Whose Happiness Is It Anyway?

In March 2014 I embarked on a new adventure as the Chief Happiness Officer of a digital start-up called ANDigital.  My job in a nutshell is to look after the culture, values and employee engagement of this dynamic company while it evolves, and to keep the rest of the Management Team honest in terms of doing what's right for our people.

While this role is the most exciting challenge of my career to date, sometimes it can feel overwhelming.  When I tell people my job title, whether at Meet Ups or at parties the response is very mixed.  Some laugh.  Some are incredulous.  Some demand proof of what I actually do.  Lots of people assume my job is to “Make Everyone Happy All The Time” – it’s an impossible job.  And also that isn’t my job.  

Happiness at work is one of those subjects that can be either extremely complex or extremely simple depending on your frame of mind.  On days when I need simplicity I think Happiness at Work essentially means that people want to be here.  But the degrees to which they want to be here; exactly where they are on the scale of “cut me and I bleed ANDigital” to “here’s my resignation letter”; and how much we as a company can influence that – that is what occupies my mind on the complex days.

So the aim of this blog is to shed a little light on what Happiness at Work is (what it looks like, what it feels like); why it is important (to the company and to individuals) and what we at ANDigital can do and are doing to influence the proportion of people’s Happiness that is our responsibility and our honour to be able to influence.

I welcome your comments and your work stories and hope that together we can determine how to create workplaces that enable employee happiness.

Happy Reading