The 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 "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 as happiness is a personal quest that is already complex enough to define for oneself.
To understand the true role of the H.O.C. don't stop at his title or what you read in the press or hear in the media. Behind this position lies a real asset, in terms of the tasks assigned to the H.C. 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 chance to shine again. So let's take a look at what's really behind this emblematic figure that is the C.H.O. and who could well revolutionise 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 was a 'Jolly Good Fellow', in charge of personal development at the company.
Then, 10 years ago, the profession began to be democratised in the United States after Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos and author of the inspiring book "The Happiness Company", decided to swap his role for that of "Jolly Good Fellow".He was convinced that his employees could not deliver happiness to customers if happiness was not 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 HR Director and author of "Happy RH", in particular, who democratised the profession by revolutionising the Belgian Ministry of Social Security, deeply convinced that happiness in the workplace is a sustainable performance lever for organisations.
Why is there so much talk about it?
The advent of the C.H.O. profession provides a concrete response to the necessary evolution and transformation of companies today. We are currently facing three challenges.
1. The quality of life at work is deteriorating
While all the media are seizing on 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 that an approach to well-being at work can bring to an organisation. We know, and we have the evidence to back it up, that management by pressure is counter-productive. So there's no good reason not to move towards more humanistic companies that put employee well-being at the heart of their strategy.
3. The younger generations are looking for meaning
The arrival of Millenials on the job market is fundamentally changing the way people relate to work, and therefore the world of business. With the new uses of digital technology, the development of collaborative projects and a growing desire for personal fulfilment, young workers entering the job market are looking for meaning, autonomy and are often resistant to hierarchy.
All these factors are shaking up the world of work and forcing companies to transform themselves rapidly in order to cope with a world that is changing very fast (known as the VUCA world - Volatile, Uncertain, Complex & Ambiguous) and which exerts continuous pressure on the 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 at 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 fulfilment but also the company's performance. It's a real virtuous circle.
Why is the workplace strategic?
Happy employees mean happy customers
A company's growth and wealth are based on two main pillars: the customer and the employee. It is said that "the customer is king". So it's only natural that we should take numerous initiatives to provide our customers with the best possible service, ensure their complete satisfaction and make them happy to work with us.
But until now, has anyone really thought about the initiatives taken in favour of employees? Because when you think about it, if employees are to deliver a good customer experience, shouldn't they themselves first have a good employee experience?
The H.O.C. is there to help develop a positive climate in favour of a successful employee experience that benefits customers. Because if we want to reenchant the customer experience, we have to start with our employees. And you need someone to drive the process.
If you want to understand why it's essential to dare to be happy at work without delay, download the white paper "5 reasons to dare to be happy at work".
Employee well-being drives performance
Laurence Vanhee, renowned CHO, says: " Happiness at work only makes sense if it rhymes with performance". And today, numerous studies show 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 valued for what they are.
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 prosperity of the company and its brand image.
And the more the C.H.O. function function is going to have an 'HR' orientation, by ensuring that all HR processes promote employee fulfilment, and an 'organisational' one, by working on the organisation's performance.organisational', by working on the actual organisation of work and the governance model, the stronger and more positive its impact will be on the organisation itself.
Is the H.C. a company clown?
The image of Mr/Mrs Happiness that the H.C. has in companies is often criticised. It's easy to criticise the role of the H.C. and say that he or she is the one who organises games of table football 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 "Happiness at Work Officer", which can indeed make you smile.
This is all the more true given that many companies, eager to revamp their employer brand, have seized on the subject to make the position of 'H.O.C.' official in-house, without taking 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 is vital to understand that the Hygiene and Occupational Health Committee is not there to take responsibility for well-being at work in the strict sense of the word, but rather to initiate and drive forward the approach within a company, in the same way 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 Hygiene and Occupational Health Committee will work on the conditions and processes that encourage employees to flourish, but it will also make sure that it finds internal relays to ensure that the approach is supported by everyone, starting with management, which must set an example in this area of well-being at work.
