but will probably be harder to manage."
Pryce-Jones suggests not asking about ‘happiness' per se, but finding an oblique tack towards that. "Happiness at work is very strongly related to productivity so what you're trying to get at is what affects that," she says. "Of course, you can ask about what people love to do and their skills and strengths. When asking about these things you'll see that interviewees get very animated as we all love to talk about what we do well."
How has the research in this field been received by employers, and the human resources industry? Has it brought about any change in the recruitment process?
Pryce-Jones sees a gradual shift in the situation. "We're still waiting for a change in the recruitment process. But once people understand the effects that a happier employee has in terms of productivity and performance, I'm sure that will happen. That's because happier employees are literally twice as productive as their least happy colleagues. The happiest employees focus 80 per cent of their time at work on what they are there to do; the least happy only 40 per cent of their time. In all, that amounts to a staggering two days a week in terms of output, so you definitely don't want unhappy workers in your team."
A paradigm shift
The problem with this theory is that it flies in the face of conventional wisdom: that a person has to be driven, obsessive, and consequently self-obsessed to succeed. But Pryce-Jones dismisses it right away. "Self-obsession won't take anyone up the corporate ladder these days. Team work and customer focus will. Happiness at work consists of motivation, resilience, the desire for challenges, to learn, to do more and to succeed. That's what our data tells us; and it's connected with pro-social activity - in other words helping your co-workers. Who doesn't want that kind of employee?"
The theory also brings in a new angle - that of the importance of human emotion in the workplace. As a rule, HR departments negate this aspect. "Ask anyone who's had a bad day at work and done very little because they're furious or upset if emotion doesn't matter," counters Pryce-Jones.
"Standard economic theory has no place for emotion: psychology tells you it's the only thing that matters. Feelings drive thoughts, which drive actions. But we can - hooray - change those feelings if we chose to. And wouldn't you rather work for someone with happier traits? I don't know anyone who likes hanging around with people who put a downer on everything. In fact, if you are efficient and dislikeable, you're unlikely to get promoted. Happiness and seniority are very closely linked in our data!"
Which takes us back to Arlene Flock and her happiness manager. I can't help feeling, imagining, how much good a happiness manager could do at a place like a hospital. And of course if they hired only happy people?
I would not be the least bit surprised if sick people healed quicker, surrounded by all that positive energy. The possibilities seem endless.
So, if you are a business owner or a manager, you may have just found a fantastic tip!
Jessica Pryce-Jones will be in Dubai on November 9 to 10 running accreditation workshops teaching HR, L&D, OD consultants and coaching specialists how to implement the science of happiness at work. More info at www.iopener.com/accreditation.
- The case for hiring happy people
Adrian Furnham's 10 reasons why happiness at work is a productivity booster.
1 Happy people work better with others: They are a lot more fun to be around and consequently have better relations at work.
2 Happy people are more creative: If your productivity depends on being able to come up with new ideas, you need to be happy at work. If people are in a good mood on a given day, they're more likely to have creative ideas that day.
3 Happy people fix problems instead of complaining about them: When you don't like your job, every molehill looks like a mountain. It becomes difficult to fix any problem without complaining about it first. When you're happy at work and you run into a snafu - you just fix it.
4 Happy people have more energy: They are therefore more efficient as well.
5 Happy people are more optimistic: They have a more positive, optimistic outlook, and as research shows optimists are way more successful and productive.
6 Happy people are more motivated: Low motivation means low productivity, and the only sustainable, reliable way to be motivated at work is to be happy and like what you do.
7 Happy people get sick less often: Getting sick is a productivity killer and if you don't like your job you're more prone to contract a long list of diseases. You're also more prone to workplace stress and burnout.
8 Happy people learn faster: When you're happy and relaxed, you're much more open to learning new things at work and thereby increasing your productivity.
9 Happy people worry less about making mistakes and consequently make fewer mistakes: When you're happy at work the occasional mistake doesn't bother you much. You pick yourself up, learn from it and move on. You also don't mind admitting to others that you messed up - you simply take responsibility, apologise and fix it. This relaxed attitude means that less mistakes are made, and that you're more likely to learn from them.
10 Happy people take better decisions: Unhappy people operate in permanent crisis mode. They lose sight of the big picture and they're more likely to make short-term, here-and-now choices. Conversely, happy people make better, more informed decisions and are better able to prioritise their work.
Rules for hiring happy people
Jessica Pryce-Jones suggests asking prospective employees the following questions: these will help you identify how they manage the 5Cs of happiness at work - Contribution, Conviction, Culture, Commitment and Confidence.
1. Ask about a time when they had to stay resilient; what were the circumstances? What did they find tough and how did they get through?
2. Ask how they ensure they contribute to a positive team atmosphere? What do they actually do?
3. Check when did they last go out of their way to help a colleague? And a time before that?
4. What do they do to check that their personal and team or organisational goals are aligned?
5. What are their personal values which are particularly aligned with your organisation?
6. What do they do when they don't know what to do?
7. What do they find really worthwhile at work?
8. When do they take a risk and why?
9. When they hesitate to do things, why or what lies behind that hesitation?
10. What kind of feedback and recognition do they like best?
11. Ask them on a scale of total pessimist to total optimist where they fall? What do they think that means in terms of their work?
How to become a ‘happy' person
So, what do you do if you are a pessimist, and want to get hired? Adrian Furnham suggests the following:
- Accept that enduring happiness doesn't come from worldly and materialistic success
- Take control of your time, and push for a little progress each day
- Act happy because going through the motions can trigger the emotions you need
- Seek work and leisure that engages your natural strengths and skills
- Join social groups that reflect your interests, values and passions
- Get enough exercise and sleep every day
- Give priority to close relationships, by affirming others, and sharing together
- Focus on others more than yourself
- Keep a record of good things that happened to you (gifts, blessings)
The 5 Cs of happiness
Jessica Pryce-Jones' research shows that happiness at work consists of five major factors which are hierarchical:
Contribution is the effort you make and your perception of it
Conviction is your motivation in the moment
Culture is your feeling of it
Commitment is your dedication over the long term
Confidence is your self-belief
"Lying at the heart of this is achieving your potential and locking it all together are pride, trust and recognition. So, when recruiting, it's important to try and unearth people's thoughts, behaviours and attitudes about each of them. For example it's no good employing someone who's not going to feel proud of working with your organisation; they'll never contribute that much, they certainly won't feel committed over the long term and it's unlikely they'll achieve their potential either. So, you can see how it's all really a beautiful ecosystem. And it explains why getting the right person can be so tough."
