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How To Make Your Workplace Happier By Making The World Better

Many workplaces now realize that happy employees are great for the bottom line and are trying to act accordingly, but they keep making one fundamental mistake: They try to make their employees happier by doing things for them.

But as we know from positive psychology we are actually happier when we get to do things for others.

That’s a crucial insight but how exactly can your workplace apply it?

Club Need is a fantastic new concept started by Calvin Johnson that helps organizations find ways to do good in the world by matching them with specific volunteering or charity opportunities.

In this video we talk about:

How it works
Why it makes employees happier
How it boosts the company’s brand and the bottom line

Learn more at https://clubneed.org/

March 12, 2024

Yoga Classes And Stress Trainings Do NOTHING For Employees! Here’s Why – And What Companies Should Do Instead.

A fascinating brand new study by William Fleming shows that sending employees off to yoga classes, mindfulness lessons or stress management trainings has NO positive effects. In some cases it actually backfires and makes things worse.

That’s a shame because companies keep focusing on these individual-level interventions in their attempts to make employees less stressed and more happy and motivated at work. Which is not only a waste of time and money but also distracts companies from doing things that actually do work.

In this video I talk to Dr. Louise Lambert about the study. We cover:

What exactly the study says and doesn’t say
Why these individual-level interventions don’t work or even backfire
What companies can do instead that actually does work

We all know that employee wellbeing is absolutely crucial, so the good news is that there ARE things that companies can do that work. And ironically these things are not only more effective but also a lot cheaper and faster than yoga classes or sleep trainings.

So we should probably do more of that :)

Your take

What do you think? Are these types of individual-level interventions a complete waste of time or do they have their place? What’s the best way for companies to actually make their employees happier? Have you been to a stress management training and did it make you more or less stressed? Write a comment, we’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

More info

February 19, 2024

Leading With Happiness in Kuwait

I just returned from speaking at The Happiness Effect conference in Kuwait. I was blown away by the whole event and especially by the organizers from Algas Events who were very organized and incredibly generous and hospitable.

The highlight for me was to reconnect with my friends Maja Neducic and Louise Lambert and see them shine on stage. Louise updated everyone on the latest research on happiness at work and Maja talked about the amazing culture at Vega It.

I love how much of a focus there is on happiness at work in the region and I hope my talks gave the participating organizations some ideas for how to take it even further.

November 17, 2023

How you handle a bad boss before it’s too late

How do you handle a bad boss at work before they mess you up too much?

I JUST NOW published a video that takes a deep dive on the science, history and philosophy on bad bosses.

You can really help me if you watch it, like it and especially if you write a comment :)

And here are all the links and source from the video:

September 11, 2023

Free Online Talk: Why Perks Don’t Work

How do you create a happy workplace?

For too many workplaces, the answer to that question begins and ends with perks. The list of possible perks that I have seen workplaces offer is nearly endless with things like gyms, massages, snacks, team events, nap pods, pizza parties, team building events, discount deals and yoga classes.

These things can cost a lot of money and take a lot of time to organize so it really is a shame that they do not work. At all!

In fact, when companies get them wrong, they often backfire and make employees less happy and motivated.

In this free webinar I talked about:

Why most perks are doomed to fail from the outset
How perks sometimes backfire and make things worse
Why companies are so focused on them even though they don’t work
How to tell if your workplace’s perks are worth it
How to design perks that actually impact employees positively

April 17, 2023

Yikes!

Yikes! Check out this comment on one of my videos:

I just had a psychotic adult babyman scream directly into my face because I refused to give him a discount on an item that was already marked 75% off. I asked Karen to leave the store and of course he refused and asked to speak to the manager (even though I am a manager), so I called security and went on a break to cool down.

Anyway, I was sitting in my car and I see this imbecile leaving with his prize. The strange thing was that the security person was walking with him and then shook his hand before they parted ways. In the end Karen got what he wanted and now knows he can come back anytime and abuse more employees without any repercussions.

Perhaps I could organize a strike, or maybe just cut my losses and get as far away from the service industry as possible. Whatever the case may be, I do know one thing for certain: Whoever is responsible for that “The Customer is Always Right” pearl of wisdom should really rethink their sanity.

Let me just say that again: Yikes! It’s a betrayal of the employees to always give in to the customers who abuse them the most.

April 13, 2023

I’m in the New York Times

I was interviewed for this excellent article in the New York Times about why measuring employee happiness is very important but also very difficult.

Here’s the central quote:

So, where’s the disconnect? Are surveys the wrong tool? Are employees not telling their managers the truth about their dissatisfactions? Or are the bosses not listening?

The answer is a little of all of the above, said Alexander Kjerulf, co-founder of Heartcount, which creates software designed to measure employee happiness. “The traditional approach has become a rote exercise that’s done because everyone does it,” Mr. Kjerulf. “But few people actually see any value in it — and that goes both for employees and management.”

He noted that the surveys too often are too long and conducted too infrequently. Employees worry they will face retribution for negative responses, and companies don’t act on the feedback they receive.

That’s the problem in a nutshell – companies typically measure the wrong things and then make everything worse by not acting on the data employees supply.

That is why we created Heartcount, which is the best tool for measuring how happy employees are at work.

March 17, 2023

March 31 is International Quit Your Crappy Job Day

A bad job hurts your health, your career and your family. So we created a website with information and resources you can use to find out if it’s time to quit.

You can also test yourself and see if it’s time to quit – over 16,000 people have taken the test already!

If you’re unhappy at work check it out. If someone you care about is stuck in a crappy job, share this with them.

March 6, 2023

Elon Musks Biggest Flaw That Is Killing Twitter

Things have gone from bad to worse at twitter since Elon Musk bought the company three months ago. The problem is Elon. Some recent events have revealed Musk’s MOST fundamental flaw as a leader.

In this video I want to talk about what that flaw is and how other business leaders can avoid making the same mistakes.

February 16, 2023