The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Category: Happy At Work

How to be happy at work

  • Conference on happiness at work in Copenhagen

    Our annual conference about happiness at work will be held on May 26 in Copenhagen and ticket sales just opened. Read all about it and buy tickets here.

    Info in Danish:
    Skal 2011 være jeres gladeste år nogensinde på arbejdspladsen? Vil du skabe mere arbejdsglæde og fremragende resultater i din organisation? Vil I af med højt sygefravær, stress og udbrændthed? Skal I have et ordentligt skud energi og engagement?

    På Arbejdsglæde Live! konferencen den 26. maj 2011 i København, oplever du, hvordan din organisation skaber meget mere arbejdsglæde og overskud.

    Vi har fundet nogle fantastisk inspirerende og engagerede talere til dagen, blandt andre:

    • Peter Mikkelsen – verdens bedste fodbolddommer i 90?erne og nu HR chef i Fona
    • Steve Shapiro – forfatter til Goal-free Living, 24/7 Innovation og Personality Poker
    • Cathy Busani – CEO i firmaet Happy, kåret som bedste arbejdsplads i UK i 2010
    • Den altid fantastiske Thyra Frank er igen klar til at vælte salen
    • Ole Stephensen er konferencier

    Læs mere om konferencen og køb billetter her.

  • Three ways to deal with off-days at work

    Off-day at work

    Niels Hartvig, founder of Umbraco, the world’s only open source Microsoft-based CMS, recently asked what he should do about off-days at work among the people at Umbraco HQ:

    This morning I thought of dealing with off-days. Probably because I had one yesterday. One of the days where I’m going to work and get very little done. Not because I don’t want to, but simply because there’s some miscommunication between my fingers and my brain. Most programmers – and creative people in general – that I’ve spoke to about this, recognize it immediately yet I haven’t found anyone who had a ‘formal’ policy on dealing with these things. I’d love to.
    …
    We’re humans – we’re not perfect. If it was ok and if everyone in a company could be open, we might start being able to work out patterns for off-days and see if they could be minimized. Or just be turned better. Whether it’s going home and getting some sleep, seeing a therapist (paid by work), calling your wife or…

    I really want to develop some policy around this for the HQ and if it works out, I’ll blog again. At least a start is simply saying out loud that off-days are fine and a part of us. Until then, let’s try to help each other with our experiences in the comments – start the conversation!

    I think that’s an awesome question. Let’s face it, everyone has off-days. No matter how much you love your job, there will be days where you just don’t feel like it, for whatever reason. Sure you can force yourself to show up anyway, and sometimes it will be fine but most often you waste a day and get very little done. Also, forcing yourself to come in, may mean that you feel even less like working the next day.

    And yet, most workplaces completely deny this reality and expect employees to be equally productive, alert and (not least) present every work day.

    I would like to suggest three possible policies to deal with off-days:

    Suggestion #1 (the easy one): If you have an off-day, say so.
    The IT support department at the medical company Leo Pharma are a critical part of the organization. If they’re not picking up the phones, Leo’s 4.000 employees have nowhere to go with their IT-related questions and problems. To ensure that the phones are always manned, a huge whiteboard with a space for each support-worker shows who’s on call at any time.

    The IT department realizes, that people have good and bad days, so they set up a simple policy: When employees get in in the morning, they can place a green or a red magnetic tag next to their name. Green means “I’m having a good day”, a red tag means “I’m having a bad day.”

    So if a co-worker storms in the door without saying good morning, places at red marker next to his name, and sits at his desk scowling at his computer, you don’t have to wonder “was it something I said?”

    This policy does two things for the department:

    1. It makes it visible who is having a good or a bad day, and people with red markers are given a little space and leeway. If somebody puts up a red marker every day for a week this becomes visible, and steps can be taken to help that person.
    2. It makes it legal to have a bad day. We all have bad days, but if you have to hide it and pretend to be chipper, it takes longer to get out of the bad mood.

    Simple and effective. If you have a bad day you still have to come in, but at least you know that it’s OK.

    Suggestion #2 (the radical one): If you don’t feel like coming to work, don’t come to work.
    I know of a few workplaces in Denmark that have actually introduced this rule: If you really, really don’t feel like working you can call in and say you’re taking an off-day. The rule is that you don’t have to explain or justify yourself. Also, it’s not a day off or a sick day, so you’ll have to make up the lost time later.

    The “if you don’t feel like working, then don’t” rule has some clear advantages:

    1. Just knowing that you don’t have to go to work if you don’t want to, can make a bad day better.
    2. If you don’t want to work, you don’t have to demean yourself and the workplace by lying and calling in sick.
    3. When you take the off-day, you can return to work the next day with new energy.
    4. You don’t have to waste time in the office being unproductive.
    5. You don’t have to bring your bad mood into the office and infect everyone around you.
    6. If someone takes a lot of off-days, that’s a clear warning sign, that they’re unhappy at work and something needs to be done.

