There is currently huge interest in the 30-hour workweek in many workplaces . But is this just a pipe dream or could it actually lead to better results, happier workplaces and less stress? In this video I talk to Lena Rübelmann and Juliana Wolfsberger who have written a masters thesis called “The 30-hour Workweek -A … Continue reading The 30-hour workweek. Promising or pipe dream?
The New York Times has a great article called ”In Silicon Valley, Working 9 to 5 Is for Losers” that examines workaholism in startups. It even quotes one entrepreneur as saying “I rarely get to see my kids. That’s a risk you have to take.” I wonder if he asked his kids if that was a … Continue reading The Cult of Overwork is Killing Startups
In this animated interview Olivier Larvoir and I talk about: Which company recently installed a slide in the office to make it a ‘happier’ place to work (#facepalm) Why your employees don’t want free coffee, ping pong tables and away days – and what they DO want How to attract the best talent without writing … Continue reading Why Ping-Pong Tables Wont Make Your Employees Happy – And What Will
Work has moved from cow to computer, but workplaces still favour early risers and an industrial-age view of productivity. Camilla Kring has a PhD in Work-Life Balance and as owner of Super Navigators, makes workplaces happier by increasing the Work-Life Balance of their employees. She is specialized in creating flexible work cultures that support our … Continue reading How to succeed in business if you’re not a morning person
More and more workplaces want to measure everything. KPIs, scorecards and performance goals are supposed to motivate employees and help increase their productivity. But is that really a good way to motivate employees and makes them happy? Helle Hein has a ph.d. in management and has done research on motivation for the past 20 years. … Continue reading With Great Talent Comes Great Responsibility – how goals and KPIs demotivate the best employees
If we want to be happy in our jobs, we need to be good at our jobs. We human beings have a basic need to know that we contribute, create value and can make a difference and effect change in our environment. That’s why doing a good a job feels amazing. It gives us feelings like pride, accomplishment, fulfilment, growth and worth. On the … Continue reading Being great at your work vs. feeling great about your work
Discussing public policy in Dubai Given that happy companies have significant competitive advantages, governments have a strong interest in enacting public policies that promote happiness at work in their country. But what exactly could a government do to achieve this? At the World Government Summit in Dubai earlier this month I was part of a panel that discussed … Continue reading 11 government policies that promote happiness at work to give a country a competitive advantage
10 days ago I posted this picture of a memo from Joe Biden to his staff, saying that he never wants them “to miss or sacrifice important family obligations for work.” The image has since gone viral. It was retweeted by tons of people (including the amazing Sarah Silverman) and it has gained a lot of attention on … Continue reading The 3 most common objections to Biden’s awesome letter – and my rebuttals
Happiness at work starts from the top. This is one of the fundamental truths of happy workplaces. In any organization where people consistently love to work, you will find a CEO and executive leadership team that places employee happiness among their top strategic priorities and act accordingly. One of our favorite examples of a CEO who truly gets this is Herb … Continue reading 10 simple things the CEO can do to create a happy workplace
This is so far just a small study of employees at one company, but the results are interesting. Researchers Ravi S. Gajendran and Deepak Somaya summarize their study as follows in HBR: We began our study by surveying over 700 employees at a large multinational IT firm. We asked them to assess their manager’s leadership quality… Eighteen months … Continue reading New study: We know employees leave bad bosses – but maybe they also leave good ones
