And the Liberal Democrats' policy statement, as reported by HR Magazine, does well to include specific reference to the world of work. But employers must take this idea one step further if they truly want to see the increased performance and sustained engagement promised by this movement.
Both employee satisfaction and wellbeing are important measures. And the Lib Dems are not alone in calling for organisations to report on them. But, by themselves, these measures will not deliver the performance benefits employers seek.
Employee satisfaction has a long history of use as a predictor of performance. However, its actual connection to performance is variable at best. It is entirely possible for an employee to be satisfied with working their "nine to five", collecting their paycheck, and taking their annual holiday leave. But this would hardly be considered a state of high performance.
Wellbeing is a step in the right direction and should certainly be measured and promoted. But it is a general concept incorporating things such as mental and physical health. To be sure, employees who have good health, positive relationships and feel secure in their jobs will outperform ill, isolated, insecure employees. But these components of wellbeing only promote good performance, rather than peak performance.
Truly high-performing employees will not just be satisfied and healthy. They will be actively happy. And I don't mean the fluffy smiles and warm feelings of emotional happiness. I mean the motivation and aspiration that comes with the mindset of Happiness at Work.
Happiness at Work enables action to maximise performance and achieve potential. It is about developing the personal, team and organisational resources necessary to meet and exceed the challenges of the modern business world. It is the feeling of working towards a goal with the belief that you will achieve it.
Happiness at Work is becoming increasingly recognised as an important component of high-performing workplaces. The Wall Street Journal is using the iPPQ to conduct a global survey of Happiness at Work. And in the Economist's recent special report, "The future of work", the importance of Happiness at Work was one of the major underyling themes.
What's more, Happiness at Work is measurable and can be built through focused techniques. The iOpener Institute for People and Performance has developed a measure, the iPPQ, which assesses five primary components of Happiness at Work.
Contribution is the effort an individual or team makes. Conviction is your short-term motivation in both good times and bad. Culture is the extent to which you feel you fit at work. Commitment is your long-term motivation. And Confidence is your belief in your own abilities at work. The iPPQ is the result of a six-year research programme, which continues to generate new findings on the relationship between Happiness at Work and performance – and which continues to develop new techniques for building Happiness at Work and maximising performance.
It is a good thing that governments and political parties are promoting the importance of wellbeing. If the primary concern of a government is the wellbeing and protection of its citizens, then such a focus should be common sense. But if employers want to achieve truly high performance, they must promote more than baseline wellbeing.
They must measure and build the motivational mindset that is happiness at work.
Simon Lutterbie (pictured), director of research at the iOpener Institute for People and Performance