    Before introducing a rule like this, I think a workplace would need to have a conversation to decide when it’s OK to take an off-day. You could even write down the rules, ie. “It’s OK to take an off-day if the very thought of going to work makes you want to kill yourself, but not if it’s a Friday and the weather’s nice and you just feel more like going to the beach.”

    Stephan wrote a comment on Niels’ original post saying pretty much the same thing, but for school kids:

    Reminds me of some friends of my parents, who had the following family rule: each child was allowed to have one single “I don’t want to go to school” day per year. On that special day, parents would not ask any question (eg why? are you ok?). They would just write the obligatory excuse note saying something along “little John was not feeling well yesterday”.
    Funny enough, knowing that they could decide not to go (but then they’d loose that possibility for the rest of the year) was usually enough, and it was common that at the end of the year, the “off-day” credit had not been used.

    And no, you could not carry your unused day over to the next year ;-)

    Suggestion #3: The really radical one: Give people complete freedom to work whenever they want.
    What if workplaces completely stopped making rules for or monitoring when people work? What if we just acknowledged that our employees are responsible adults, who are eminently capable of deciding when they are productive and when they’re not? What if we stopped focusing on how many hours people work and instead focused on the results they get?

    That is the point of ROWE, Results Only Work Environments. This article gives a great introduction to ROWEs:

    At most companies, going AWOL during daylight hours would be grounds for a pink slip. Not at Best Buy. The nation’s leading electronics retailer has embarked on a radical–if risky–experiment to transform a culture once known for killer hours and herd-riding bosses. The endeavor, called ROWE, for “results-only work environment,” seeks to demolish decades-old business dogma that equates physical presence with productivity. The goal at Best Buy is to judge performance on output instead of hours.

    Hence workers pulling into the company’s amenity-packed headquarters at 2 p.m. aren’t considered late. Nor are those pulling out at 2 p.m. seen as leaving early. There are no schedules. No mandatory meetings. No impression-management hustles. Work is no longer a place where you go, but something you do. It’s O.K. to take conference calls while you hunt, collaborate from your lakeside cabin, or log on after dinner so you can spend the afternoon with your kid.

    This is what we do in our company – our rule is that you work when you want to and don’t when you don’t. You will never be judged by how many hours you work but only by the results you get and the value you contribute.

    Another example is sports wear maker Patagonia which has surf boards lined up in the office near the beach in Southern California. Their founder Yvon Chouinard explains why:

    I’m a businessman, but I’m still going to do things on my own terms. I’m going to break a lot of rules, and we’re going to blur the distinction between work and play. So we have a policy here – it’s called “Let My People Go Surfing.” A policy which is, when the surf comes up, anybody can just go surfing. Any time of the day, you just take off and go surfing… That attitude changes your whole life. If your life is set up so that you can drop anything when the surf comes up, it changes the whole way you do your life. And it has changed this whole company here.

    Nice, huh?

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    Your take

    How does you workplace deal with off-days? Are people required to show up anyway? Which of the three suggestions above would you like to see introduced where you work? See any risks or pitfalls? Please write a comment, I’d love to hear your take.

  • Rethinking capitalism – create shared value

    Mark Kramer and Harvard professor Michael Porter have just written a fascinating article for the Harvard Business Review, where they argue against the idea that a business should focus exclusively on maximizing its own profits. From the article:

    Companies… remain trapped in an outdated approach to value creation that has emerged over the past few decades. They continue to view value creation narrowly, optimizing short-term financial performance in a bubble while missing the most important customer needs and ignoring the broader influences that determine their longer-term success.
    …
    Companies must take the lead in bringing business and society back together. The recognition is there among sophisticated business and thought leaders, and promising elements of a new model are emerging. Yet we still lack an overall framework for guiding these efforts, and most companies remain stuck in a “social responsibility” mind-set in which societal issues are at the periphery, not the core.

    The solution lies in the principle of shared value, which involves creating economic value in a way that also creates value for society by addressing its needs and challenges.

    I could not agree more and there is no doubt in my mind that creating shared value means more profits for a business in the long term. It essentially comes back to whether you consider business a zero sum or a non-zero sum game. Us non-zeroers know that collaboration, win-win scenarios and mutual benefit are not only more profitable but also more rewarding and meaningful. It makes us happier at work because we can take pride in doing work that improves our local communities (or even the planet) rather than robbing them.

    The article goes on to examine a number of areas where businesses can create shared value, including procurement, location, energy use, etc.

