The weight of happiness

It might seem easier to weigh smoke than translate moods and feelings into hard data. However, they succeeded in doing the former, as early as the sixteenth century (that feat has been attributed to Sir Walter Raleigh, who supposedly calculated the weight of pipe smoke by subtracting the weight of the ashes from the weight of the tobacco). So maybe it’s worth trying to putting a numerical value on the satisfaction of employees, clients or tenants and factoring that into operating results. This is the task – at least in theory – of chief happiness officers, community managers, directors of organisational culture and others in such positions. These and similar titles are increasingly becoming commonplace in companies around the world, and the real estate sector is no exception to this. Nevertheless, the question remains: how can we profit – literally – from such activities?

Happier… fitter... more productive

Katarzyna Kern, who is the first certified chief happiness officer in Poland, cites research by HR consultancy network Great Place to Work and the Gallup Institute that points out that in global terms as many as 60–80 pct of people may be unhappy at work. So we have a mass phenomenon that encourages not only high absenteeism and employee turnover but also, as a result, poor productivity and low levels of commitment. “Experts in the fields of positive psychology and neuroscience insist that investment in raising employee happiness levels can bring surprisingly positive business results,” she says. “Happy employees are successful because they are more productive, creative and involved. They cooperate better, sell better and cope better with adversity as well as being healthier, more helpful, energetic, empathetic, open and able to learn faster,” adds Katarzyna Kern.

According to recruitment specialists Michael Page, the task of happiness directors, community or integration specialists and organisational culture experts is to help employees understand the purpose and meaning of their work. Their responsibilities should be flexible and often depend on the individual needs of the organisation, but each of them should strive to make every employee feel important to the company and see a deeper sense in their work.

Oskar Kasiński, the CEO of HR Design Group, however, is not an enthusiast of this kind of position. “The happiness manager or the chief happiness officer is, in my opinion, rather an infantile approach towards this issue. I could see such positions working in a kindergarten or school, but I don’t understand why companies are also creating such positions,” he says. Nevertheless, it can’t be denied that such roles are being created in response to certain needs, and the real estate market has embraced this trend. “These types of positions generally arise in companies offering serviced and coworking offices,” insists Oskar Kasiński. “A community manager is someone who usually integrates the tenants and look after their comfort levels. He or she is also a point of contact for matters related to how the office functions, and in some companies is also responsible for the organisation of events and the leasing of particular coworking offices. They act as property managers, but they are responsible for the relationship between the coworking centre and the tenant,” he explains.

Paweł Wierzbicki, a partner at Page Executive, also remarks that companies are increasingly coming around to seeing a strong connection between happiness, job satisfaction, motivation and achieving better results. “One of the key factors in improving employee productivity is the creation of a friendly and modern organisational culture in the company, which positively impacts the development and creativity of the teams,” he points out.

Katarzyna Kern (above) is the first certified chief happiness officer in Poland

Wojciech Gepner, (bottom) who holds the position of community director at Echo Polska Properties, believes that happiness officers should come from outside the real estate industry

Good mood management

So who should you hire for such a role? The candidate should have several key attributes. Oskar Kasiński of the HR Design Group believes that communication skills are crucial. “Building relationships is now a much more complicated process than it has ever been. Tenants of coworking offices often have irregular working hours, sometimes they pop into the office for just a few minutes, so building relations with them has to take place via a number of channels – directly in the office, but also by e-mail, telephone, social media or special internet platforms for the tenants,” he explains. The second important requirement is a flexible approach towards the client or tenant and being open to tackling unusual requests. “A room with a desk is no longer enough on its own. Some people want to come to the office with a dog or a child, some have to be able to park their bikes and take a shower, while others expect a perfectly functioning reception desk and guest service,” adds Oskar Kasiński, while also emphasising that it’s necessary to be able to speak English.

Interestingly, a specialisation in real estate is not necessary for such positions. Wojciech Gepner, who holds the position of community director for the shopping centre sector at Echo Polska Properties, is one of those who feels that the management of such activities does not actually require people with experienced in the property sector or even in occupations closely related to business, such as marketing or event organisation. “Instead, it’s better for such individuals to come from different fields than those with a mercantile approach, such as cultural managers, activity leaders or coordinators who are able to work with local government institutions as well as social organisations and activists,” he explains.

