Happiness Index Suggests Technology that Supports Collaboration and Visibility Positively Impacts Workplace Happiness
San Jose, Calif., January 29, 2019 - Wrike, the collaborative work management platform for high performance teams, today released the first data set from the company’s inaugural Happiness Index. The survey found that the majority of full-time employees in the United States are happy at work with 71 percent of respondents reporting that they are “mostly happy” and 17 percent describing themselves as “elated.” This initial selection of findings explores the impact company culture has on employee happiness and indicates a significant correlation between happiness and greater diversity, belief in company mission and vision, and strong relationships with managers. The Happiness Index also suggests that collaborative work management (CWM) software can have a positive impact on employee happiness with CWM users 85 percent more likely to identify as being happy.
“Fostering workplace happiness and understanding what really drives employee engagement is evolving - it’s not just about paying the highest salary and providing lunch,” says Wrike Vice President of People Operations Megan Barbier. “In today’s competitive talent market, it is important that companies consider emerging factors, like diversity and technology, that are playing an increasingly important role in employee happiness. Our hope is that the Wrike Happiness Index will help us, and other leaders, identify new trends in the workplace and which factors, like deploying CWM technology, have the greatest impact on happiness so we can invest our resources in the things that matter most to our talent.”
The Wrike Happiness Index reveals that CWM users are 91 percent more likely than non-CWM users to describe their relationship with their manager as “very good.” This could be attributed to the real-time visibility CWMs provide, which fosters honest communication between employees and managers, as well as amongst team members. CWM software also helps employees understand how their work fits into greater company objectives, which may be why 70 percent of CWM users say their company’s mission and vision strongly resonate with them; compared to only 41 percent of non CWM-users.
“CWM software was initially developed to improve collaboration and project management practices, but this data shows it can also support key factors that increase workplace happiness from transparency to building trust and helping employees understand that they are part of something bigger,” Barbier added.
Among the Key Findings:
- Happier employees are 55 percent more likely to say their workplace is above average in diversity than those that identify as “mostly unhappy” or “miserable.”
- Seventy percent of happier employees report a strong connection with their company mission and vision, while 32 percent of unhappy or miserable employees either feel no affinity for their company mission and vision (17 percent) or don’t know even know what they are (15 percent).
- Sixty-three percent of CWM users identify as either mostly happy or elated compared to only 34 percent of non-CWM users.
- Happy employees are nearly three times more likely to attend after-work events, 25 percent more likely to eat lunch with their colleagues, and nearly three times more likely to describe their relationships with their managers as very good.
- Happier employees are 70 percent more likely to take at least a 30-minute lunch break or eat lunch with friends, while less happy workers are 57 percent more likely to spend their lunch breaks on social media.
- CWM users are 70 percent more likely than non-CWM users to enjoy participating in team events and over three times more likely to work remotely at least three times per week.
Wrike commissioned Atomik Research, an independent creative market research agency, to conduct this survey. Respondents consisted of adults who work full-time for an organization with more than 200 employees. This survey was conducted in the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany, and resulted in at least 1,000 respondents in each country. Respondents were evenly split between male and female. The margin of error fell within +/- 2 percentage points with a confidence interval of 95 percent.
The complete Wrike Happiness Index will be available in May 2019.
