This week I read a LinkedIn post about a company that has appointed a “Chief Happiness Officer”. I haven’t come across the term in South African companies yet. I also couldn’t find any ads for such a position.
The science is well-established: happy people are productive people. We also know that a growing number of employees are unhappy at work. So, if you are not too cynical, this position makes sense. The wellness manager looks after your mental and physical health. The happiness manager looks after your emotional health.
The rise and fall of Google happiness
For year, Google set the gold standard for employee happiness.
Chade-Meng Tanwas, a software engineer, was employed with the job title “Jolly Good Fellow”. His job was to promote employee well-being. Happiness was a calculated management decision. Google understood that the more employees loved their jobs, the more successful they would be. And, in turn, the more successful the company would be.
So Google focused on its employees’ well-being. Employees had perks like meals, childcare, and ping pong tables. The company encouraged open and critical sharing. Employees shared a common mission and the mantra of “don’t be evil”.
That changed and Google’s corporate culture declined. It reached an all-time low in 2023, when thousands of Google employees were laid off by email.
It’s not the ping pong tables
I don’t think the ping pong tables made the difference. We know what matters. Things like management transparency, meaningful work, compensation, teamwork, and recognition. If a Chief Happiness Officer has the ability to change those, that’s great.
But what if you don’t have a CHO? Or if your CHO thinks team-building exercises and cupcakes on Friday will make you happy? I came up with 2 solutions. One is frivolous, the other is more useful.
Option 1: Name games
Some Google employees complained that the company no longer values its programmers. I know that the programmer’s job is vital. I also know that many companies don’t acknowledge its importance.
In some companies, position titles are revered. So, with the help of Co-pilot, here are some new titles that may earn you more regard:
- Chief Code Strategist
- Autonomy Optimization Officer
- Senior Latency Strategist
- Innovation Stack Architect
- Scalability Evangelist
- Velocity Alignment Officer
- Principal Refactorist
- Platform Integrity Liaison
- Feature Adoption Economist
- Legacy Code Whisperer
- Critical Path Cartographer (that’s for the project manager)
Don’t those sound more important than “software developer”?
Option 2: It’s up to you
When I was about 11 years old, I memorised a poem about happiness by Helen Steiner Rice. Rice was an American poet who wrote inspirational poetry. Her style is trite, but she is right about one thing. Happiness is a choice.
Research shows that external factors don’t determine happiness. If you think you’ll be happy when you get that big promotion / big car / big salary / new partner / better body, think again. If you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favour and watch the Ted Talk by Shaun Anchor.
What do you think about the idea of a Chief Happiness Officer?