We all want to be happy, right?
I thought, in light of all the COVID-19 chaos, that it would be a good idea to switch gears a little bit, and the topic of “happiness in the workplace” seemed like a good place to start. There’s a lot of negativity out there, so I hope that this episode will give you a more positive take on your current situation and hopefully make your workplace a little happier.
On May 19th, we brought on Nic Marks, the CEO and Founder of Friday Pulse, a company whose goal is to make workplaces happier. Nic is a statistician by trade, and he uses his expertise to teach people how to find the happiness they’re seeking.
Lockdown Woes
We’ve all, no doubt, been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, so I was curious what Nic thought about the state of happiness right now.
I assume that this isn’t the first time that someone posed this question. Nic replied, “I would say the state of happiness is variable. Some are undoubtedly really struggling. There was a survey out which said that 15% of people are really struggling with the lockdown and then a third of the 15% are having strong difficulties. But probably 40-50% of the population, they’re quite okay.” It seems to depend on several factors, many of which are completely out of our control.
The Perfect Storm
I know that some haven’t been affected by this pandemic as greatly as others — for example, those with stable employment and those who already worked from home before it hit. That’s why I wanted to focus on those who are currently struggling. I was curious about the cause of such discontent. Is it financial? Is it fear-mongering from the media? Is it a combination of factors?
Nic explained that, if you’re prone to anxiety, this crisis is the perfect storm. “Viruses are unseen, creepy, difficult to understand. We’ve made everyone frightened of each other. And, of course, what’s going on from a purely emotional perspective is fear and anxiety. Fear is an emotion that helps us avoid a threat. In that sense, people tend to either run away, which is a very valid way of trying to get rid of this threat. On the other hand, we’re gathering together to try to fight the threat, but those efforts are limited when we have to practice social distancing.”
He continued, “So there are all sorts of ways that the emotional cues that we’re getting don’t align with the actions we can take, and that causes anxiety and fear.”
Media Fear Tactics: Where Should We Turn?
Nic explained that the media plays “on fear and anger — on negative emotions — because they’re so powerful for us.” And his advice? Mental health experts recommend that we not listen to the news too much. Of course, it’s good to be informed, but we need to understand that the goal of the media isn’t to provide unbiased information, but rather — in most cases — to play on our fear. Instead of focusing on the social media feed, turn inwards. Spend time with family and friends and do things that bring you peace.
Happiness, Nic noted, arises from connecting with those who build us up and disconnecting from people that are bad for us. We should “edit our address book and cut people out of our lives” when they don’t offer anything positive. We also know that physical activity is great for mood. “If you are feeling anxious, stressed, or overwhelmed, getting outside in the fresh air can work wonders,” Nic recommended. And for those working from home sitting at a desk all day, make sure you stretch, put on some music, take a break.
Friday Pulse: How They Help
Since this podcast is all about making our workplaces better, I was curious about what Friday Pulse does to create a happier workforce. Nic said that there are a variety of reasons that companies want to work with Friday Pulse, from wanting to show in their recruitment policy that they take happiness seriously to needing help communicating effectively with employees. Nic added, “And one of the things that’s sort of distinct about our platform is that we support line managers in the process of creating culture across the organization. We’ve also had quite a lot of people coming to us because they’re genuinely worried about employee morale, and they want to explore having a tool that helps them with that.”
Letting the Negative Lead to the Positive
When Nic and I discussed workplace negatives and positives, I was really impressed with his approach. I think most people do these surveys of happiness to somehow showcase how happy they are, but I think it’s important to acknowledge, not ignore, the negative stuff. And if you can’t acknowledge the negative, how do you even build happiness programs for your employees?
Nic responded, “It’s dysfunctional to be happy all the time. I’m actually a really positive guy, and the problems I’ve gotten myself into throughout my life have been over optimism. Why override negative signals? Because it’s easier to look on the bright side. However, just because it’s easier, that doesn’t mean it’s better in the long run.”
“It’s the same in the workforce. It’s unrealistic to think that everyone’s happy all the time. Of course, you want to have a good, strong set of relationships. You want to have robust teams that can bounce back. And I actually think that you can observe resilience in a system by measuring that team morale and employee wellbeing every week. You’ll see it dip and you’ll see people bounce back. And that’s resilience. And we’ve seen it across every one of our clients over the last six weeks.”
Finding Positivity in the Workplace
Nic went on to discuss five ways that you and I can experience positivity in the workplace:
Connect: It’s about relationships between colleagues and between teams. Are they healthy? How do they function?
Fairness: Humans are explicitly attuned to injustices and it makes us very angry when things don’t feel fair. Happiness comes when employees feel that leadership treats them with justice and fairness.
Empower: This is being able to influence the decisions, shape your work, use your strengths, be yourself.
Challenge: People love challenges. They crave personal development, so “a bit of a stretch is great for us” as employees.
Inspire: What are our higher goals? When we know an organization’s purpose, we feel a sense of accomplishment and value in our work.
These five concepts are healthy across the board, whether you’re implementing them among small or large teams, individuals, or remote workers.
We All Just Want to Be Happy
I really appreciated this conversation with Nic. Before our interview came to a close, Nic encouraged us to check out the weekly tips that he offers at www.FridayPulse.com. In addition to these tips, he also writes a blog article each week about happiness, team morale, and resilience. Friday Pulse is also releasing a resilience calculator, which will show you what you could lose if you don’t look after the team morale. Essentially, Friday Pulse is trying to create things that help people pay attention to employee experience. Nic added, “We spend a lot of time at work. So, improving people’s work experience seems a valid thing to do.”
Listen to the full interview with Nic Marks: