Spread a little happiness – because it helps

This is a piece written for management and it’s about caring. I think I read it because I don’t connect those two words and I was curious. Also suspicious. Sure enough, it’s a bit fluffy bunny but it recognises that and says no, come on, this stuff works:

“Countless studies have found that social relationships are the best guarantee of heightened well-being and lowered stress,” [positive psychology expert Shawn] Achor told me, “and both are an antidote for depression and a prescription for high performance.”

While it’s all too common in business for bosses to spot a few employees chatting it up in the halls and instinctively conclude that they’re dodging work, the research proves that the better people feel about workplace relationships, the more effective they become.

When surveying employee engagement all over the world, Gallup routinely asks workers, “Do you have a supervisor or someone at work who cares about you?” While many CEOs have asked Gallup to remove this question with the belief that it’s inherently soft and un-useful, Gallup discovered that people who answered “yes” to it were more productive, contributed more to profits, and were significantly more likely to remain with the firm.

Three Uncommon Ways to Drive Happiness in the Workplace – Mark C Crowley, FastCompany (13 November 2014)

Read the full piece. It’s long and it’s detailed but it’s interesting.