The O.H.C.'s mission is to do everything in its power to create a positive corporate culture, well beyond the free coffees, massages and yoga classes.
Its missions
There's no predefined job description, because the actions to be taken 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 is with this in mind that the C.H.O. will take action.
La Fabrique Spinoza, Mouvement du Bonheur au Citoyen, which has conducted numerous studies on Happiness at Work and the C.H.O. profession, defines 4 main orientations for the C.H.O. profession:
- An area dedicated to conviviality: Developing actions to promote a positive working atmosphere that leaves room for everyone to be themselves, to express themselves and to be heard; Creating social links, improving internal relations; Organising federating activities.
- A focus on communication: Facilitating the proper circulation 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-focused area: Supporting the existing HR function and ensuring that all HR processes promote employee development. Welcoming new employees, integrating them properly, promoting a policy of training managers to adopt a more caring attitude, etc.
- Organisational : Work on the actual organisation of work, to prevent organisational obstacles from hindering employees' work. Reorganisation of working hours, democratisation of teleworking, encouraging work-life balance, etc.
A well-being-at-work project launched by a works council is therefore specific 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!
The 4 steps to becoming a H.C.
As the guarantor of a positive corporate culture, the C.H.O.'s primary role will be to :
- Listen to employees,
- Identify the problems experienced by employees,
- Find appropriate solutions,
- Propose internal tools to enable everyone to get to know each other better, collaborate better and perform better,
- Take action and create connections between all the people 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 H.C.
- Convincing management: It has to be said that the position of H.O.C. is very often the result of an initiative by an internal employee, so you need to prepare a good argument to convince management of the merits of the H.O.C. position and of a well-being-at-work approach (if they haven't already been convinced...).
- Involve employees in the approach: Initiate the first "Operation Happiness" actions in the company and involve everyone in the approach.
- Making the well-being at work project sustainable : Making employees ambassadors for the approach and finding 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 CHO.
Add to this a positive frame of mind, a sense of organisation, pedagogy, the ability to listen and empathy, and a great deal of dynamism and creativity.
While the role of a CHO is to take care of others, be careful not to fall into the trap of forgetting yourself. A CHO must also be kind to himself and accept his own vulnerabilities and weaknesses. The CHO is not someone who spreads happiness throughout an organisation with a wave of a magic wand. Nor is he or she the person with all the solutions for employee fulfilment. It's important to remember that the process is a joint one, and that well-being in the workplace is a shared responsibility.
The most common profiles of C.H.O. are those with a background in Human Resources or Communication/Marketing.
Where can you 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 undoubtedly due to the fact that the boundaries of the profession have yet to be precisely defined.
La Fabrique Spinoza is the organisation that stands out the most on this subject, having carried out numerous in-depth studies on Happiness at Work over the years. It now offers a training course on "Becoming a Happier Workplace player in your organisation" and organises the annual Université du Bonheur au Travail to consolidate its knowledge and share experiences.
In Brussels, HappyPerformance offers 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 our society today, of the changing world of work and of the expectations of new generations. We have gone beyond the vision of a purely food-based job, and we have never had as much need as we do today for meaning in what we do, for contribution, for social links , for freedom and autonomy.
However, the time constraints to which we are all subject in companies often prevent us from taking the time to get to know ourselves and each other better. We often live our working lives on automatic pilot, losing the human connection that is crucial not only to the smooth running of a business, but also to our own personal fulfilment.
The O.H.C. adds value by taking the time to attach importance to each individual, and to ensure that everyone is heard, appreciated and considered in their own right. The CHO 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 enjoy it and to feel committed?
Knowing that we spend 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 the company to raise 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 like to think that the CHO is just a transitional job, because in a few years' time, everyone's fulfilment at work will be written in large letters in the company's objectives. I'd like to think that in a few years' time, there won't be a C.H.O. in every organisation, but we'll all be the Chief Happiness Officers of our own lives!
After all, "Man never creates as much value as when he is happy"!
Article translated from French