Gauging Employee Happiness

Gauging Employee Happiness

We believe the best work is born from happy, inspired, and empowered people.

We developed the Happiness Index – a unique approach to measuring the overall well-being and connectedness of our employees to understand how well we are delivering on our cultural ambitions. Our Index evaluates the company as a whole ecosystem. We first examine the individual well-being of our employees by using the PERMA framework developed in conjunction with the Center for Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.

We then look at our employees’ connections to one another, their sense of belonging, their sense of community, and their level of connectedness to co-workers, managers, and senior leadership.

Finally, we evaluate the relationships our employees have to the institution. Do they feel they have agency to make changes and the freedom to do their jobs to the best of their ability? Do they feel supported by the company? Through this process we hope to gather a holistic view of the health of our organization and an actionable understanding of where we can improve.

Since launching the Index in 2012 we have found our employees are inspired, challenged, and enjoy their work. It’s been exciting to see continuous improvement year after year, despite starting from a very high baseline.