Corporates seem to be taking the message of Pharrell Williams’ magnum opus seriously — well, happily. A growing number of companies are having Chief Happiness Officers and making them an integral part of the c-suite.
At Opteamix, an IT services company with an office in Bengaluru, Nisha Verma was Chief People Service Officer until recently when she was redesignated Chief Happiness Officer.
“My mandate is to spread happiness in every situation,” says Nisha
She volunteers the information that she has made certain happy changes at her workplace inspired by a recently-attended happiness bootcamp.
Nisha is part of team of six that peps up work by organising impromptu fun activities, which include tug-of-war, one-minute games, zumba and wall of fame.
“This Friday, we have ‘shorts day’ which requires all employees to turn up for work wearing Bermuda shorts,” says Nisha.
In many organisations, the human resource manager dons the additional role of ‘happiness officer’. There are also companies that hire happiness coaches or “funsultants” to bring lightness to the workplace.
There are start-ups that try out-of-box ideas to spread cheer among employees. Gurgaon-based BigFoot Retail Solution has a Labrador named Bruno on its pay roll. Designated Chief Happiness Officer, Bruno’s job is to go cubicle-hopping every day, spreading cheer. Once in three months, Bruno undergoes training in office etiquette.
Happiitude, a Mumbai-based start-up, in association with Delivering Happiness is gearing up to conduct its second ‘Happiness at workplace culture bootcamp 2.0’ from June 7 to 9.
“Representatives from 40 companies took part in last year’s edition of the bootcamp. We expect double that number this year,” says Karan Behl, founder and Chief Happiness Officer at Happiitude.
He says the number of companies bringing happiness coaches on board is on the increase.
“At HPCL Refinery in Mumbai, we are training a team of employees to play the role of a happiness coach; and at Tata Capital, the Learning and Development team takes it up,” says Behl.
Now, you must be wondering what makes a happiness coach?
“During our sessions with companies, we ask them to nominate one person for the role. Those with a desire to ensure the well-being of their colleagues and an ability to inspire happiness in others are suitable for this role,” he says.
Is having a CHO the best way to increase the happiness quotient of an organisation?
Tina Vinod, Diversity and Inclusion Lead, ThoughtWorks, says she has seen efforts to spread happiness through officers with such titles coming to naught.
“Ensuring happiness is a responsibility of all employees; it can’t be achieved by assigning a happiness role to one or two people,” says Tina. “Where there is trust and healthy conversations, happiness hops along automatically.”
