By George Kohlrieser, Andrew Kohlrieser, Lord Mark Price, Zoe Sinclair, Michael Wade, Amit Joshi and Tim Duggan
In an era where employee wellbeing fuels business performance, happiness is emerging as a measurable driver of success. Gone are the days of seeing workplace joy as a perk. Today’s leaders recognise that fostering a culture of happiness builds stronger teams, drives innovation, and delivers real, sustainable growth.
In today’s fast-changing world, where agility, innovation, and resilience are vital for business success, the traditional lines between performance and wellbeing are quickly blurring. As employee engagement, mental health, and leadership effectiveness rise to the top of organisational priorities, fostering a positive, happiness-driven work culture is no longer just a “nice to have” – It’s a strategic imperative.
In this article, we asked five influential business leaders to share their perspectives on why happiness at work isn’t just good for people – it’s great for business. From improving retention to boosting productivity, they explore the tangible returns that come from putting people first.
Professor George Kohlrieser & Andrew Kohlrieser
Happiness in the workplace is not a luxury – it’s a strategic necessity. Happy teams are built on emotional bonding, trust, and psychological safety—core pillars of high performance. Neuroscience shows we are feeling beings who think, not the reverse.
When people feel valued and empowered, they become more innovative, collaborative, and resilient. Leaders who create secure bases unlock this potential, transforming teams from reactive to proactive, from disengaged to inspired.
Happiness isn’t the absence of conflict – it’s the presence of meaning, choice, and connection. When leaders shift from control to dialogue, they foster workplaces where people flourish – and so does business.
Lord Mark Price
Measuring and improving workplace happiness is crucial for business success, as happy employees are more engaged, productive, and loyal – it’s what I call Happy Economics.
A positive work environment encourages creativity, reduces stress, and enhances collaboration, ultimately leading to higher performance and retention.
To assess employee wellbeing, businesses can use surveys, feedback mechanisms, and performance metrics, such as the ones we offer at WorkL. Key factors include reward and recognition, information sharing, employee empowerment, job satisfaction, instilling pride and wellbeing. Investing in employee happiness not only boosts morale but also drives long-term business growth and a competitive edge.
Zoe Sinclair
Happiness at work is essential, not only because employers have a duty of care to support the mental wellbeing of their employees, but also because happier employees are up to 12% more productive too*.
Leaders can play a key role in tackling stigma about mental wellbeing in the workplace, leading by example to ensure employees feel psychologically safe to ask for the support they need. Don’t be afraid to ask employees how they are feeling, what their current levels of stress are, how well they feel supported by their manager, and more – these are key to understanding the crux of wellbeing in your workplace.
If an employee raises the red flag that they are in mental health crisis mode, offering them reactive support will go miles to building trust and fostering happiness. Listen to how staff are feeling with a judgement-free ear, and understand what would best help them. Ensure that you have an EAP in place to help with reactive support as needed, and build a culture of peer-to-peer support too, such as through Mental Health First Aiders, champions or allies.
Employees feeling safe, supported and listened to is an essential step in the path to workplace happiness.
*Oxford University’s Saïd Business School and the University of Warwick
Michael Wade and Amit Joshi
AI and AI agents will not only automate mundane daily tasks, but can also handle increasingly complex processes and systems.
Employees may soon not only be relieved from boring, repetitive tasks like data entry, but they may also get some relief from stressful work that requires them to interact with a variety of different systems. Indeed, our research suggests that use of generative AI at work is positively linked to satisfaction due to improved output quality.
Moreover, increasing productivity of organisations may prompt them to move to shorter work weeks. The net effect of these gains may be happier and more fulfilled employees.
Tim Duggan
The happiest and most engaged workplaces are those that are co-created by both employees and employers. If you want to instantly improve where you work, empower all levels of an organisation to come up with ideas, refine and execute them.
If you end up always outsourcing the responsibility for cultural and social events to committees or the HR team, it will always seem like an add-on. Instead, actively encourage everyone in the business to contribute and bring ideas to life to make for a happier and more engaged workplace.
About the Authors
Professor George Kohlrieserand Andrew Kohlrieser are co-authors of Hostage at the Table (second edition)
Lord Mark Price is the founder of WorkL and WorkL for Business, and author of Happy Economics: Why The Happiest Workplaces Are The Most Successful.
Zoe Sinclair is a workplace wellbeing expert and the founder of mental wellbeing consultancy and conference This Can Happen.
Michael Wade and Amit Joshi are leading AI experts, professors at IMD Business School and co-authors of GAIN: Demystifying GenAI for office and home
Tim Duggan
