WASHINGTON, D.C. – March 18, 2022 — We are living through the “Great Resignation,” where there are far more jobs available than there are applicants. We need to address both the root of turnover rates and how to design for employees in a way that makes them feel supported, heard and happy. Enter a new era of humanism, which prioritizes a people-centric approach to the modern workplace.
Based on the science of happiness and the science of design, our team partnered with Delivering Happiness and DMG Mountain View to create The Happiness Ecosystem Index (HEI). The system provides a roadmap to make better connections between buildings and the people who inhabit them. CRTKL recently joined Metropolis Magazine’s Think Tank Thursdays series for a panel discussion to engage with clients and designers, discussing how to elevate employee happiness and support a vision of creating a people-centric organization.
Featuring CRTKL personnel Angela Acosta, Angela Crum, Jodi Williams and Paul Condor, the panel began with a presentation about the happiness ecosystem’s design framework. In light of global struggles related to the pandemic like the Great Resignation and burnout, we are experiencing a great pause – a chance to reset, a chance to rethink, an opportunity to re-evaluate what truly makes us happy. We have entered a new era of humanism where happiness is a currency, and science shows that happiness is seriously good for business. In a scientific sense, research shows happiness leads to success and, in a business sense, happy employees = happy customers = more profitable business (and a more meaningful life).
Following the presentation was the panel discussion, where our experts shared additional insights from inside their work with the Designing for Happiness initiative. Angela Crum first shared the concept of the human-centric approach as a response to dissatisfaction and anxiety in the workplace due to the pandemic. Angela Acosta, then, spoke about how the index allows us to know not only what people need in a space physically, but what programming and amenities are necessary to make authentic connections. She then went on to share how we extracted five “truths” from the research in the index and delineated categories and subcategories from there.
Jodi Williams then talked about the importance of sharing happiness, and how the distribution of information in the happiness ecosystem is almost as vital as the information itself. Paul Condor then added the importance of cross-pollination, and how innovation is bred from the sharing of concepts and consumer insights between sectors. CRTKL is a big firm with a big impact – we have the ability to learn from our work in other sectors, which allows us to breed innovation for the industry at large.