Tough times like a recession should get authorities, organisations, mass media, advisors, think tanks and individuals – therefore the whole society − to slow down and think for months, even for years, while solutions are found and executed. In this way, a system that has collapsed is replaced by an updated paradigm, which, if the past is anything to go by, we will end up making the same mistakes and lose control again, as already happened in the Great Depression of 1929, the post war years, the ’64 Vietnam crisis, the energy crisis of 1973, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and currently the recession of 2008. Furthermore, there is a repeated warning from advisers and other social agents that the world population is living beyond its own possibilities. Global Footprint Network (GFN), a non-profit organisation made up of an alliance of scientists whose aim is to measure human impact on the earth, found out that current global growth is using about 1.5 Earths for its purpose. In a more illustrative way, right now people live at 150 per cent of sustainable capacity.
However, adviser, activist, social entrepreneur and former executive director of Greenpeace International Paul Gilding used the GFN’s research in his new book The Great Disruption to explain that the current social model based on consumption is exhausted and the world population should move towards a more happiness-driven growth model where people work less and, consequently, own less because they would need less.
In fact, the Spring 2011 Work Watch Survey published by the Global HR services organisation Randstad revealed that people are already performing in that new scenario where good feelings, contentment and comfort make up for the cuts in both labour and income. Nowadays, the key to workplace happiness may be friendship. According to the Randstad survey, 67 per cent of workers believe that friendship with their colleagues makes them happier and makes their job more enjoyable. Furthermore, 55 per cent of the people surveyed stated that considering some co-workers as true friends raised job satisfaction.
Contrary to the enthusiasm of the majority of employees, the top positions seem to adopt a sceptical attitude, linking the affection at the place of work with plenty of risks and which possibly creates conflicts of interest and may also cause other employees, annoyance. In this respect, the Randstad report also highlighted that managers are less likely to support the fact that their employees look for friendship at the workplace as the main tool for achieving job satisfaction in the current context of austerity and humility. Indeed, only 29 per cent of non-managers surveyed believed that their supervisors encourage them to cultivate friendship within the company.
Although the happiness-driven model applied to the field of Human Resources entails a loss of ambition by employees, the Randstad survey concluded by pointing out that the happiness provided by true friendship at work enjoy more benefits than hazards. These advantages not only reinforce the personal sphere, but also supply benefits for the corporate culture positively affecting the organisations’ overall business. The development of an interpersonal relationship with the rest of the team contributes to improving crucial skills such as listening, resolving differences of opinion and conflicts, understanding body language, being assertive, handling tricky situations, controlling emotions and many more. Furthermore, organisations are also able to benefit from a good atmosphere at the place of work despite the fact that employers believe that friendship may be counterproductive for the well being of the organisation. From workers’ responses, Randstad concluded that friendship at work results in a more creative and friendly environment, boosts teamwork, increases morale and knowledge sharing and generates open communication.
Mr Gilding and Randstad reached consensus on the fact that people are changing their more materialist view based on hard work rewarded with money − where the only things that are tangible matters – to a more spiritual conception about job satisfaction, which on the one hand makes employees more skilled and competitive and on the other hand favours business success as a whole.
Ms Soriano is a Spanish journalist at the Foundation for Human Resources Development.