By Kyle Jensen, Tom Byers, Laura Dunham, and Jon Fjeld — 2021
They often bend it. But don’t demonize them—the problem is systemic.
Read on hbr.org
CLEAR ALL
In this article, we argue that there is one essential area where companies can create enormous social value: job satisfaction. Because of the connection between happiness at work and overall life satisfaction, improving employee happiness could make a material difference to the world’s 2.
We’ve faced the pandemic, violent racism, economic uncertainty, and environmental disaster. Many of us are experiencing trauma and distress. The way organizations respond to these challenges and the decisions they make going forward will reverberate for many years to come.
When we feel like we belong, we experience meaning, life satisfaction, physical health and psychological stability. When we feel excluded, physical pain and a wide range of psychological ailments result.
More and more, we live in bubbles. Most of us are surrounded by people who look like us, vote like us, earn like us, spend money like us, have educations like us and worship like us. The result is an empathy deficit, and it’s at the root of many of our biggest problems.
How Pamela Abalu got out of the cubicle hamster wheel with a single mantra: “Work is love made visible.”