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The business case for joy

Lucy Caldicott
Lucy Caldicott
3 min read

Every week in this newsletter, I share a little thing that has made me smile over the past few days. I call them joy-giving things. My joys of the week spark more comments from happy readers than anything else I share.

I usually choose something I've seen so I can share a photo of it but most of my joys are small, ordinary moments. Finishing a challenging task. Having an honest, warm conversation with a colleague. Seeing someone you’ve supported take a step forward.

Joy doesn’t have to mean big celebrations or constant excitement. I believe that if we acknowledge and celebrate these small moments in our daily work life, we create stronger team bonds and lift morale in the short term, while building trust for the long term.

The average person has around 26 hours of discretionary time each week. Research suggests they spend only about 10 hours of that on things that bring them genuine joy. The rest gets eaten up by low-value tasks, screen time, or saying yes to things they didn’t really want to do.

Many people are following the “joy later” plan — work hard now, enjoy life later. However, the evidence shows that more joy woven into our day-to-day makes us happier and more effective right now, not just in some future retirement.

The answer is to find more pieces of joy every day. When joy is a regular feature of life, not a rare, future reward, we replenish our energy and improve the quality of our work.

So here's some advice for managers

1. Notice and name the good stuff  

 Give space in team meetings to share successes or high points of the week. Make appreciation specific so it feels real.  

2. Encourage joy outside of work  

Model protecting personal time. Leave on time. Take holidays. Tell people it’s okay to make space for an activity they love, even during a busy period, if it will restore them.

3. Design for breathing room  

Look at workloads and patterns. Can you build in flexibility so people have the headspace for joy — not just at weekends, but during the working week?

The business case for joy isn’t about squeezing a little happiness into an otherwise joyless system. It’s about creating conditions where doing good work and experiencing joy feed into each other.  

Joy later is a gamble. Joy along the way is a far better strategy — for people and for performance.


Useful links 🔗

A couple of articles about joy and worklife:

How the busiest people find joy and Why joy at work is profitable

What am I reading? 📚

Google Storybook helped me write a story about Wiggins and Momo. Might be fun to play with with kids.

What am I watching? 👀

If you want an antidote to all this joy, or maybe you find joy in watching people battling against the elements and risking frostbite in Labrador then you might enjoy Alone Frozen. At the very least, it'll cool you down after all this hot weather we've been having.

What am I listening to?👂

This podcast was the inspiration for this week's newsletter and covers research done into people's work lives and how much time they have for joy.

Joy-giving things 😍

Remember the sunflower seedling I bought from the bloke round the corner?

Well, it's flowered!

Have a joyful weekend

Lucy


If it’s your first time reading this newsletter, find out more about me here.

I write this newsletter because I believe in sharing ideas that help us work towards a happier and more equal world, particularly in the workplace.

Share it with your friends so they can read it too 📣


ChangeOut is created by Lucy Caldicott. You can find more about my work at ChangeOut.org. If you’re looking to have a chat about culture, leadership, purpose, equity, or a facilitated team discussion about any of those things, get in touch. You can also find me on Bluesky, Instagram, and, LinkedIn.

If you like what you read and you'd like to show your appreciation in cash, you can do that here. I'd be very grateful!

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