Economists at the University of Warwick have found happiness increases productivity by around 12%.
Andrew Oswald, Eugenio Proto and Daniel Sgroi carried out a number of experiments to test the idea that happy employees work harder. Their study, involving over 700 participants, is the first causal evidence using randomised trials. It is due to be published in the Journal of Labour Economics.
To create happiness under lab conditions, researchers employed some mild emotional manipulation. Some of the subjects, chosen at random, were shown a clip of stand-up comedian Bill Bailey or were given free fruit and chocolate. A control sample watched a placebo video and were given nothing.
The subjects were then asked to correctly add up series of five two-digit numbers. This task, timed at ten minutes, was designed to test productivity under pressure. To control for how well they would have done at the task anyway, subjects were also given a more complex test which tested underlying mathematical ability.
Researchers found watching the comedy or eating the chocolate improved performance in the subsequent productivity task. Across the entire sample, subjects correctly answered just under 20 additions in ten minutes. Happy subjects improved by approximately two correct answers, a boost of 10-12%.
