Re-imagining the Future of Happiness at the Workplace

The future of work is likely to usher in dramatic changes in the form and substance of the employment contract. Technology, artificial intelligence, automation, policy changes and evolving labour market are few factors playing a vital role in workplace transformation. It is important that organisations emphasise civility in engaging with employees in the workplace to enable them to feel happy as happier people are more productive. In order to shape a happy workforce in the future, leaders, particularly, middle managers need to reinforce the spirit of well-being-oriented human resource management (HRM) practices. Organisations need to engage with employees outside the domain of work as well, as life satisfaction constitutes an important factor in determining job performance. Finally, in order to structure a happy workforce in the future, employers need to recognise that business and ethics have an intimate relationship with each other and cannot be seen as separable.