Do you think happiness coaches are effective? How might you assess their effectiveness? Would you welcome happiness training in your workplace? Why or why not? Some argue that happiness coaches are a way for organizations to avoid solving real work problems—a diversion, if you will. How might we make this determination? Under what circumstances—if any—is it ethically appropriate for a supervisor to suggest a happiness coach for a subordinate?
ETHICAL DILEMMA 1: Happiness Coaches for Employees
We know there is considerable spillover from personal unhappiness to negative emotions at work. Moreover, those who experience negative emotions in life and at work are more likely to engage in counterproductive behaviors with customers, clients, or fellow employees.
Increasingly, organizations such as American Express, UBS, and KPMG are turning to happiness coaches to address this spillover from personal unhappiness to work emotions and behaviors.
Srikumar Rao is a former college professor who has the nickname, “the happiness guru.” Rao teaches people to analyze negative emotions to prevent them from becoming overwhelming. If your job is restructured, for example, Rao suggests avoiding negative thoughts and feelings about it. Instead, he advises, tell yourself it could turn out well in the long run, and there is no way to know at present.
Beyond reframing the emotional impact of work situations, some happiness coaches attack the negative emotional spillover from life to work (and from work to life). A working mother found that a happiness talk by Shawn Actor helped her stop focusing on her stressed-out life and instead look for chances to smile, laugh, and be grateful.
In some cases, the claims made by happiness coaches seem a bit trite. Jim Smith, who labels himself “The Executive Happiness Coach,” asks: “What if I told you that there are secrets nobody told you as a kid—or as an adult, for that matter—that can unlock for you all sorts of positive emotional experiences? What if the only thing that gets in the way of you feeling more happiness is—YOU?! What if you can change your experience of the world by shifting a few simple things in your life, and then practicing them until they become second nature?”
Then again, if employees leave their experiences with a happiness coach feeling happier about their jobs and their lives, is that not better for everyone? Says one individual, Ivelisse Rivera, who felt she benefitted from a happiness coach, “If I assume a negative attitude and complain all the time, whoever is working with me is going to feel the same way.”
Questions
- Do you think happiness coaches are effective? How might you assess their effectiveness?
- Would you welcome happiness training in your workplace? Why or why not?
- Some argue that happiness coaches are a way for organizations to avoid solving real work problems—a diversion, if you will. How might we make this determination?
- Under what circumstances—if any—is it ethically appropriate for a supervisor to suggest a happiness coach for a subordinate?
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