Sweating to earn one’s bread is less and less typical for the majority of us. The expansion of the service sector and the arrival of the knowledge-based economy have resulted in the substitution of physical human force by intellectual strength. The manufacturing economy needs muscles to function, the knowledge-based economy needs brains. However we don’t nourish muscles in the same way as the human brain. When muscles are tired they need food and rest in order to recharge. A good night’s sleep and a good meal and they are ready again for a new day of labor. Mere salary easily permits renewal of this energy.
The human brain is much more demanding and temperamental. To function properly, it must be nourished and rested just like muscles (by dreaming). On the other hand, in order to innovate, invent, create, resolve, and perform…the person must feel a sense of well-being in what they do. Without happiness at work, the intellectual capacity of man is not at its best. It is however, what allows companies these days to make the difference. A happy employee is a productive employee. A job is always better done when there is pleasure to be found in doing it. The money doesn’t bring happiness; salary is therefore no longer adequate in the “new economy”.
Well-being at work is difficult to measure and it is probably for this reason that it is not considered to be a factor affecting salary. However, it is a prominent factor which will compel an employee to stay or leave, perform or get bored. The happiness capital of a company: an asset to display in company statements.