    As for employees, the article says only this:

    The focus on holding down wage levels, reducing benefits, and offshoring is beginning to give way to an awareness of the positive effects that a living wage, safety, wellness, training, and opportunities for advancement for employees have on productivity. Many companies, for example, traditionally sought to minimize the cost of “expensive” employee health care coverage or even eliminate health coverage altogether. Today leading companies have learned that because of lost workdays and diminished employee productivity, poor health costs them more than health benefits do.

    Take Johnson & Johnson. By helping employees stop smoking (a two-thirds reduction in the past 15 years) and implementing numerous other wellness programs, the company has saved $250 million on health care costs, a return of $2.71 for every dollar spent on wellness from 2002 to 2008. Moreover, Johnson & Johnson has benefited from a more present and productive workforce. If labor unions focused more on shared value, too, these kinds of employee approaches would spread even faster.

    I would’ve liked to see a much higher focus on employees. The one obvious place to start creating shared value is with the people closest to the business, ie. the employees. In fact, I believe that this is impossible, unless you also create a happy workplace.

    You can read the article here or watch a 15-minute video, where Porter explains the fundamental concept.

    Reading the article, I was reminded of this quote from Ray Anderson, the CEO of Interface, the world’s largest carpet manufacturer:

    One day early in this journey it dawned on me that they way I’d been running Interface is the way of the plunderer. Plundering something that is not mine, something that belongs to every creature on earth.

    And I said to myself “My goodness, a day must come where this is illegal, where plundering is not allowed. I mean, it must come.”

    So I said to myself “My goodness, some day people like me will end up in jail.”

    Interestingly, Interface went on to create a “green” line of carpets that became their biggest commercial success ever.

    Your take

    What do you think? Does your workplace create shared value already or does it focus only on maximizing its own profits? Do you see potential in shared value? Would it make you happy, to work in a business that does?

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  • A question for ya: What do you do about employees who are always late for work?

    QuestionI got this question from a business owner, who has a problem with some of his employees:

    I love what I do and I started this company to become the best employer in this industry.

    We now have 22 talents (=other companies say staff or employees), and we prefer to keep a very open, relaxed, warm and nice atmosphere. I strongly believe in the pull rather than push leadership style, but it seems I reached a dead-end.

    We have 3-4 guys who are very important to the team. Those guys come late to work almost every single day. If a client is in, they tend to come in just a few minutes before hand, which is also annoying. I tried so many different things, but I am seriously tired with it.

    When I ask them, all they are saying is that they were stuck in traffic, got up to late, blabla. In their last evaluation meetings, they said they are 8 out of 10 happy, so not too bad! Only a higher salary would make them more happy. But I I think their late coming is just disrespectful to their colleagues & clients.

    So the question is: How to deal with talents who have a unbeatable problem with coming on-time?

    Hmmmm… interesting question. What do you think he should do? Have you ever had an employee/a co-worker who was permanently late? Ever been that person yourself? What would you do?

  • Happiness at work in Russian

    Workplace stress

    Last november I was interviewed by BBC Russian about stress and happiness at work and you can hear the resulting program here – in Russian.

    I’m introduced at 5:15.

    If you’d like to know more, you can read my Top 5 Myths about Workplace Stress.

  • Doing good at work

    SouthwestNormally, if you’re late for your flight that’s just tough – the plane leaves without you. The airline business is a tough, competitive arena and every second of delay translates into money lost.

    But when the grandfather of a murdered child was late for a Southwest flight on his way to see his child taken off life support, the pilot actually held the flight for him. Read the touching story here.

    My favorite part of the story is when the pilot meets the the grandfather outside the plane and says this:

    “They can’t go anywhere without me and I wasn’t going anywhere without you. Now relax. We’ll get you there. And again, I’m so sorry.”

    I was deeply moved by this story. Also, I was reminded of this equally touching story from a Zappos.com customer.

    I’m convinced that this level of humanity and kindness is seen almost exclusively in happy workplaces. When people enjoy their work days and enjoy the company of their co-workers and bosses they are much more likely to care about other people and to take action to help them. When people hate their jobs, they mostly look out for themselves and only do what it takes to get through they day.

    This is why happiness at work is good not only for the employees but also for the customers and local communities – simply because happy people help others.

    Your take

    What do you think? Have you ever experienced something similar as a customer? Ever done something like this on the job?

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  • 10 questions about your 2010

    The beginning of a new year is a great time to take stock of your work life. Did everything going the way you wanted it in 2010? Were you happy or unhappy at work? What would you like to change?

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

    We think you can achieve much more by turning that around 180 degrees, so here’s our suggestion for a little new year’s exercise in happiness at work. Think back at your work life in 2010 and answer the following 10 questions. It works best, if you take some time to do it and if you write down the answers.

