Researcher and Author Shawn Achor discovers long-term benefit of positive psychology in the workplace
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – April 5, 2011 – Tens of billions of dollars are spent worldwide every year on employee training, but often the long-term return on investment (“ROI”) remains questionable. A new ground-breaking study from researcher and author of The Happiness Advantage Shawn Achor investigates this issue and finds that a new kind of positive psychology training exhibits a valuable ROI. A single training session on the principles of positive psychology was shown to improve the overall happiness, energy and stress management skills of 77 managers against a control group. Subjects were evaluated again four months later, and impressively, the benefits of significantly higher life satisfaction (quality of life) continued compared to the control.
"By testing employees over many months we can determine if there is a long term ROI," said Shawn Achor, researcher, author of The Happiness Advantage, and consultant to Fortune 500 companies. “This sets a new standard for trainings.”
In December of 2008 as the worldwide economic crisis was beginning to take shape, a ten minute survey was administered to 77 KPMG managers getting a baseline reading of 14 different metrics including stress, social support and optimism. Then, Achor delivered a three hour training entitled “Positive Psychology: the Science of Happiness and Potential” to the 77 mangers. A week after the training, the survey was re-administered to the experimental group and compared with a control group (managers who did not go through the training but took the surveys). In April 2009, both groups were tested again. Even after four months, the group of trained managers showed significant increases to optimism and life satisfaction - one of the greatest predictors of performance and success. Extensive studies have shown that employees with higher levels of life satisfaction are more productive, produce greater sales, and are more resilient in the face of challenge.
The study revealed three findings. First, teaching the principles and strategies of positive psychology is vital to preparing managers to deal better with the challenges of a modern work environment. Second, extensive research has already found that employee life satisfaction is a direct contributor to productivity and performance; thus, a training that conclusively enhances this quality could have far-reaching implications. Lastly and most importantly, this research indicates that even a short training on positive psychology will create a clear and long lasting ROI--an indication that it may be increasingly important for companies to start training their employees on the skills of positive psychology.
Over the past year, Achor has delivered these lectures and trainings to leaders in 42 different countries. “This is an emerging field and we are excited about its potential to help us rethink trainings,” said Achor. “More studies need to be done, in a variety of industries, to determine how these effects translate into higher profit and performance. We have only begun to tap into the potential ROI of positive psychology trainings.”
Achor and Good Think, Inc. Chief Learning Officer Elizabeth Peterson are currently continuing research in this field with Alia Crum at Yale University.
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