• A question for ya

    A Question For YaThere is little doubt that happiness at work is linked to the bottom line, and many studies confirm this. But how does it work? How much of an effect does it have? How can you boost it? What factors matter and which don’t?

    To answer these questions better, I’d like to gather a list of quality resources (books, articles, studies, statistics, case stories) that examine this link and this is where I need your help. I’m not trying to assemble every study ever done – I just want some good ones.

    Just to give you an idea, here are some that I’ve been using:

    Do you know any other good evidence-based resources that look at how happiness at work improves the bottom line? I’d also like to see any studies that don’t find any effect!


  • What do you do with $22 million?

    That’s the question CD Baby founder Derek Sivers faced when he sold his company.

    His answer: He gave it all to charity.

    I told them, “I don’t even really want the money. I want it all to go to charity anyway. I just want to know that I don’t have to get a job at some point later in life. I want to know that I’m taken care of, but I think it could be harmful for me to have $20 million.”

    Which reminds me of Fred Gratzon’s definition of success:

    Here is how I know someone is successful — If you are able to give from your abundance then you are successful.

    – Fred Gratzon (source)


  • We love IKEA – and they love us :o)

    Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA

    I’ve been a fan of IKEA for a while now. I like their vision (to create a better everyday life for the many people) and admire their founder, Ingvar Kamprad, who is by all accounts a terribly nice person. I’ve previously quoted him as saying that:

    Work should always be fun for all colleagues. We all only have one life. A third of life is work. Without desire and fun, work becomes hell.

    – Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA

    They may also be the only corporation that lowers the price of umbrellas, when it rains!

    So when we got IKEA as a customer, I was delighted!

    Their Taastrup branch (located 30 km outside of Copenhagen) have committed themselves to becoming an even happier workplace and have hired us to help. In October I did a two-day workshop for their managers and yesterday my fantastic co-worker Jon (in the picture above) and I spoke at a kick-off event for all employees.

    The kick-off was a huge success, due to the meticulous and creative planning by the store’s managers, the entertaining hosts (two well-known Danish TV and radio hosts) and a great crowd. And, of course, because Jon and I kicked some major butt with our presentation. In all modesty :o)

    The entire project is called GLÄDJE (happiness in Swedish), which IKEA aficionados will immediately recognize as a play on the company’s all-Swedish product names.

    While more and more organizations are trying to become happy workplaces, it’s rare to see a business that approaches the process with the same determination, commitment and creativity as IKEA Taastrup.

    Here are some of the things that have impressed us about their approach:

    • While this started out as a project to raise customer satisfaction, they quickly realized, that the way to do it is to raise employee happiness. That’s enlightened thinking.
    • It’s a long-term commitment, and happiness will be the main goal of the store for the next three years.
    • The managers are walking the talk and taking a leading role in creating more happiness.
    • They recognize that employees must be engaged at every level of the process.
    • They’ve hired a bureau to create graphics and design for the project, which means that it looks great.
    • And best of all, they hired us :o)

    The next step is a series of workshops for all managers and employees which we will host in January and February and then a series of meetings to be held in every department.

    They’re well on the way already. Recently, the store’s bed department transformed a Saturday from the busiest day of the week to the happiest. The employees all put on bath robes over their uniforms and staged a pillow fight in the store between staff and customers. Down and feathers was everywhere.

    Some employees also hid in the wardrobes. When customers opened them to have a look, they’d step out saying “Hi, can I help?”

    So if you shop at IKEA Taastrup, don’t be surprised if you run into some very happy people.


  • I’m back

    I’m back at work after a nice long Christmas vacation and a week’s snowboarding in France and my fantastic co-workers and I are hitting the ground running.

    It wasn’t easy though – our flight back was 7 hours late(!), so I got home at 6AM on Sunday morning and had to get dressed and leave pretty much right away to do a presentation for IKEA. But when you’re an experienced speaker you don’t need sleep – you can work on adrenaline and caffeine instead :o)

    Today I got to spend some quality time with my inbox today (MAN, I get a lot of mail :o) and tomorrow I’m giving two presentations at Denmark’s biggest conference for public leaders and employees. Approximately 5.000 people will be there and if you’re coming, you can find us at exhibit booth 17.