    1. What went really well for you at work in 2010?
    2. What did you do that you were proud of?
    3. Who did you make a difference for at work?
    4. What new things have you learned professionally?
    5. How have you grown and developed personally at work?
    6. Who has helped you out at work in 2010=
    7. Who have you admired profesionally?
    8. What have been some of the most fun moments at work in 2010?
    9. Which 5 things from your work life in 2010 would you like more of in 2011?

    And last but not least:
    10. What will you specifically do to become happier at work in 2011?

    Have fun – and I wish you a very happy 2011 at work!

  • Going to Mumbai in February

    I’m speaking in India again on Februay 10 at the World HRD Congress. I’m very excited to be going to India again – the last time I was there to speak at a conference and do some workshops for Tata, I had a blast and I found that the message of happiness at work was very well received.

    I have some free time in Mumbai on Feb. 9 and Feb. 12, so if you’d like to meet and discuss happiness at work, maybe we can arrange something. Contact me, and we’ll see what’s possible.

  • Happiness at work and balls

    I’m not a huge fan of employee satisfaction surveys for a number of reasons:

    1. They measure job satisfaction, which, to me, is not what matters. What matters is happiness.
    2. They’re no fun. Filling out 50 (or more) questions in an online survey is a chore – not something people enjoy.
    3. They’re so time consuming that companies typically perform them once a year. But what good is knowing how happy employees are once a year? What if they’re really unhappy now, and the next survey is still 7 months away?

    So how DO you measure happiness at work? This is exactly the question British social media agency Nixon McInnes were asking themselves:

    According to recent studies, happiness in the workplace is positively correlated with productivity, so as happiness increases, productivity follows suit, but when unhappiness gains a foothold, productivity and, ultimately, the health of the business, suffer.
    …
    The first prototype, or version 0.1, has been live for a couple of months now and has provided some illuminating insight into our collective emotional condition (Tuesdays, for instance, are a regular, recurring low point in the week).

    So, what’s the ground-breaking technology that makes all this possible?

    The answer… A couple of buckets and a few dozen tennis balls. :)

    Exactly – why not go low-tech and do it with balls. Tennis balls, that is.

    Every day as employees leave work they drop a ball into either the “Happy” or “Unhappy” basket. The balls are counted and the daily and weekly results are displayed on a monitor in the office:

    Yup – that’s all it takes. It’s simple, so it actually gets done and it’s almost real-time because it presents daily data. An additional benefit is that it gives employees a chance to reflect every day on their happiness at work, which is also a good practice. Kudos!

    Have you tried something similar in your workplace? Would this work for you?

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  • Yes, performance reviews still suck

    Samuel Culbert is not a fan of performance reviews:

    To my way of thinking, a one-side-accountable, boss-administered review is little more than a dysfunctional pretense. It’s a negative to corporate performance, an obstacle to straight-talk relationships, and a prime cause of low morale at work. Even the mere knowledge that such an event will take place damages daily communications and teamwork.

    Culbert is a professor of management at the UCLA Anderson School of Management in Los Angeles and author of the excellent book Get Rid of the Performance Review!: How Companies Can Stop Intimidating, Start Managing–and Focus on What Really Matters.

    In this excellent article, he sums up his main arguments against performance reviews, which include:

    • The mind-sets held by the two participants in a performance review work at cross-purposes.
    • It’s a myth that performance determines pay.
    • They disrupt teamwork.

    I agree completely. Waaaaay back in 2008, I wrote about my top 10 reasons why performance reviews suck.

    Culbert even offers an alternative – the performance preview:

    The alternative to one-side-accountable, boss-administered/subordinate-received performance reviews is two-side, reciprocally accountable, performance previews.

    The boss’s assignment is to guide, coach, tutor, provide oversight and generally do whatever is required to assist a subordinate to perform successfully. That’s why I claim that the boss-direct report team should be held jointly accountable for the quality of work the subordinate performs. I’m sick and tired of hearing about subordinates who fail and get fired, while bosses, whose job it was to ensure subordinate effectiveness, get promoted and receive raises in pay.

    Holding performance previews eliminates the need for the boss to spout self-serving interpretations about what already has taken place and can’t be fixed. Previews are problem-solving, not problem-creating, discussions about how we, as teammates, are going to work together even more effectively and efficiently than we’ve done in the past. They feature descriptive conversations about how each person is inclined to operate, using past events for illustrative purposes, and how we worked well or did not work well individually and together.

    The preview structure keeps the focus on the future and what “I” need from you as “teammate and partner” in getting accomplished what we both want to see happen. It doesn’t happen only annually; it takes place each time either the boss or the subordinate has the feeling that they aren’t working well together.

    What a fantastic idea!

    Your take

    What do you think – do you personally find, that performance reviews make you happier and more effective at work? Is it a process you actively enjoy? Please write a comment, I’d love to hear your take.

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