Whether through disposition or circumstance, some leaders focus exclusively on the bottom line. They don’t invest in wellbeing initiatives because—whether or not the idea is appealing—in their mind, the return on investment doesn’t justify the expenditure.
But a May 2023 study, the most comprehensive of its kind, refutes that perspective. On behalf of the Wellbeing Research Centre, researchers from Harvard University and the University of Oxford explored the fundamental question, “Is there a business case for happiness?” They found that there is.
People drive performance. We shouldn’t need a collaboration between two of the world’s leading universities to tell us that happy, healthy people drive stronger performance than unhappy, stressed ones—but now we have it. The collaborative study of 1,600 U.S. companies reveals that investing in employee wellbeing drives revenue. Higher levels of employee wellbeing—across the domains of job satisfaction, purpose, happiness, and stress—were associated with increased firm value, higher profits, and higher return on assets. Firms with the highest levels of wellbeing outperformed stock market benchmarks such as the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average by 20 percent over two years. Invested employees want their companies to succeed—and they’ll work hard to ensure they do.
We respect and understand companies’ prioritization of the bottom line (Rising Sun also has a bottom line!); we just happen to believe what this research confirmed: that investing in workplace wellbeing is an investment in the bottom line. This is our favorite kind of win-win: when what’s best for people turns out to be what’s good for business. Finally we can have our cake and eat it, too.
You can access the full report here: https://wellbeing.hmc.ox.ac.uk/papers/2304-workplace-wellbeing-and-firm-performance/
As a business, we too understand the importance to cash flow and profits. To learn more about how we can help you take your profits to the next level by supercharging your workplace wellbeing, schedule a complimentary consultation. Email us at info@risingsunconsultants.com.
###
Rising Sun is a leadership and organizational consulting firm committed to the development of servant leaders, engaged employees, and healthy organizational cultures. We’re truth-tellers who balance candor and care, and for two decades we’ve been a trusted guide and partner to family-owned companies, multinational firms, and nonprofit organizations alike.
