Cultivating a culture of happiness: Strategies in high-performance work teams—The AZUL study

High-demand workplaces with high-performance teams face a dual challenge: achieve high productivity while maintaining high employee motivation and health levels. As happiness at the workplace is associated with increased motivation and health, the AZUL study aimed to assess whether happiness could be fostered in the high-demand medical department of a biopharmaceutical company through health-promoting initiatives developed and conducted by employees themselves. It was a 5-month single-arm observational study. It comprised an online questionnaire at baseline and after the end of three weekly online happiness-promoting programs (physical activity/nutrition, music therapy, and yoga/meditation). A total of 167 employees (60% of invited participants) completed both questionnaires. Analyzed variables were related to personal development (general happiness, happiness at work, physical health, mental health and level of self-perceived success) and to perception of work position. Scores of all variables were already high at baseline with a mean score of 7.4 (6.9–8.6) in a scale from 0 to 10. After the programs, there was a modest but statistically significant increase in the scores for all variables related to personal development. Multiple correspondence analysis results, and their validation using self-organizing maps, suggested that the study population was heterogeneous. In conclusion, happiness-promoting programs developed by employees themselves modestly enhanced the previously high levels of happiness and job satisfaction. Long-term controlled studies should be conducted to confirm these promising results.