India Inc needs a ‘Chief Happiness Officer’

There is a call for an article by TOI in their column Voice of HR on the theme India Inc needs a ‘Chief Happiness Officer’. This is my entry for their space on “It’s My Ascent”. One can only hope that it gets published. If not, my blog is good enough for me…
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The CxO title has been in for quite some time now and it’s time to understand what the CxO actually does and what’s in it for the organisation. Technically speaking, CxO is a way to refer, collectively, to corporate executives, at what is sometimes called the C-level, whose job description titles typically start with Chief and end with Officer (Chief Executive / Financial/ Compliance / Security / Information Officer). Their roles and responsibilities are clearly drawn out. They are individuals taking responsibility for Finance, Internal and External Information Systems, Physical Security and Compliance requirements for their organisation.    Fundamentally, the individual is accountable for corporate leadership, strategy, and concept development in his/her specific area. So then, what exactly would the Chief Happiness Officer be responsible for?  Designing a strategy on how to keep people happy?

I tried to Google to understand this better. Ronald McDonald (essentially a clown character) was officially styled as the Chief Happiness Officer of McDonald’s Corporation. The character was used as the primary mascot of the McDonald’s fast food restaurant chain. The clown inhabits a fantasy world called McDonaldland and embarks on adventures with friends Mayor McCheese, the hamburglar, and the Fry Kids.  Then we have Alexander Kjerulf, who is seen as one of the world’s leading experts on happiness at work, differentiating between job satisfaction and happiness at work.  One might want to listen to him at the TEDx Copenhagen event. We have Tony Hsieh, CEO, now CHO of Zappos.  There is also a CHO Facebook page! Do a search on LinkedIn for CHOs and there will be a list that will unfold. Outwardly, there seems to be a reason for this role to exist; albeit ill-defined.  I do see its relevance in the classic McDonald outlets and perhaps even in the Happy Hours at the local pubs. My struggle though is to comprehend its role within the framework of an organisation! What is certain is that it needs to be cemented with the needs of the organisation’s most important asset – People!!!

People take up jobs for a variety of reasons – money,  growth, identity, social status, success, and a chance to contribute. The underlying rejoinder to one of the above is consistent and collective – Happiness – and it comes with a rejoinder that “What makes one Happy?” is inimitable and personal. So, do we really want to have a CHO making an attempt to reach out to each and every employee? Plainly speaking, a company strategy that guarantees happiness seems a very tough sell. Hence, do we really want to outsource this to one person and have an individual be responsible for it? I guess one word that has been misused for the last couple of decades has been ‘outsourcing’. We started with outsourcing businesses, processes, and then jobs. Now, with a CHO onboard, we seem to be outsourcing our supervisory responsibilities too. Imagine a job description that starts with “Achieve Happy Hours: 9 to 5”! What would the individual’s qualifications be for the job? And more importantly, how would we measure the success of that role?  

The people who know best what makes them happy are the individuals themselves and perhaps their manager. One can hope for a connect between the manager and the employee, that directs a collaborative effort between the two.  Also, I can’t think of one person in our day and age who would want to know the so-called ‘Happiness Quotient’ of an organisation or attempt to understand its underlying Happiness strategy.  There needs to be a ‘collective’ effort to enable individuals and teams to better work with each other, and as an organisation promise and live up to a reality that has been envisioned. “This is who we are … and this is where we want to be”. This is the responsibility of every manager, irrespective of whether he /she is a CxO or not ! India Inc will then not need a CHO!!!!!