Why Businesses Avoid Happiness Training

My colleagues, Positive Psychology practitioners and coaches are well trained to bring positive psychology and happiness training into organizations and yet struggle to find clients. At the same time, some companies are willing to do happiness training for their employees but don't understand much about this new field and trend. Should they invest in employees' happiness?  

Here is a quick summary for those of you who are new to Positive Psychology. Positive Psychology is a science that measures life worth living. It is a science that focuses on what is good with people rather than what is wrong, what is right with organizations rather than what's wrong. It includes subjects such as happiness relationships, resilience,  meaning and purpose, mindfulness, achievements, and more.  

Although there is an obvious advantage of employees understanding and practicing some of the areas that Positive Psychology covers, it is not widely available in businesses for several different reasons. Based on experience, these are the key factors employees do not get "happiness training." 

C-level executives support

People often use the proverb "fish smell from the head" in my country. For the organizations to believe in training and developing people, not just on the technical skills that they can apply on a day to day work but also I providing the employees can use in their personal life, the C level executives must buy into this. Without senior management believing in this, there will be no organizational training on happiness. I have seen projects coming from managers. However, the efforts will not survive widely inside the organization unless the upper executives fully support them. So if you own of them, you may want to look into this and see if it makes sense to bring this type of training into your organization. If you are an organizational manager and leader believing in these tools, you know who you need to talk to.  

It is all about the company's bottom line. 

Every business exists to be profitable. Even if you think of non-for-profit organizations, non-for-profit doesn't mean they can lose money. So anything that the organization does, including training, must improve the company's bottom line. Folks proposing Training solutions often focus on program features rather than actual benefits. And not just any benefits. Training has to bring organizational benefits. And yes, at the same time employees benefits. How can this training or workshop help the company improve the company's bottom line? It is different for different businesses, different types of companies, different organizations inside the industry, and so on.  

Very few organizations are doing this.

If your organization is doing lots of corporate workshops and training on this subject, you may think that many organizations are open to the idea of training employees on happiness. However, the fact is that most organizations don't do this type of training.   Why. 

When Covid started, companies were reluctant to let people work from home. And then, one by one, they change their policy allowing non-essential employees to work from home. And then more and more companies started changing policies to do the same. When they saw that their competitors allowed people to work from home, they did the same. Why? Because they did not want to lose people. It is the same with everything new businesses are bringing in. 

Like with anything else, at some point, when most organizations start implementing particular tools, the rest will follow. Until most organizations implement these tools as a normal development process, nothing will change. The same is valid with Positive Psychology. 

Not enough evidence

Although there is so much research that Positive Psychology tools can help organizations, some organizational leaders responsible for bringing training into the business do not have enough evidence to support it. That's the reason it doesn't happen in some organizations. Folks who are willing, able, and capable of bringing positive psychology into the business world must do a better job of providing evidence.  

Employees commitment to attend workshops 

It is all about our belief system. If employees genuinely believe that these tools can bring them joy, happiness, improved relationships, resiliency, a way to deal with stress, and so on, they will attend the training. If they do not believe, they will find a reason not to come. Often, a company will commit to investing in training, yet employees do not see this as valuable and do not attend. And rightfully so, the training gets canceled. 

No clear connection between employee happiness and profitability

Company executives agreed that employee happiness is essential to them. It doesn't mean that they will invest money in employees' happiness. They may if they see a connection between employee happiness and profitability. Yes, several further research shows that there is a connection; however, company executive and folks bringing training into the organization must see a clear link between their specific business and how this special training will help not only employees but also help the company improve their bottom line and their profitability. And in most cases, that connection into clear. 

Employees training and development program

Most companies have a training and development program. Some even have a team dedicated to developing and training their employees. However, most likely, employees' happiness is not part of it. Why would it be? Happiness is something they teach you at home. Businesses do not feel they need to train employees to become happy. That is the employee's job. The reason employees get paid is to produce results and help companies become profitable; that's it, happiness is an employee's hands. However, it is a good sign that lately, some companies are saying the connection between employees Happiness and Company's bottom line.

So if you are a small business owner or company executive, should your or shouldn't you invest in employee happiness? This is something only you have the answer to. I will continue helping you understand how this training can improve your company's bottom line. That's all I can do. And as always, you will do your job and make the right decision for your organization.

Braco Pobric is an Internationally Recognized Positive Psychology Expert, Executive Coach, and Corporate Trainer. He is the bestselling author of Habits and Happiness: How to Become Happier and Improve Your Wellbeing by Changing Your Habits. Braco is a founding member and Chief Happiness Officer of the Life Success Academy, Certified Positive Psychology Master Trainer, and former globally Certified Trainer and Business Coach for Dale Carnegie Training. He trained over 60,000 Students in 172 countries.