Abstract
Why should a company be concerned about the happiness of its employees? Why should managers invest in their own and their colleagues’ Wholebeing? There are two main reasons. First, because it seems to me, as it does to most people, that if we can contribute to others’ happiness, then we ought to do so. If, beyond a paycheck, a company can pay employees in the ultimate currency, why shouldn’t it? Second, because happiness is a good investment. There is much evidence suggesting that increasing employees’ wellbeing contributes to a company’s financial performance. Happiness pays!
We can more fully recognize the material benefits of investing in employees’ wellbeing through a better understanding of the oft-misunderstood relationship between success and happiness. Most people believe that success leads to happiness, that doing well leads to being well. This model turns out to be wrong.
Happy employees have more engaging and autonomous jobs, they are more satisfied with their jobs, and they show superior performance in the workplace than less happy employees.
—Julia Boehm & Sonja Lyubomirsky
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Ben-Shahar, T. (2021). In the Workplace. In: Happiness Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64869-5_6
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