Ahead of the curve

Businesses are taking happiness seriously according to academics. The latest modules on several management schools agendas - described variously by different academic institutions as ‘meaning’, ‘human flourishing’ and ‘subjective wellbeing’ - are all about happiness.

The interest in it is universal. The IE Business School in Spain, Michigan University and Singapore Management University are all taking an interest and experts in the subject agree that businesses need to factor happiness into workplaces practices to maximise employee potential.

As Andrew Oswald, an economist at Warwick University recently explained in an article in the Financial Times: “When people become happier they somehow find more energy. We don’t know how they do it.”

He believes that in terms of management, interest in happiness the commercial advantage it brings has crossed from a niche area to a mainstream trend and that it is here to stay and ‘unstoppable’.

Of course while this is all good news for businesses and employees alike, it is nothing new to us at Laughology. We have spearheaded the happiness in business movement in the UK for the last six years and our research has shown that happier workforces are more productive, resilient and creative, which is definitely something to smile about.