If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands
This past week has been a non-stop full-throttle fly-me-across-the-globe-and-back kind of week. Madrid, Seattle, Berlin and Prague in 7 days! For the record that’s over 25 hours of flying, 4 different time zones and way too many public washrooms than I’d care to count. Knowing that you can stay connected and work from anywhere makes it seem like you won’t miss a work beat while trotting across the globe. So of course, I promise myself I’ll spend the entire flight working. My internal dialogue always goes something like this: “Your flight from Europe to the west coast is 9 hours long, perfect quiet time to work on report XYZ and presentation ABC” or “Oh good, there’s reliable wifi in Amsterdam during your stopover so you’ll be able to catch up on some emails and maybe take some calls”. Don’t we all have the best intentions?
But the best laid plans are always meant to be broken.
In reality, that 9-hour-long flight at 7 am isn’t conducive for working on all 5 tasks I had set out for myself. Couldn’t keep my eyes open if I tried. If I ever have trouble sleeping I should just book a flight to go somewhere. The best thing that’s happened to me on all these travel days is the little girl that is non-stop kicking the back of my seat on this 6:00 am flight to Berlin. I’m not telling her to stop since it’s ensuring that I don’t fall asleep and that I get some of the work done that I had set out to do.
Even though freedom in work comes with some concessions, I couldn’t be happier that I have this flexibility in my life right now. I love seeing new cities, scouting out my coworking space for the day or week in a trendy neighbourhood, and having conversations with people I normally would not have met. Nothing says living like a local than working in the city you are visiting. Aside from the flexibility, I have autonomy in my work and am working for something I feel strongly about. In turn, I feel more motivated than I ever have before in a job. Am I still learning what are reasonable expectations for when I plan on working? Definitely, but the one thing that’s changed is that I actually feel like doing the work in the first place. This new level of motivation and happiness is directly correlated to how productive I am when I am working.
With all this recent travel I’ve been able to catch up on some reading and get my money’s worth from my Economist subscription (especially during the airplane safety schpeel and takeoff before nodding off to sleep once in the air). In a September edition of The Economist, there’s an article that discusses companies that have been devoting significant resources to quantify, measure and develop a happier workforce — some even hiring a Chief of Happiness Officer (CHO). All of these happiness efforts are after the same ‘side effect’ of achieving increased productivity from their employees. Mind you the columnist writes the article in a very tongue-in-cheek tone, poo-pooing this new happiness cult wave due to the inaccuracy of measuring happiness. First of all, the idea of happier, more engaged employees resulting in increased productivity is not new, but he might have one point …. I also consider certain aspects of happiness to be a subjective matter. Obviously, there are varying degrees of it and it means something different to each person.
However, do I know the difference between being content, happy and ecstatic when I wake up in the morning? Sure do.
Regardless of how I choose to define how I might be feeling in the morning, I know the difference between if I’m feeling good or if I’m not.
“If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands….” ¡*clap* *clap*!
The fact that there is a distinct difference between being happy and not feeling indifferent or sad or angry is really all that matters here when supporting these studies. Most studies (Gallup, IBM, Deloitte) go a step further than quoting an emotional state such as happiness but refer to it as employee engagement. The exact degree of the subjective happiness and its correlation to a more objective thing like productivity might still need to be fine-tuned but the overarching positive correlation can’t be refuted. Even though the concept is not new, what is new is that we are starting to see more and more companies actually doing something about it. The competitive advantage game is strong here especially with Gallup research reporting staggering facts like $450 — $550 billion is lost in productivity each year in America due to disengaged employees. Or how Harvard Business Review discusses that “research shows that when people work with a positive mind-set, performance on nearly every level — productivity, creativity, engagement — improves” — up 31% to be exact. Or that companies with happy employees outperform the competition by 20%. It can be concluded that when you’re feeling good, confident and have a positive mindset, the creative juices are more apt to flow and you perform better when tackling tasks or facing challenges.
This is something I know we’ve all felt.
So for companies that want to outperform the competition and have a productive workforce, this happiness factor is something that can’t be ignored. As a wise friend of mine likes to say, you’re either in or you’re in the way. I know I want to be the best me and live the best life possible while working for a company that supports me in my own happiness endeavours even if it means they’re getting more ‘work’ out of me. And heck, it makes me happy that it’s a two-way street.
Michelle is part of the Business Development team at Remote Year, a year-long program that allows professionals to travel the world while working remotely for their current employer.
