As pressure and complexity rise at work, happiness isn’t a luxury – it’s a vital driver of resilience, creativity, and performance.
We know from our work with many different types of organizations that employees are feeling the strain. Whether it’s the ongoing challenge of hybrid and remote working, the relentless pace of technological change, or continuing economic uncertainty – or a combination of all three – how we work has had to be reshaped, and reshaped again. Many people feel stretched thin, struggling to balance competing priorities and keep pace with change.
The risk? A slow slide into burnout. It rarely happens overnight. It builds quietly – as we lose energy, disengage, and begin to simply get through the week.
Too often, the instinctive response from leaders to reduced productivity is to push harder: more targets, tighter controls, and new performance measures. But this fails to reignite motivation. It only drains it further.
It’s a bleak picture.
But don’t despair, there is another path. Happiness at work is one of the most effective buffers against burnout – and team happiness is one of the strongest predictors of sustainable success.
The World Health Organization describes burnout as the result of “chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” Symptoms include exhaustion, detachment, and declining productivity.
It was once seen only as an individual issue. Today, burnout is being recognized as a huge organizational risk.
Research suggests that work intensity has risen by around 10% over the past two decades, while productivity has stagnated. People are working harder, but not really achieving more – and that can only add to the emotional toll on employees.
The good news is that burnout isn’t inevitable.
The biggest protective factor against burnout isn’t just working fewer hours – it’s improving the quality of the working experience.
At Friday Pulse, we’ve spent years studying what makes teams thrive. The evidence is clear: when people feel good at work, they do good work.
Happier teams are more:
One of the most compelling studies on this comes from researchers who tracked over 1,700 BT call centre employees. When employees felt happier, they sold more – showing the direct link between positive mood and performance. The cause and effect were proven: happiness led to success.
We hear this from clients at Friday Pulse too. Teams that regularly measure and look after happiness at work can catch problems early, build momentum, and maintain energy over time.
When happiness is tracked consistently – not annually, but weekly or monthly – it becomes a powerful early warning system.
Our own data shows:
The Friday Pulse Risk Report uses this research data to help leaders identify teams most at risk of burnout, as well as other key organizational risks, that may need additional support.
And regular check-ins don’t just highlight risks. They help prevent them.
When teams have space to talk openly about what’s working and what isn’t, they can adjust before small issues become big ones.
This is why we encourage the rhythm of Measure – Meet – Repeat. A simple, quick weekly or monthly check-in followed by a team discussion builds the habit of reflection. It helps teams celebrate wins, address challenges, and plan small improvements together. Over time, that habit can strengthen trust, reduce stress, and keep motivation alive.
For leaders, the temptation might be to view happiness as a soft metric – something secondary to “real” business goals. But the data tells a different story.
When leaders take team happiness seriously, they’re not lowering standards. They’re building the conditions for high performance to flourish – safely and sustainably.
Happy teams don’t avoid hard work; they do it better. They’re able to be more creative under pressure, more supportive when challenges arise, and more likely to stay the course when times are tough.
Happiness isn’t a distraction from business results. It’s what makes them possible.
Broaden your understanding of emotions in the workplace with more comprehensive articles on the science of happiness.
It's been an up and down few years to say the least. To stay competitive in challenging times, leaders need to ensure they have the right people. And, while the eNPS (employee Net Promoter Score) can help track whether teams are working well together, it is not a headline indicator of employee experience, and it should not be how companies think of wellbeing.
Whilst the pandemic is over, the way we work has been permanently impacted. Over 50% of people in the UK now work remotely at least one day a week, with 15% being fully remote. But how did the pandemic impact our happiness at work?