Fun ways to measure Employee Happiness

A happy organisation is a sum total of employee happiness. Research suggests that Happiness or lack of it, can be a key differentiator in the performance of corporates. Happiness is the ultimate productivity boaster. Happy people have more energy, they are more creative, optimistic, motivated, and healthy. And to top it all, they are faster and better decision makers.

It is, therefore, critical to measure it through a scientific survey or study at least once a year and take corrective measures if so required. However, in between these exercises, quick and enjoyable activities can be taken to gauge the mood of the company. Many organisations are now adopting these fun and game ways to measure employee happiness on a daily or weekly basis. If there is a sudden dip in the happiness levels, efforts are made to identify the reasons which might have caused the same. If there is spurt in happiness levels, reason for that too is identified and efforts made to maintain the happiness levels.

Here are a few interesting ideas being put into practice by global companies that help in tracking your organisation’s ‘Mood’:

1. Keep two baskets marked Happy and Unhappy along with a sack full of balls. While employees are on their way home, ask them to put the ball in the basket of their choice. A quick count gives a fair idea of the mood of the organisation.



2. You can also use a single bin with balls/coins of three colours. Let the employees pick one that reflects their mood (for instance, green – happy, red – unhappy, blue – neutral) and put it in the bin. A quick count later would be a fair representation of the organisation’s mood.



3. Keep a laptop next to the exit. Ask the employees a simple question when they are leaving the office. Based on the answers through a week, happiness quotient of the organisation can be measured. The questions can be: How are you feeling today? Do you think this is a happy place to work? Are you happy with meal services we offer? You can also go ahead and allow employees to type down the questions that they want you to ask – you might be surprised by the questions and responses you get to the same.



4. Another interesting way is to create a smiley calendar – it can be either magnetic board where employees can post magnetic stickers or it can be a simple whiteboard where employees can draw a happy or sad smiley.

A word of caution here: the area where these activities are conducted should not have a cc TV camera, and if it does need to have one due to security reasons, it should be facing away from the area of activity. Most employees are more comfortable participating in these exercises anonymously.