3 of my fellow Danes, Camilla Kring, Vivi Bach Pedersen and Anders Raastrup Kristensen have written a report on how Danish businesses have become more productive by focusing on work-life balance.

This is how they open the report:

The future can be found in Denmark. In this report we show how some of the most successful companies in Denmark developed their business through an innovative, results-oriented focus on balancing employees’ work and private lives.

• Denmark has a unique position in the world when it comes to balancing work and private life:
• Denmark has one of the highest participation rates for women in the workforce. (75% of women are in the workforce).
• Among all EU countries, Danish employees have the highest degree of influence over their work.
• (85% of employees indicate that they have an influence on their work situation).
• Danish employees have some of the world’s most flexible work conditions. (43% of employees can regulate their work hours to meet their private needs).
• Danish employees have some of the best maternity/paternity leaves in the world (combined one year leave per child).

The crucial insight in the report is that work-life balance is not about sacrificing business goals for the employees’ well-being. In fact, a good work-life balance makes the company more successful and profitable.

Read the whole report here – it’s clearly very written and has many tips and ideas for workplaces all over the world who want to create a

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I got an awesome email from a reader of the blog, who found the courage to quit a well-paying job and move on to something else. Here’s his story:

I was very unhappy in my last job, and though I knew your work, I still quit too late. I feel like I should have quit half a year ago.

So, why did I stay too long in the old job?

There were two reasons: One was money. Not the amount they pay, but rather the security that it gave me. I had no savings but was in debt. Which scared me about changing my job. If the new job wouldn’t have been good, I would have had a problem. This is now different, when I finally applied I had enough savings to live for some months without a job.

The second reason was the memory of the good times in this company. It really started out nice. Most people there are really likeable. The problems started when a coworker quit and I got his position. This position is really shitty, because of bad management and a lot of organizational problems. Of course, I knew part of this beforehand and I made it a condition that these things change. My boss agreed to this, because otherwise I would have refused to take the position. But in nearly a year, next to nothing changed. Of course, a lot of things changed. But not the really important stuff. For a long time I thought they will change, I worked for them to change. I just wished to be as happy as in the beginning.

Over time, I developed most of your warning signs. (Physical symptoms, procrastination, I stopped to care, …) The unhappiness made me even more unhappy.

When I’m happy, I’m motivated and do my work well. When I started to grow unhappy, I saw that my work isn’t as half as good as it could be. And I even need more time to do it, because I didn’t want to do it in the first place. Knowing I do not nearly as good as I could increased the unhappiness and decreased motivation further. So it grew worse over time, with no way out. I even tried to get rid of this work, to get new assignments. But nobody else at the company had the necessary knowledge, so my boss wouldn’t let me change it, despite knowing that I am not happy with it.

At my new workplace, the manager talks about motivation and job satisfaction/happiness. (The German word used is Zufriedenheit, which can be translated both ways).

There is also a culture of respect. The managemant demands that people work together for a common goal, which is also very nice. All the people I know so far are nice and welcoming. I only work for two days at my new job, but I’m already confident that this will be a nice place to work.

I wrote this down, in case you want to use it for any future article. If you use it, please substitute my name with a pseudonym.

Kudos on finding the courage to quit an unhappy job and move on to something better!

Related posts

• The top 10 bad excuses for not quitting a job that sucks.
• The top 10 signs you’re not happy at work.

When David Marquet took command of the nuclear submarine USS Santa Fe, he knew he needed to change a lot of things. It was the worst performing submarine, was never ready for its missions on time and was basically the laughing stock of the US navy.

David came in with a plan to improve the results on the submarine and thereby make its crew happier. By accident, he found that he had to do it the other way around: Make the submarine a happy workplace and results would follow.

The new plan worked, and the USS Santa Fe became the best performing submarine.

In this speech from the Arbejdsglaede Live! 2013 conference, David Marquet explains how he did it and how you can create a happier workplace too.

