C.H.O.: all for one and one for all
The term " Chief Happiness Officer " is much talked about, and has the ability to provoke numerous reactions. This is understandable when translated as "Chief Happiness Officer". It implies that someone in the company has the power to be responsible for the happiness of its employees. But let's be clear: no one can be responsible for the happiness of others!
Especially since happiness is a personal quest that's complex enough to define for oneself.
To understand the true role of the C.H.O. don't stop at his or her title or what you read in the press or hear in the media. Behind this position lies a real wealth, in terms of the tasks assigned to the C.H.O. and the strategic advantage it represents for the company as a whole.
In this article, we'd like to give the Chief Happiness Officer a new lease of life. So, let's take a look at what's really behind this emblematic figure that is the C.H.O., and who could well revolutionize the way we experience work.
Contents
Where does the C.H.O. come from?
The C.H.O. function was initiated in Silicon Valley in the 2000s by Chade-Meng Tan, an engineer at Google who at the time held the position of "Jolly".At the time, he held the position of "Jolly Good Fellow", in charge of personal development at the company.
The profession was democratized in the U.S. 10 years ago, when Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos and author of the inspiring book The Happiness Companydecided to swap his role as CEO for that of CHO, convinced that his employees couldn't deliver happiness to customers if happiness wasn' t at the heart of the company's strategy.
But it would be many years before the profession arrived in Europe.
It was Laurence Vanhée, former HRD and author of "Happy RH", who democratized the profession by revolutionizing the Belgian Ministry of Social Security, deeply convinced that happiness in the workplace is a sustainable performance lever for organizations.
Why are we talking so much about it?
The advent of the C.H.O. profession provides a concrete response to the necessary evolution and transformation of today's companies. We are currently faced with three realities.
1. Quality of life at work is deteriorating
While the media is all over the subject of well-being at work, or even happiness at work, paradoxically, suffering at work is still a reality for many people. This suffering is taking on increasingly different forms. After burn-out, brown-out (boredom at work) and bore-out (loss of meaning at work) are the daily reality for many employees.
2. We know the positive impact of well-being at work on performance
It is now possible to scientifically demonstrate all the benefits of a well-being-at-work approach within an organization. We know, and have the evidence to back us up, that management by pressure is counter-productive. So there's no good reason why we shouldn't move towards more humanistic companies that put employee well-being at the heart of their strategy.
3. Younger generations in search of meaning
The arrival of Millenials on the job market is fundamentally changing the way people relate to work, and therefore to the corporate world. With the new uses of digital technology, the development of collaborative projects and a growing desire for personal fulfillment, young workers entering the job market are looking for meaning, autonomy and are often resistant to hierarchy.
All these factors are turning the world of work upside down, requiring companies to transform themselves rapidly in order to cope with a fast-changing world (known as the VUCA world - Volatile, Uncertain, Complex & Ambiguous), which exerts continuous pressure on business and therefore also on employees within companies.
The situation is urgent, and the figures speak for themselves. In France, barely 11% of employees feel fully committed to their work; 1 in 2 feels tired due to extreme work overload; 63% say they are concerned by the risk of burnout...
In this context, the Chief Happiness Officer will have a key role to play in re-enchanting the workplace and offering employees an employee experience that benefits not only individual fulfillment but also company performance. It's a real virtuous circle.
Why is the H.O.C. strategic?
Happy employees for happy customers
A company's growth and wealth are based on two main pillars: the customer and the employee. "The customer is king", as the saying goes. So it's only natural that we should take numerous initiatives to provide our customers with the best possible quality of service, ensure their complete satisfaction and make them happy to be working with us.
But until now, has anyone really thought about the initiatives taken in favor of employees? Because, come to think of it, for an employee to deliver a good customer experience, doesn't he or she first have to deliver a good employee experience?
The C.H.O. is there to help develop a positive climate in favor of a successful employee experience that benefits customers. Because to reenchant the customer experience, you have to start with the employees. And you need someone to drive the process.
If you want to understand why it's essential to dare happiness at work without delay, download the white paper "5 reasons to dare happiness at work".
Employee well-being drives performance
Laurence Vanhee, renowned CHO, affirms: " Happiness at work only makes sense if it rhymes with performance". And today, numerous studies demonstrate that well-being is one of the primary factors in individual and collective performance. They highlight just how important it is for employees to be happy and to feel good about what they do, appreciated and considered at their true worth.
A happy employee is one who is less stressed, less absent, less ill, more efficient, creative and committed to the company. Beyond the real humanist imperatives, a happy employee contributes to the company's prosperity and its brand image.
And the more C.H.O. function becomes more "HR"-oriented, by ensuring that all HR processes are conducive to employee fulfillment, and more "organizational"-oriented, by working on the company's image.organizational", by working on the actual organization of work and the governance model, the stronger and more positive its impact will be on the organization itself.
Is the C.H.O. a corporate clown?
The image of the C.H.O. as Mr./Mrs. Happiness in companies is often criticized. It's easy to criticize the role of the H.O.C., short-cutting it by saying that the H.O.C. is the person who organizes table soccer games or distributes fresh fruit throughout the company. Unfortunately, this is the image portrayed in most of the media, which have failed to go beyond the title of "Workplace Happiness Manager", which can indeed make people smile.
This is all the more true given that many companies, eager to revamp their employer brand, have seized on the subject to formalize the position of C.H.O. internally, without any sincere and genuine approach to well-being at work.
The role of the H.O.C. also raises the question of responsibility for well-being in the workplace. Who is responsible? It's vital to understand that the H.C. is not there to take responsibility for well-being in the workplace, but rather to initiate and drive forward the approach within a company, just as a project manager initiates the implementation of a project with his or her team. Well-being is a collective process, and the responsibility of each and every one of us.
