What gets measured gets done.

In my previous posts, I shared about the business benefits of positive emotions at work and how Singapore workplaces are generally experienced by employees.

If we value employee happiness, then it’s important to measure it – and act on the results. 

Jessica Pryce-Jones

One person who has made a strong impact in the field of measurement of happiness at work is Jessica Pryce-Jones. I decided to become a practitioner of the tool she and her colleagues at the iOpener Institute for People and Performance developed after reading her personal story in her book, “Happiness at Work: Maximising your Psychological Capital for Success”.

She wrote that in what she thought would be a well-paid dream job, her stomach “lurched with the dread of going into work.” Once, her boss sent a memo to staff saying: “When I come out of my office I expect to see your heads bent. When your heads are bent, you’re working and when they are not, you’re not. This is not a holiday camp.”

One day she went for a run during lunchtime and found herself wondering: “I wonder if I could get a little bit run over by a bus? Because if I could get a little bit run over, I could take three weeks out and not have to be here.” This was a powerful awakening for Jessica and got her wondering if it was possible to be happy at work. That was the seed for her research and extensive work into happiness at work.

iOpener People And Performance Questionnaire

Jessica co-founded the iOpener Institute For People And Performance which defines happiness at work as “a mindset which enables action to maximize performance and achieve potential.” 

iOpener has developed the iOpener People And Performance Questionnaire out of rigorous research with over 50,000 respondents from around the world. It is based on the performance happiness model.

Based on their extensive research, iOpener has found that performance and happiness at work is affected by several factors:

• Contribution (the effort staff put in)

• Conviction (short-term motivation)

• Culture (fit with organisation)

• Commitment (long-term engagement)

• Confidence (belief in one’s abilities)

• Trust in an organisation

• Pride in an organisation

• Recognition from an organisation

• Achieving potential

The tool can measure happiness at work at individual, team, and organisational levels. It also has a 360 version. 

You can use the results to implement training and development interventions in the specific areas that need to be improved on, and leverage on areas you’re doing well in. 

Don’t Make This Mistake

Employees can get cynical if hardly any meaningful action is taken after such surveys. One person told me that she knows how to answer the questions in such surveys so that she can do it in as short a time as possible because she believes little action will be action.

If you are interested in using the iOpener People And Performance Questionnaire at your workplace, contact me.

 Visit the JoyWorks page to find out more about Vadivu’s work.

_{Edited by Michelle Sarthou
Photographs: Shutterstock}

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