Best at Work Insights: Employees’ happiness is overrated

Do we worry too much about how happy employees are? I lead Best Companies Group, a research and advisory firm focused on helping organizations create high-engagement and high-performance cultures, and I certainly believe so. If anything, I think caring about employees’ happiness is overrated. Let me explain.

Employee engagement levels have been dropping for years. Per a recent Gallup survey, it currently sits at 31%. This means only 3 out of 10 people are actively engaged in the work they do. The other 7 are mentally checked out; they attend meetings and do the work but with only a fraction of their effort.

When you have a lot of your employees disengaged you are faced with an existential risk to your business. It’s proven that disengaged employees are less productive, less innovative, less focused, and more likely to leave the organization. The cost of replacing someone you didn’t want to see go? Between 50% and 200% their salary. Disengagement means you’re burning dollars all day.

There’s a lot of theories on why engagement has been so low for years (the recent “peak” was 36% in 2020). This is a complex issue that doesn’t have one root cause. There is one cause that I believe is underappreciated: the obsession with employee happiness.

Look up books, white papers, or blogs on the topic of “employee engagement” and you get plenty of them pointing towards bringing smiles to their faces. But this is all wrong. Happiness is not the goal. It’s not even the journey. It is a by product of something much more important: thriving.

If I asked you, what is the goal of a manager, you’d likely tell me it’s about getting business results and keeping their teams focused on the right things. You’re likely right. Now, if I asked you how a manager should achieve this goal, what would you say? Often organizations think this is done by keeping employees having a great experience. Success and happiness don’t often go together.

Take Nick Saban, the celebrated former coach at the University of Alabama. One of the hallmarks of his coaching style was the demanding intensity he’d put on his players. One famous anecdote illustrating Nick Saban’s intensity dates back to a game Alabama won by a wide margin. As soon as the team entered the locker room, players expected a round of congratulations. Instead, Saban zeroed in on one missed assignment — a seemingly minor slip-up that had no impact on the final score. He immediately launched into a sharp critique, breaking down every detail of the play. Over the next several minutes, he painstakingly analyzed footwork, angles, hand placement — anything that could have been done better.

Were his players happy to hear this? Unlikely. Did they become better because of it? All those championships would say so. Did they admire him for putting them through this demanding, yet fulfilling process? Absolutely.

The hallmark of a great culture is not whether people are happy, or comfortable, or engaged. It is whether they are excited about being a part of it. Excitement comes from being a part of something bigger, growing as an individual, and seeing progress from that effort.

There’s nothing wrong with caring about your people’s mood. But in a world where many things are happening at the same time, that is the wrong North Star. Instead of carrying about their smiles, care about their souls, and are they being fired up. Are you helping them grow and win by giving them great coaching, great resources, and great recognition?

The rest will take care of itself.

Wondering whether your organization is on the right path to win? Talk to us at Best Companies Group so we can analyze your organization’s health, your team dynamics, and your leadership’s effectiveness. We’ve helped over 10,000 companies understand and improve their workplace using data-driven strategies. Send me a note at [email protected]

Best Places to Work in Virginia awards is scheduled March 31, 2025.