Happiness at work on the agenda for five years now: What have we achieved?

Happiness at work first became a trend back in 2015. Since then we have gained a ‘Happiness at Work Week’ and countless books, research studies and happiness at work experts, yet the employee experience still scores only a 7.1. “We need some Dutch CEOs who are all in on happiness at work to take the helm.”

 The theme of happiness at work emerged as a new trend in 2015 and has since rapidly grown in popularity, which is hardly surprising given that happy, engaged and inspired employees are more committed to their work, customers and colleagues. Moreover, their productivity and creativity are higher and turnover and absenteeism rates lower. Meanwhile, numerous studies have established the link between happy employees and business success. Faced with tight labour markets, this appeals to many organisations.

Happiness at work and awareness

Today, some five years later, we not only now have a ‘Happiness at Work Week’ in the Netherlands (September 21-27), but many certified happiness experts are entering the field from post-graduate courses. Each year a steady stream of books on happiness at work are published, while research continues to confirm the many benefits derived from happiness at work.

Onno Hamburger, co-author of Gelukkig Werken (Happy Working – 2011) and the Handboek Werkgeluk (Happiness at Work Handbook – 2020): “When I first started focusing on happiness at work some ten years ago, it was still a fuzzy concept. But real change happened in 2015: happiness at work became an acknowledged subject with a down to earth approach. The question back then was: what is happiness at work? Today the question is: how do we get started? We’re not only learning more and more about what works and what doesn’t, but crucially over the past five years we’ve gained an increasing awareness among organisations and employees.”

Employee experience remains unchanged

Employee experience in the Netherlands was rated a 7.1 in 2015, and that figure remained the same in 2020. Arjen Maliepaard, of Integron, the agency conducting the survey, explains: “This figure represents the employees’ average satisfaction level with all aspects of their work, but that’s not the same as happiness at work, which involves much more, including pride, commitment and the extent of Net Promoter Score (eNPS) recommendations.”

“Looking at the employee eNPS, it went from -19 in 2015 to -3 in 2020,” Maliepaard continues. “That’s a clear gain for the more emotional experience of happiness at work. If we then look at the organisations which started based on the results of their surveys, we see that the outcomes for both eNPS and job satisfaction are actually much higher.”

 Purpose…but no empathy

”59% of employees experience happiness at work,” says Arjen Swank, of Effectory. “But that also means that 41% still do not. Over the past five years organisations have devoted more attention to their employees’ sense of purpose and enthusiasm, which are both key elements of happiness at work.”

Swank: “Ten years ago we felt like evangelists but today everyone’s convinced. The attention we expected organisations to give to empathy and kindness has failed to materialise, however. On the plus side, organisations do want to know quickly and more frequently about their employees’ happiness at work, and these inquiries come from deeper in the organisation. The importance of happiness at work is indeed increasing. Engaging with happiness at work takes time though, also within organisations. Five years is apparently not enough time to be reflected in a nationwide statistic.”

 Impact of coronavirus

How has the coronavirus crisis impacted happiness at work? “The digital transformation is overtaking traditional concepts, which is positive,” Maliepaard says. “Since the crisis started we’ve seen higher levels of pride and commitment. There was a strong sense of ‘we’ among employees over the past six months, although that’s now starting to dissipate somewhat.”

“For employers, the challenge is to continue encouraging engagement and facilitating what is, ultimately, core employee expectation Number 1: ‘job satisfaction’. Concurrently, higher unemployment is on the horizon, pressure on job security is growing and reorganisations will follow. I expect that the organisations already scoring high on happiness at work, and continuing to focus on it, will see even more of a difference.”

Swank remarks: “How organisations entered the crisis is also how they’ll exit it. Employees have shown their resilience in recent months, yet 60% of employees continue to struggle finding a good work-life balance. Perceived autonomy, performance levels and self-confidence have all increased. Employees were given more attention. Organisations can now use the corona-crisis as an accelerator. I’m curious to see if the organisations with high levels of happiness at work are better able to come through and out of the crisis. I expect them to. A focus on connectivity and togetherness is needed.”

Hamburger adds: “It’s precisely more happiness at work that helps organisations survive these challenging times. We’ll make recent survey figures available during ‘Happiness at Work Week’, and that should be interesting.”

 A Dutch Richard Branson

What must the Netherlands do to score collectively higher on happiness at work over the coming years? “Let’s not forget that the Netherlands is already one of the world leaders in happiness at work,” Hamburger notes. “A small group of frontrunners in the country has genuinely embraced the subject and this group might well expand. There’s a follow-on effect for organisations that devote attention to happiness at work: it raises employee expectations; however, if such expectations aren’t immediately met we’ll see happiness at work scores drop. We also now know that perfunctory ‘fun’ activities have no real impact on happiness at work scores.”

Maliepaard: “Because of pressures for tighter staffing and budgets, the risk is that organisations will revert to old patterns of behaviour, which is especially true for the organisations that merely use happiness at work to perform better in tight labour markets. If the Netherlands wants to score collectively higher on happiness at work, I advise employers to focus on these three core employee expectations: attention and appreciation for one another; atmosphere within the organisation; and work content and opportunities for career development. This will certainly benefit the feeling of happiness at work.”

“What the happiness at work theme could really use is a few Dutch CEOs to take the helm, a la Richard Branson,” Swank says. “If coaching leadership, like management style, increases due to remote working, this will certainly have a positive impact. Giving happiness at work a bigger spot on the national stage would also help, but the Dutch general public remains critical, especially towards their work.”

This blog previously appeared on PWnet.nl