  • Snowed out

    Ho ho ho

    I was supposed to give a speech at LEGO’s corporate center today on better meetings but the snowfall in Denmark has been so heavy, that almost no one showed up for work there.

    So they decided to postpone the event and that gave me time to do some other chores, like autographing about 100 copies of my 3rd book as well as writing Christmas cards to partners, friends and customers.

    Between the snow outside, the cards, our photoshoot yesterday and the Christmas music playing here at the office I’m rapidly approaching some real holiday cheer :o)

    PS: Right now our office sound system is playing the Christmastime album by Danish vocal group Basix. Awesome. Check them out (song starts at 2:00):


  • Merry Christmas

    Happy at work - at Christmas

    This is us – me, Patricia and Jon doing a little photo shoot for our annual Christmas card to customers and partners.

    Merry Christmas everybody :o)


  • Name us!

    Help us find a new name

    We want a new name. ‘Cause the name we have right now sucks :o)

    Currently our company is called “Projekt Arbejdsglæde” (The Happy at Work Project) which doesn’t work for two reasons:

    1. It’s in Danish – and we’re increasingly working outside of Denmark
    2. It doesn’t even sound that good in Danish :o)

    You know how we even got that name? Back when I founded the company, I couldn’t come up with a name for it. So I said “Until I come up with a name, we’ll just call it The Happy at Work Project.” Biiiiiig mistake :o)

    So – we want a new name. And we’d love your help.

    Here are some parameters:

    • The name has to signify energy, joy, happiness, zest.
    • We’re keeping our logo (the little jumping dude you can see above), so something that connects to jumping would be great!
    • We want something different, provocative, interesting, untraditional and fun. Something that’ll grab people’s attention.
    • It should work in as many languages as possible.
    • The .com domain name should be free.

    Just to give you a sense of what we want – we’d actually decided to go with the name SPOING inc. Then it turned out that there is already another company in Demark called Spoing. Darn!

    So… do you have an idea for a name for our company? Write a comment.

    Everyone who suggests a name will receive a free pdf e-book copy of my first book Happy Hour is 9 to 5. So have at it  – I can’t wait to see what you guys come up with :o)


  • Friday Spoing

    This Friday’s Friday Spoing is otterly amazing:

    I’m doing two speeches today at Danske Bank and Oracle. Have a happy week-end and there’ll be more blogging on Monday :o)


  • What’s on your door?

    Aude Simon is a manager at a bank here in Copenhagen, and a few months back she promoted herself to Chief Happiness Officer. She came by our office today to tell us how she makes her employees and co-workers happier. Her main instrument is… her office door.

    Here she talks to my colleague Jon about it:

    That is just awesome and Aude’s co-workers love it. Little things like that take no time but still do make a difference.

    Your take

    Could you do this where you work? Do you already do something similar? Write a comment, I’d love to know your take.


  • A question for ya: How do you play at work?

    A question for yaI got this email from Samuel West in Sweden:

    You, your blog and your book inspired me to write a book on happiness at work in Swedish. The book is suppose to be done before X-mas. As you know the Swedes are not as happy as the Danes at work or after work.. so we really need more happiness at work.

    I am having problems with a chapter on playfulness. I don’t want to just omit it, since I think playfulness is vital to happiness at work. The examples of playfulness at work that I have are just not good enough for my book. I was wondering if you could ask your blog readers for examples of how they are playful at work. Examples of everyday playfulness!

    That is an excellent question. Here are two great examples I’ve seen in other workplaces.

    The Specialized lunch ride:

    Zappos at work/play:

    But what about you? How do YOU play at work? Give Sam a hand and write a comment below. Heck, you might even make it into his book :o)



Get our newsletter

“I can’t believe it – a newsletter actually worth reading!”
– Subscriber

Over 6,000 people subscribe to our newsletter with tons of tips about happiness at work.


Get our books

“It’s very, very good. It’s incredibly well written, full of insights, and there are exercises to improve your own happiness at work. You can’t ask for more than that!”
– David Maister, author of Practice What You Preach

“What an inspiring book. Every leader should read it. This type of leadership has been integral to our success and I know it will boost your results too.
– Garry Ridge, CEO WD-40 Company


Get Our Free Newsletter

Over 6,000 people already get our free newsletter with useful tips, videos, links and articles about happiness at work.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.