The Hapiness Index at O2 Web

Being in an industry where resources are scarce, and in a company where our culture is based on internal communication, discussion and opinions, the happiness of our team is crucial. So we needed a “system” to ensure this happiness and, above all, to cherish and protect it.

This is where one of our favorite moments in the life of the agency takes shape – to make our employees feel heard and invested: the Happiness Index. At the end of each sprint (so every 2 weeks), the different teams get together to share their morale and discuss the challenges they’ve encountered and the solutions to counter them. We take the time to talk to each other on a human-to-human basis and ask “how are you doing?”

Each employee gives a score (between 0 and 5) to his or her morale for the sprint that just passed, and explains why. This is also the time to identify – as a team – how to improve your score in the next sprint. At O2 Web, one person’s happiness is everyone’s business!

Our culture is based on internal communication, discussion and opinions.

Sometimes, patterns emerge: we notice the eternal optimists, who despite difficult conditions rarely fall below a 4. The meticulous ones, able to put 3.97 and explain the difference with a 3.81. The stubborn ones who, no matter what the sprint, always put the same mark. The open books, who take care to explain in great detail the score they have set.

Then, the management team makes sure to consult each happiness index. In this way, we get a clear picture of the state of each individual, each team, and therefore the agency. We learn what each person likes and dislikes, which allows us to take concrete actions based on what allows the employee to be at his or her best and to thrive in the job.

In this way, we are able to keep track of the state of each individual, each team, and therefore the agency.

The Happiness Index is also a window on one’s private life, which can be opened at will. This has of course a positive effect on the team spirit, because each one knows more about his teammates; the joys and sorrows that inhabit them.

In order to better structure our meetings, we have to individually fill out a form in which we have to tell our name, the grade we give ourselves, our good move(s) of the sprint, the (only one) bad move of the sprint, we tell who was our lifesaver, we empty our heart in the comment section and we always have a bonus question such as “what is your favorite artist?

And you, what is your Happiness Index?