I recently wrote about New York based company Next Jump and the world-leading things they’ve done to create a very happy workplace.

Here’s a fantastic speech from their founder and CEO Charlie Kim where he talks about the principles behind Next Jump:

It’s an hour long and I highly recommend watching the whole thing.

The staff of Delete Blood Cancer with their brand new copies of Happy Hour is 9 to 5. WOOHOO!

I recently spoke about happiness at work in New York and after the event, one attendee sent me this email:

Thanks for coming to speak to the group in New York last month. Glad I got the chance to finally meet you after reading your blog for so many years.

When I got back to work the next day, I told my department about your talk and showed them some of the videos on your site. My boss, inspired by the overall message of Arbejdsglaede and amused by the hand-drawn video, bought a copy of your book for everyone in our group. Here is a photo of us with our crisp new copies!

Most of us are quite new, as our company is growing fast. We’re hoping to build a happy, productive workplace and will be using your book as one of the prime resources. Hopefully, we’ll soon develop a reputation as a great place to work, in addition to being known for the word we do [matching bone marrow donors to Leukemia patients in need].

Thanks for all you do, keep up the good work.

And right back at ya, Prescott!

I recently did an interview about happiness at work in non-profits. Sadly I’ve found that while the work people do there is often very rewarding and meaningful, they are not always very happy workplaces.

You can read more about Delete Blood Cancer and the amazing work they do here. I highly urge you to check it out and to register as a donor today. You could save someone’s life.

10 years ago today I had my first paying customer in Woohoo inc. I have now spent 10 years making millions of people in 30 countries happy at work.

I have never before in my life done the same thing for 10 years running and I can honestly say that this is the most fun and the most fulfilling thing I have ever done.

I am incredibly thankful to way too many people to mention here but I am fully aware that this journey would have been completely impossible without my great friends, playmates, partners and clients around the world to help me, inspire me and challenge me.

Here’s to the next 10 years and to our vision:
A world where happiness at work is the rule and not the exception.

Who’s with me? :)

And here’s a little gallery to celebrate the last 10 years.

This weekend I was in Sofia, Bulgaria to speak at an event about happiness at work arranged by the Bulgarian foundation Credo Bonum.

The event had two speakers, Nic Marks and myself, and we kicked ass if I do say so myself.

Nic is a researcher with a long background in happiness research and gave an excellent overview of how to define and measure happiness at work. I could then offer some specific ideas of how to create happy workplaces.

The event was a massive hit and turnout was huge with a large group of people having to stand in the back.

I also did a number of TV interviews as well as a joint appearance with Nic on the late night show Night Birds which has to stand as the most fun I’ve ever had on TV. We were on for 45 minutes and not only was there a live band to play happy music, we also got to do live improv comedy with two actors. The show will air at some later date.

I also did a an interview for a magazine – you can read it here.

A massive thank you to Credo Bonum for giving me this opportunity to speak in Bulgaria, to Simeon and Nikolet for being such great hosts and to everyone who came to the event.

Also, Bulgaria makes it 39 countries I’ve spoken in. Seems like my gig in Chile in June will make it 40!

If you gotta quit (and sometimes you gotta) you might as well do it with style.

Related posts

• Top 10 bad excuses for staying in a crappy job.
• How to know it’s time to quit.
• Top 10 signs you’re not happy at work.
• Best resignation letter ever.
• How Kim found the courage to quit.

I recently wrote about New York based company Next Jump and the world-leading things they’ve done to create a very happy workplace.

Here’s a fantastic speech from their founder and CEO Charlie Kim where he talks about the principles behind Next Jump:

Watching it, I was constantly entertained, enlightened and inspired. Two of my favorite points are Kim’s assertion that corporate values are meaningless (or possibly even harmful) and his passionate advice to get comfortable with failure. It’s great, great stuff.

It’s an hour long and I highly recommend watching the whole thing.