While happiness works in the short term and in a very volatile way, well-being is based on sustainable principles that are set up in the medium to long term.
Happiness at work is one of the defining characteristics of job well-being; along with positive relationships, commitment, purpose and success
Measuring work well-being, through technologies that allow an objective analysis, is essential to understand how to act accordingly on the part of the organization, with concrete and personalized actions.
Well-being is not the same as happiness, and although they are often used interchangeably, the differences between the two are strong. Applied to the workplace, happiness (laughing with co-workers or enjoying a party before the holidays, for example) says nothing about how employees are employees to the company or how they contribute to achieving the company’s goals. . Happiness is much more focused in the short term, being a very volatile feeling, able to change quickly.
As the founder of APFtech’s welfare technology consulting firm, Xavi Escales, explained, “an employee may feel temporarily very happy due to a salary increase, but later remember that his work does not fill him and he feels unhappy and unmotivated again. “
In parallel, well-being analyzes all areas of an employee’s life, both inside and outside the office, to measure that person’s ability to manage stress, to be productive in their work environment, to contribute to society, and to feel fulfilled and satisfied according to its potential. In this sense, one of the main differences with happiness is the period of time, because well-being works more in the medium-long term and is more adequately correlated with variables that affect productivity, absenteeism, sick leave, work failures, etc.
This does not mean that happiness at work and well-being at work do not work together; On the contrary, happiness is part of well-being and is one of the factors that determine the level of well-being. Thus, these axes are: positive emotions, positive relationships, commitment (in various areas, such as family, professional or social causes), purpose (understand the meaning and motivation of your actions and agree with them) and success ( ambition and achievement of personal goals and objectives).
Objective measurement of work well-being
The benefits of promoting well-being at work among workers are something that more and more companies have achieved. In this regard, it is essential that companies take action that works based on the particularities of each person. In response to this need, the well-being of work has evolved with innovative solutions that allow the analysis of people’s well-being in a more precise and efficient way, through artificial intelligence.
Among the most prominent technologies are portable, personal devices that monitor various biometric variables, such as heart rate, body temperature, respiratory rate, etc., allowing an objective analysis of well-being. “Objective measurement and interpretation of variables that affect people’s well-being are fundamental to be able to make truly useful decisions, both to take care of the welfare of the workforce and to achieve the objectives of companies,” explains Xavi Escales.