Research Shows How Managers Control Happiness

On a recent Price of Business show, Host Kevin Price visited with Dr. Craig Knight about the importance of happiness in the workplace.

Running a survey and an experiment titled, “Covid-19: The Value of a Creative Culture,” Identity Realization enquired about the population’s emotional and mental temperature, and its intellectual performance as people contemplated a return to workplace. The project explored the upsides of working from home and the elements of the old workplace that employees were missing, as well as the psychological effects of Covid-19 on feelings, performance and function.

During lockdown, a happy employee was seen to be autonomous, and connected to both friends and colleagues. Pandemic notwithstanding, these psychological engines delivered a strong sense of wellness. This in turn, meant better engagement across the organization, less stress, higher feelings of creativity and sustained performance. Unhappy workers, meanwhile, suffered across all fronts including their noticeably inferior intellectual performance.

“Our research found that organizations should allow conversations, stop monitoring and allow autonomy; all of which results in a happy and engaged employee,” said Dr. Craig Knight, Founder of Identity Realization who is a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society, and Registered Occupational Psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council, as well as an Honorary Research Fellow at The University of Exeter. “The results of the research were dramatic and found that happiness is engendered by a combination of active social and business connections, and of being allowed to manage the workflow as the employee saw fit.”

“These are the oddest of times,” says Dr. Craig Knight is Founder and Director of Identity Realization Limited (IDR), a commercial organization with strong connections to blue chip industry and an Honorary Research Fellow at The University of Exeter who was a guest on The Price of Business.  “Few of us are living our normal lives. We do not know what will happen next or when this insidious virus will go away. And will it come back again? If I catch it how will it affect me? And what about my loved ones? Of course, people are stressed.  As a workplace psychologist, I’m often asked what the psychological effects of COVID-19 are on employees. With so many possible – often dark – scenarios, COVID-19 is a breeding ground for cognitive dissonance. This is a world where a hug is now a threat, avoiding contact is a social nicety and passing somebody a pitcher of lemonade could lead to a hospital stay.

Anxiety is ubiquitous, with restlessness almost a given. These have knock on effects for the individual and the group. Of course, depression then becomes a risk and a rather nasty spiral can set in. However, stress, uncertainty, lack of money all contribute to mental overload. Some people have had a good lockdown, of course. They have enjoyed the absence of the daily commute and not being monitored at work. But even here, a lack of normality seems to be eating at the corners. The upsides are decreasing.

My company recently released a survey and an experiment titled, “Covid-19: The Value of a Creative Culture,” supported by Obo Life, Tarkett and Art Acumen. We enquired about the population’s behavior, temperament and emotional temperature, as well as its intellectual performance as people contemplated a return to workplace.  The project explored the upsides of working from home and the elements of the old workplace that employees were missing; which included the psychological effects of Covid-19 on feelings, performance and function.”

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW IN ITS ENTIRETY HERE: