If you want to create some workplace happiness today, here’s a super simple and easy thing you can do: Perform a Random Act Of Workplace Kindness.

This is where you do something nice for someone else at work, out of the blue.

If you’re stuck for ideas, here are a few suggestions:

• Bring someone a cup of coffee, without them asking
• Leave candy on someone’s desk
• Write a nice, hand-written note of appreciation for a co-worker
• Offer to help someone

Do you have more suggestions? Ever done something like this? Write a comment!

Positive surprises make us happy

Why are random acts of kindness so effective at work?

According to research, we become a happier when good things happen to us (duh!) but the effect is even bigger when good things happen to us unexpectedly:

Emory University and Baylor College of Medicine researchers used Magnetic Resonance Imaging brain scans to measure changes in human brain activity in response to a sequence of pleasurable stimuli.

They used a computer-controlled device to squirt fruit juice or water into the mouths of 25 research participants. The patterns of the squirting were either predictable or unpredictable.

The researchers found that the MRI scans showed a brain area called the nucleus accumbens to be much more active when the subjects received unpredictable patterns of juice and water.

So here’s what we know:

• Something nice happens that you expect = good
• Something nice happens unexpectedly = even better

This is interesting in the context of happiness at work because many of the things companies do to make their employees happier are utterly predictable: Summer parties, Christmas parties, bonuses, team events, and so on happen on a fixed schedule, which makes them less effective.

This is why we advocate also doing random acts of workplace kindness. According to this research, a small well-meant surprising gesture towards an employee or a team may make them much happier.

Kindness also bolsters relationships at work

The other reason why random acts of kindness are so effective is that they promote good relationships at work.

When we do nice things for each other, we show that we care about other people and are interested in their wellbeing.

If we never do this, we risk creating a selfish culture at work where everyone is just looking out for number one. This is of course how some people think of work, but research shows that teams and workplaces are much more effective when people respect each other, like each other and take care of each other.

Companies tend to massively undervalue the importance of good workplace relationships. That’s a mistake because the research CLEARLY shows that organizations that foster good relationships get better results, because people like each other, trust each other, work better together and communicate better.
In this video, we show why good workplace relationships are crucial and how to build them,

Check out this great example

Here’s a great example: I did a workshop for a client here in Denmark and afterwards their two managers did an amazing random act of kindness where they handed out breakfast (unannounced) one Monday morning.

So try it out today and report back how it went.

Imagine two salespeople at the same company.

Johnson is a consummate professional. She’s an accomplished rep who is always ready to support her clients and colleagues. However, due to circumstances beyond her control—perhaps a major account goes bankrupt or her region hits a recession—she misses her quarterly target.

Smith, on the other hand, is lazy. He’s incompetent and never goes the extra mile. Yet, by pure luck, he hits his numbers. Maybe a massive order falls into his lap by chance, or his territory is experiencing an unrelated boom.

Which of them deserves recognition? To me, the answer is clear: it is fairer and more beneficial for the company’s future to reward the person who delivered the superior effort.

The “Luck” Bias

Most companies do the exact opposite. They give out recognition and rewards based on results alone, probably because results are easier to measure.

But there’s also something else going on: a systematic bias we chronically underestimate: the “luck factor.”

Daniel Kahneman is the only psychologist who’s been awarded a Nobel Prize. He won it in economics, since there is no Nobel Prize in psychology, for his work in identifying how humans make decisions and founding the field of behavioral economics.

One of his most intriguing findings is that we massively overestimate the effect of our own actions while ignoring the role of chance. When things go well, we take the credit—even if we mostly just got lucky.

It is demoralizing for high-effort employees to watch less competent, luckier colleagues walk away with the accolades and the checks.

The Problem with Bonuses

Some companies try to fix this with more complex bonus structures, but these rarely work. Experience shows that bonus schemes are either so simple they are unfair, or so complicated that no one understands them. Research even suggests that heavy reliance on these rewards can lead to poorer results and lower motivation.

