Tal Ben-Shahar, Psychology Lecturer at Harvard University talks about how organisations can use Positive Psychology to improve motivation, creativity and loyalty, and ultimately productivity (2.37 mins).

Thanks to bigthink.com

The American Psychological Association has just announced the five winners of its 2009 Psychologically Healthy Workplace Awards. The statistics quoted are interesting:

• Their average turnover rate is 11% vs 39% nationally
• 85% of their employees reported being satisfied with their jobs vs 61% nationally
• 87% of their employees said they would recommend their organizations to others as a good place to work, vs 44% nationally
• Only 5% their employees intend to seek employment elsewhere within the next year, vs 32% nationally
• Only 25%  of their employees reported experiencing chronic work stress vs 39% nationally.

What surprised me somewhat was the last statistic – only 25%? And that’s a good place to work? I wonder whether the 2010 winners’ average will be higher or lower. We’ll have had over a year of Full-blown Economic Crisis by then. On the other hand, it’s also just been reported in the Wall Street Journal that people are more satisfied with their jobs than last year and less likely to complain (they’re grateful that at least they have a job).

The five award-winning organisations run programmes aimed at improving their employees’ involvement and recognition as well as their personal growth and development, and work-life balance. No wonder 91% of them say they care about the organisation they work for.

I wonder what the latest stats are for the UK, and whether they’re following the same trends…

A couple of years ago I met someone at a networking event whose business card described him as a ‘Chief Happiness Officer’. And no he wasn’t wearing a red nose, curly wig and big shoes…As a corporate role I couldn’t see it catching on (not in the UK anyway) but perhaps I was wrong…

This is an interesting article, especially bearing in mind the economic woes we’re experiencing. Personally I doubt whether any of the gestures made by these large organisations will be sufficient to enhance the psychological health of the target group for any longer than the time it takes to guzzle six pints of Ben ‘n’ Jerry’s…but then again, maybe I’m wrong about this too.

If any readers have experience of corporate “Happiness Police”, please do get in touch.

Image: TeeJe< /span>

Gallup-Healthways has recently issued details of their Well-being Index – a survey of over 100,000 Americans which shows that employees who are unhappy at work take, on average, an extra 15 days sick leave a year. Yes, that’s right, an extra 15 days a year.

The survey assesses well-being at work by asking employees about

i) job satisfaction,
ii) whether their boss is authoritative or collaborative,
iii) whether there is openness and trust in the workplace and
iv) whether their individual strengths are recognised.

Just over a fifth of full-time employees apparently reported working in a negative environment. Even if only a half of those surveyed are full-time, this still equates to an enormous amount of lost productivity.

Clearly this has significant cost implications for business and for the economy in general; so any organisation, profit-making or otherwise, which doesn’t take employee well-being seriously should probably think again.

This month my Positive Psychology News Daily article focuses on the problem of applying Positive Psychology in business.

At the moment there are only about a dozen or so validated interventions (i.e. exercises which are scientifically ‘proven’ to increase your well-being); all of them are common sense/what your grandmother knew; none of them are rocket-science. They’re all suitable for use in 1:1 therapy and coaching situations, but are they suitable in business? There are very few interventions being tested in businesses, and anyway, application is more of an art than a science.

I think we need to build up a knowledge base of case studies of how PP is being applied in organisational contexts, and what the effects are, in order for businesses to be persuaded that Positive Psychology has many tangible benefits worth considering.