This week Forbes asked Chris Anderson, the curator of TED what his seven top picks for the year’s best ideas would be. Amazingly Chris chose us here at nef for our work on National Accounts of Well-being, an idea he thinks can make “powerful, positive and measurable differences in how we create the future”.
It is perhaps a sign of the times that our work doesn’t look out of place in Forbes magazine, which is sometimes dubbed “The Capitalist Tool”. The logic of well-being indicators is so strong that not only are governments starting to take notice but also businesses and organisations. And why not? It makes good business sense. Research has shown that what employees do at work and how they feel builds their resources, leading to increased productivity, profitability and customer satisfaction. But what does well-being at work look like and how can it be improved? This is the challenge that I am working on at the moment with nef consulting. We are working in collaboration with Delivering Happiness in the US on the next generation Well-being@Work survey, and are devising an intuitive DIY tool that individuals, teams and organisations can use to accurately identify levels of well-being and, most importantly, set about improving them. I have designed the survey tool to paint a real-time picture for people wanting to better understand their place of work, how motivated and engaged employees are, their views on CSR initiatives and, of course, how they feel at work. It can track all these changes over time for organisations as well as provide tailored evidence-based tips to help managers, teams and individuals take action.
To be launched in January 2012, we hope the survey will start a global conversation about what socially responsible, happy working lives are all about. If you would like any information or would like to share ideas in the meantime, contact my colleague Jody at jody.aked@nef-consulting.co.uk