The solution is simple: Leaders must focus more on rewarding effort than on raw results. We must recognize those who do an amazing job and, crucially, those who help others improve.

A Better Way

Next Jump, a New York-based company, provides a brilliant example. Their most prestigious award isn’t based on sales performance, but on who helped their colleagues the most.

In this video you can see their 2014 awards ceremony:

Shifting focus this way isn’t easy—results are easily measurable, while recognizing effort requires leaders to have a closer connection with their employees and deeper insight into daily work.

But there are three reasons why it’s worth the extra energy:

1. Effort is not reliant on luck: While results can be a fluke, great effort is a product of talent and attitude. These are the traits that should be celebrated.
2. Effort wins the long game: We shouldn’t just optimize for this month; we should be optimizing for the next many months.
3. It prevents suboptimization: If I am only rewarded for my own sales, why would I ever help a teammate? Focusing on effort builds a culture of long-term health rather than short-term greed.

The Upshot

Leaders should acknowledge the work, not just the win. In the long run, this creates more fairness, higher motivation, and—ironically—better results.

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Your Take

What is valued most in your workplace—results or effort? How does that approach affect your engagement and your team?

Leave a comment below—we’d love to hear your take.

The beginning of a new year is a great time to take stock of your work life. Are you happy or unhappy at work? What would you like to change?

It’s important to evaluate, because how you feel at work has such a large influence on you at work AND at home. When you’re happy at work, you have better job performance and more career success. You also have better health and a happier private life.

Unfortunately most people look back and think exclusively in terms of what went wrong. The things they should have done. They goals they ought to have achieved. The progress that didn’t come.

We gain much of our happiness at work (and in life) by appreciating the good things we have and do. Sure, you should also make sure to improve your circumstances and address any problems but it is just as important to be able to appreciate the things that do work.

This is hard. Negativity bias is one of the most well-established psychological phenomena and it means quite simply that our minds devote more mental focus and cognition to the bad than the good. Our thoughts automatically go to problems, annoyances, threats and fears but remembering and appreciating the good in our lives takes effort and focus.

We think you can achieve much more by turning that around 180 degrees, so here’s our suggestion for a simple new year’s exercise in happiness at work.

Think back at your work life in 2025 and answer the following 10 questions. It works best if you take some time to think about each question and if you write down your answers.

1. What went really well for you at work in 2025?
2. What did you do that you were proud of?
3. Who did you make a difference for at work?
4. What new skills have you learned professionally?
5. How have you grown and developed personally at work?
6. Who has helped you out at work in 2025? How can you thank them?
7. Who have you admired professionally? How can you let them know?
8. Which 5 things from your work life in 2025 would you like more of in 2026?
9. Which 5 things from your work life in 2025 would you like less of in 2026?
10. What will you specifically do to become happier at work in 2026?

Some people think that they must work hard to become successful – and that success will make them happy. The truth is the opposite: being happy makes you more effective and successful at work.

So this year, make happiness at work your #1 career goal – because being happy at work will make you more successful in your career.

And that may require some tough decisions. If you find that you’re just not happy at work, maybe it’s time to find a new job. Fortunately, International Quit Your Crappy Job Day is just around the corner.

I wish you a very happy new year at work!

Happy companies make more money and tons of studies prove it.

I see an increased focus on employee happiness in many industries – including in finance. I have personally worked with so many banks, pension companies and insurance companies that came to the realization that happier employees lead to a better bottom line. That’s great!

However, workplaces in this sector also face a number of challenges that can cause frustration, stress and burnout if we don’t address them.

In this webinar we will cover:

• Why happy employees are great for the bottom line in finance
• The biggest challenges and stressors in the industry
• How exactly to make finance workplaces happy
• Great examples from some of the happiest companies I know in the sector

We’ll keep the whole thing fun and snappy and be done in just 30 minutes.

Date and time: Wednesday December 17, 9AM ET / 3PM CET.

Sign up right here.