The H.O.C. will indeed work on the conditions and processes that foster employee fulfillment, but will also make sure to find internal relays to ensure that the approach is supported by everyone, starting with management, who must be exemplary on the subject of well-being in the workplace.
The C.H.O.'s mission is to do everything in its power to create a positive corporate culture, well beyond free coffees, massages and yoga classes.
Its missions
There's no such thing as a predefined job description, as the actions to be carried out differ markedly from one company to another. But one thing is immutable: to feel good at work, we need meaning and autonomy, we need to progress and evolve. We also need recognition, trust and respect. We need to work with people we like and who like us. It's with this in mind that the C.H.O. will carry out its actions.
La Fabrique Spinoza, Mouvement du Bonheur au Citoyen, the originators of numerous studies on Happiness at Work and the C.H.O. profession, defines 4 main orientations for the C.H.O. profession:
- A focus on conviviality: Develop actions to promote a positive working atmosphere that leaves room for everyone to be themselves, to express themselves and to be heard; Create social ties, improve internal relations; Organize federating activities.
- Communication: Facilitating the flow of information within the company to ensure clarity of missions, transparency of activity and to ensure that employees feel involved in projects and aware of what they are contributing to.
- A more HR-oriented approach: to support the HR function already in place and ensure that all HR processes promote employee fulfillment. Welcoming and integrating new employees, encouraging managers to adopt a more caring attitude, etc.
- Organizational : Work on the organization of work itself, to prevent organizational obstacles from hindering employees' work. Reorganization of working hours, democratization of telecommuting, encouraging a better work/life balance, etc.
A well-being-at-work project launched by a C.H.O. is therefore unique to each company, and differs according to the needs expressed by employees and the vision of management. That's what makes this job so exciting!
4 steps to becoming a C.H.O.
As the guarantor of a positive corporate culture, the C.H.O.'s primary role is to :
- Listen to employees,
- Identify problems experienced by employees,
- Find appropriate solutions,
- Offer internal tools to enable everyone to get to know each other better, collaborate better and perform better,
- Act and create connections between all human beings in the company,
- Encourage everyone to take up the issue of well-being at work.
To get started, the C.H.O. approach is structured around 4 main stages:
- Work on your posture : Be clear about your personal objectives in becoming a C.H.O.
- Convincing management: It's a fact that the position of C.H.O. is very often the result of an initiative by an internal employee, so it's essential to prepare a good sales pitch to convince management of the merits of the C.H.O. position and of a well-being-at-work approach (if they're not already convinced...).
- Involve employees in the project: Initiate the first "Opération Bonheur" actions in the company and involve everyone in the process.
- Sustain the well-being-at-work project : Make employees ambassadors for the approach and find internal relays to support the subject.
The qualities of the C.H.O.
A lot of common sense and undeniable human qualities are a prerequisite for being a C.H.O.
Add to this a positive frame of mind, a sense of organization, pedagogy, the ability to listen and empathy, and a great deal of dynamism and creativity.
If the role of a C.H.O. is to take care of others, be careful not to fall into the trap of forgetting oneself. A C.H.O. must also be kind to himself and accept his own vulnerabilities and weaknesses. The C.H.O. is not a person who spreads happiness throughout an organization with the wave of a magic wand. Nor is he or she the person with all the solutions to employee fulfillment. It's important to remember that well-being at work is a shared responsibility.
The C.H.O. profiles most often listed have backgrounds in Human Resources or Communication/Marketing.
Where to train?
To date, there are no official, certified training courses. Those that are emerging in France approach the subject in a different way. This is no doubt due to the fact that the contours of the profession have yet to be precisely defined.
La Fabrique Spinoza is the structure that stands out most on this subject, having carried out numerous in-depth studies on Happiness at Work over the years. Today, it offers a training course on "Becoming an actor for happiness in your organization", and organizes the annual Université du Bonheur au Travail to consolidate knowledge and share experiences.
In Brussels, HappyPerformance delivers two-day training courses, led by Laurence Vanhée.
In Denmark, Woohoo Inc. is a world reference on the subject of the Chief Happiness Officer, with the emblematic Alexander Kjerulf, and offers training courses on the profession.
What if we were all C.H.O.?
I believe that the advent of the C.H.O. profession is highly symptomatic of today's society, the changing world of work and the expectations of new generations. We've gone beyond the vision of a purely food-based job, and we've never had as much need as we do today for meaning in what we do, for contribution, for social ties , for freedom and autonomy.
However, the time constraints to which we are all subject in the workplace often prevent us from taking the time to get to know ourselves and each other better. We often live our professional lives on automatic pilot, losing the human connection that is crucial not only to the smooth running of a company, but also to our own personal fulfillment.
The C.H.O. brings value by taking the time to give importance to each person, to make sure that everyone is heard, appreciated and considered at their true worth. The C.H.O. invites everyone to really ask themselves the question " What do I need to be more fulfilled in my work, to find meaning in it, to take pleasure in it and to feel committed to it?
Knowing that we'll be spending a third of our lives at work, why not face reality and admit how important it is for all of us to be happy in our jobs?
The role of the Chief Happiness Officer is essential in raising awareness on this subject. But be careful! The approach must be sincere, authentic and supported by a management team that sets an example for itself.
I'd like to think that the C.H.O. is just a transitional profession, because in a few years' time, everyone's professional fulfillment will be written in large letters in the company's objectives. I like to think that in a few years' time, there won't be a C.H.O. in every organization, but we'll all be the Chief Happiness Officer of our own lives!
After all, "Man never creates as much value as when he is happy"!
Article translated from French