Happy Culture = Increased Productivity +

Organizational leaders, managers, and economists have long looked at different strategies to increase employees’ performance and productivity. This person needs more education; this one needs more training and skill development; everyone needs the newest technology. Few have considered what is all too often an overlooked element – human emotion.

A team of researchers led by Andrew Oswald, a professor of economics at Warwick Business School and a leading authority on the relationship between economics and mental health, have completed research that documents what most of us already know intuitively but have never had such clear data to support (try not to fall out of your seats for this one): Positive emotions invigorate human performance and negative emotions diminish performance. While this may seem patently obvious to many of you reading this, I assure you, there are many would would choose to deny or ignore this now well-proven concept.

In their study, happy workers were 12% more productive and unhappy workers were 10% less productive. These findings were consistent for both men and women. This difference is striking and demands attention be paid to the emotional states experienced by our employees in the cultures we create.

Interestingly, the level of happiness was self-reported. This means than an outside of work event, such as a divorce, did not necessarily predict the individual’s level of happiness and therefore, productivity. For example, imagine two people who work in the same company are going through a divorce, Employee A and Employee B. Employee A believes they are being abandoned and are fearful they will never find another partner. Employee A is likely to have a negative emotional experience and have lower productivity. Employee B believes that, while divorce is difficult, others have made it through and they can as well. They believe that while not ideal, they will find a better circumstance in the future. Employee B is more likely to have a neutral to positive experience of the situation and have higher productivity.

The point here is that as leaders in organizations, we want to create a culture that takes a genuine interest in our employees at all levels. It is not now, nor has it ever been, a good practice to expect employees to separate work from home – to “keep home at home.”  We are all whole and complete human beings. If, in our organizations, we want to get the most productivity from our employees; if as human beings, we want to build a culture that fosters human health and happiness, we must meet people where they are and understand that we all live in a complex and messy world. When we build a culture that understands and appreciates this fact, we get more productive employees, happier colleagues and coworkers, and a healthier culture and society.

Keep cultivating your culture!

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