Welcome back to Office Hours with Arthur Brooks. In this episode, I turn to a place where many of us spend most of our waking hours: the workplace. Whether you’re an employee, a manager, or leading an organization, happiness at work is not just a nice-to-have; it is a proven driver of productivity, loyalty, and even company performance.
Drawing on research from Irrational Capital and insights from my book The Happiness Files, I share the six factors that truly make people happier at work, and explain why gimmicks and perks cannot compare.
I discuss:
• The most important factor that drives happiness at work
• How direct, honest communication reduces fear and builds trust
• The surprising impact a manager’s mood has on team morale
• One of the easiest and fastest ways to boost happiness and productivity at work
• How investing in learning, mentorship, and growth creates lasting engagement
• Should you be making friends at work?
• The leadership styles that fail employees and the two that actually inspire loyalty and performance
• How much do your pay and perks directly impact your happiness?
• Audience Q&A on knowing if there is a God, if your personality makes you more likely to be unhappy, and dealing with temptation
We’d love to hear any feedback you have. Please email us at officehours@arthurbrooks.com. And please leave a review on Apple or Spotify. Thanks for listening!
Referenced:
• Leadership and Happiness course: https://www.hbs.edu/coursecatalog/1885.html
• How to Build a Life: https://www.theatlantic.com/projects/how-build-life/
• The Happiness Files: Insights on Work and Life: https://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Files-Insights-Arthur-Brooks/dp/B0F4MFQ6VN
• The 8 Stupidest Management Fads of All Time: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-8-stupidest-management-fads-of-all-time/
• Does Employee Happiness Have an Impact on Productivity?: https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4766
• Happiness and Productivity: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/681096
• J.P. Morgan Research: https://www.irrational.capital/jp-morgan-research
• Why Meetings Are Terrible for Happiness: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/11/why-meetings-are-terrible-happiness/672144/
• Dear Manager, You’re Holding Too Many Meetings: https://hbr.org/2022/03/dear-manager-youre-holding-too-many-meetings
• The Magic of 30-Minute Meetings: https://hbr.org/2016/02/the-magic-of-30-minute-meetings
• 5 Benefits of Corporate Employee Training & Development: https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/employee-training-development
• A survey method for characterizing daily life experience: the day reconstruction method: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15576620/
• Why It’s So Lonely at the Top: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/08/how-make-friends-lonely-boss-workaholic/615709/
• Oxytocin: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22618-oxytocin
• Leadership that gets Results: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315250601-9/leadership-gets-results-daniel-goleman
• Leadership Perspectives: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781315250601/leadership-perspectives-alan-hooper?refId=a4f1f42c-000b-434c-99bb-adc4e1216a00&context=ubx
• Vincent van Gogh: https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/art-and-stories/art/vincent-van-gogh
