The essence of this insight is that happiness — an umbrella term for wellbeing, frequent positive emotion, and optimism seems to predict superior performance writ large.

Success (All Contexts) – A meta-study (a study of studies) of 200+ studies with 250,000+ participants found a surprising relationship between happiness and success. Researchers propose that it is actually happiness that leads to success in a variety of life outcomes. Happiness (frequent positive emotion) is associated with greater success in marriage/family outcomes, job performance, immune function, creativity, and self-perception (confidence).

See Happiness lead to success in a variety of life outcomes.

Bravery & Performance  – A study from the University of Pennsylvania titled “Happy soldiers are highest performers” was published in 2021. Researchers examined a sample of 908,096 soldiers in the US Army and found that happiness (defined as optimism and tendency towards positive emotion) predicted awards for performance and heroism. In fact, soldiers with the highest vs. lowest happiness were about four times more likely to win an award over a four year follow up window.

See 7A. Happiness in soldiers predicts performance and heroism.

Creativity/Innovation – A meta-analysis of about 25 years of studies found that positive moods produce more creativity than mood-neutral controls. Creativity is enhanced most by positive states that are activating and have an “approach motivation”.  An approach motivation (say, inspiration) contrasts with an avoidance motivation (like fear). It’s worth noting that emotions like fear and anxiety (common under stress) were associated with lower creativity. This corresponds to research by Barbara Fredrickson who found that eliciting positive emotion expands thought-action repertoires. The thought-action repertoire is a way of assessing cognitive flexibility — it is an assessment of the range of thoughts and actions available to you when prompted with a given situation (a good proxy for creativity and innovativeness).

See 7B. Happiness (positive emotion) improves creativity and problem solving (innovation).

Safety/Compliance – Through a meta-analysis of responses based on Gallup's Q12 employee engagement survey, Gallup researchers compared top and bottom quartile organizations with respect to engagement (interest and enthusiasm at work). They looked at 53 organizations’ safety data. Between the top and bottom quartiles there was a 70% difference in safety performance. Safety measures included percentage of workdays lost as a result of incidents, number of incidents, or incident rates. This squares with one of our organizational transformation case studies at Happiness Means Business in which we helped Young’s Commercial Transfer, the nation’s largest ag transporter, cut their cost of claims by 80% year over year saving $3M in insurance premiums.

See 7G. Employee engagement drives safety outcomes.

Healthcare Economics – Nearly all hospital operating models feature funding from the CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid) as a critical component of financial health. Funding from the CMS is in large part determined by HCAHPS score: this is a survey to patients about how satisfied they were with their experience at the hospital). The wellbeing of caregivers influences the quality of care they provide. For example, depressed caregivers are more likely to engage in patient neglect and abuse. Poor caregiver mental health weakens the relationships between patients and caregivers and this is linked to poorer physical health, impaired immune functioning, and mortality.

https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/6DxZ6Bw4Tgj-HSOYWn1yYSmsj2OH6ZyNAfcLpcQnJOQZIcbe-nd4lwqG2Mogu1ofcioIdFArR-MTRw39lQ-BDTI8qCxfTjujg1-ubaOq_AJsRTkrqEFsxhDZ-BjLrZ6jpnXcQ5eOGlJb0Ix5B48szCs

See 7D. Happiness at work is critical for healthcare economics.

Attrition/Retention – Happier and more engaged employees are more likely to stay with the company. The cost of replacing a single salaried employee can often range from one to two times annual salary when we consider the embedded costs of lost productivity, loss of institutional knowledge, rehiring, and retraining costs. Some useful figures come from a research report by online tech community Built In. Their data suggests turnover costs include $1,500 for hourly employees, 100 to 150% of an employee’s salary for technical positions, and up to 213% of an employee’s salary for C-suite positions.

Here is useful research from McKinsey & Co. (reference). It looks at the disconnect between what employees value and what employers think they value. Essential components of happiness and wellbeing at work (valued by manager, valued by organization, sense of belonging) matter more than what employers tend to focus on (compensation, health, looking for better jobs).