The Happiness Monitor
Have you heard that Hitachi’s developed wearable technology that can measure whether a group of people is happy?
It works like this: users wear card-sized devices equipped with acceleration sensors that monitor a group’s behavior and send data to a cloud-based server.
According to the Wall Street Journal, “each card detects certain types of actions from various types of movement such as walking, nodding and typing. It then uses this data to interpret the group’s overall mood.”
These monitors won’t be cheap. Each one will cost upwards of $800.00.
Why would any corporation go to such lengths to keep tabs on how its workers are feeling?
Because a happy worker is a much more productive worker. Earlier this year, the University of Warwick found that happiness led to a 12% spike in productivity, while unhappy workers proved 10% less productive.
Shawn Anchor, who’s the author of a book called “The Happiness Advantage,” describes it this way: “the brain works much better when a person is feeling positive. At these times individuals tend to be more creative and better at solving problems. And … when workers are happy they’re more effective collaborators working toward common goals.”
Of course, if you’re an employer, you can save yourself the cost of these pricey monitors by just making sure your workplace is a happy one. Here are a few tips from forbes.com:
- Pay fairly.
- Deliver awesome benefits.
- Keep an open leadership door.
- Share the profits.
And here’s a fifth one from me: close the office early for holidays. That’s what I’ll be doing. Thanks and have a great Thanksgiving.
Source: wsj.com, forbes.com, fastcompany.com, inc.com