Anna Kicińska, a partner and the leader of the real estate market consultancy group at EY, also points out in a recent ‘Eurobuild CEE’ podcast that the real estate sector has been tending to look towards specialists that have so far been unrelated to the market, such as anthropologists. “Their knowledge is very important, especially when it comes to designing mixed-use projects that are divided into phases. We work with them on mixed-use projects, on projects for cities, urban projects and in determining the feasibility of new business districts,” she reveals. She also notes the important role that programmers and translators now have, and that this is growing together with the development of new technology. “The real estate market is currently going through an era of digital transformation. And this is clearly having a huge impact on what we do every day as advisors,” adds Anna Kicińska.


“Community management is becoming ever more popular in Poland,” claims Magdalena Kowalewska (right) the operations country manager for Poland at Immofinanz

Differentiate… and integrate

According to the experts in this field, it’s important for happiness directors or those in related positions to actively undertake ativities to promote interpersonal relations. “These can be events for tenants, or small campaigns such as breakfasts or brainstorming on some topic,” says Oskar Kasiński. In his opinion, however, most coworking companies focus on basic communication at its most basic level, which is ineffective when it comes to building relations. “The ability to foster bonds with a place and a community is certainly a huge challenge,” he claims.

Immofinanz employs a more enlightened approach with its Myhive office space brand. “Community management is becoming ever more popular in Poland and is one of the defining features of Myhive. Its goal is active social and business networking, which often results in the initiation of cooperation between individual tenants,” claims Magdalena Kowalewska, the operations country manager for Poland at Immofinanz. “This aspect is performed mainly through the organisation of various kinds of engaging events that often take place in the lobbies of Myhive’s buildings,” she explains. To achieve this Immofinanz has established a new position for each Myhive building – community manager. “Their main task is to build this community, listen to the needs of those working in the Myhive buildings and to meet these needs if possible,” explains Magdalena Kowalewska.

Turning Sunday into funday

It’s not only on the office market that attending to happiness levels is becoming common practice. According to Wojciech Gepner of Echo Polska Properties, such new positions are being created on the retail market because of the introduction of the Sunday trading ban in Poland. “The ban on Sunday retail has created a gap in the current operations of shopping centres - and they have decided to fill it in other ways,” he explains. In the case of shopping centres, the role of the community director and other such individuals involves organising the social activities in the centres that now take place on Sundays. “Many people now associate shopping malls not only just with retail. For many Poles they are also friendly places for spending their free time – and they are not necessarily attracted there just for regular entertainment but also by other worthwhile and engaging events,” says Wojciech Gepner of EPP.

However, how is it possible to monetise all these efforts to make employees, customers and tenants happy? Perhaps the immediate benefits of this approach cannot be felt and so the champagne won’t be broken out any time soon, but ensuring happiness levels will certainly help to keep the company afloat – and perhaps also make it possible to navigate new waters into the future. ν

Paweł Wierzbicki

a partner at Page Executive

Movers and shakers

In Western companies, the role of team leader has increasingly been evolving from a human resources responsibility into the position of chief culture officer (CCO). One of the priorities of this role is to scrutinise employees’ needs when it comes to the structure and atmosphere they want in an organisation, as well as to plan and introduce changes that will increase the company’s attractiveness and thus attract the best personnel.

This evolution is generally taking place in those sectors where employees are in a particularly strong bargaining position, and where the development of the organisation depends on their talent, motivation and commitment. These include the IT and technology sectors, pharmaceuticals, banking and finance. CCOs are responsible for analysing employees’ needs and designing a workplace that will best meet their expectations. The ‘soft’ aspects of an organisation play a significant role for its employees, especially among the ‘Y generation’. People want to work for an organisation they identify with, where they feel valued and needed and see a purpose and sense in their work. That’s why the chief culture officer is often also responsible for identifying a company’s values and promoting them both within the company and among potential employees. The role of the CCO is to show employees that the work they do is important and contributes to the development of the organisation. In addition to this, the CCO identifies areas for improvement, and also knows the strengths and weaknesses of the teams in the company and how to improve the collaboration between them. Such people are often also those who choose the organisation’s style of management and determine the level of camaraderie, flexibility and formality in the company. Therefore, they are often especially required in businesses that want to move from hierarchical structures towards ‘horizontal’ management or those that would like to change the culture of their organisation.

CCOs also look for the best ways to prepare a company to acquire and keep hold of its talent. They also care about building a ‘competitive employer value proposition’, that is, making employees and candidates aware of the distinguishing features that make an organisation uniquely attractive. Importantly, a CCO must have the full support of the board, but he or she should also work closely with the HR and recruitment departments as well as with the employees themselves.