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Business books: what to read this month

Financial Times

The growth and extent of workplace interventions claiming to improve employee health — from mindfulness to yoga — is enough to cause any manager a headache. But while the costs and the uptake of programmes have surged, the evidence for their effectiveness has not.

The authors, two Oxford-based academics, guide readers through confusion over definitions, data, causes and outcomes in a field that remains poorly researched, and overcrowded with assertions that are far from rigorous.

They have done some of the best analysis in the field seeking to understand the drivers of wellbeing, and its links to productivity. Pay and flexibility in employee location are important, according to this book. But the writers also suggest a sense of belonging, the ability to achieve goals, and genuine trust between colleagues, are even more effective in keeping us happy at work.

Work Culture in an Era of Mass Layoffs

Psychology Today

According to Jan-Emmanuel de Neve and George Ward, authors of a new book called Why Workplace Wellbeing Matters: The Science Behind Employee Happiness and Organizational Performance, workplace wellbeing is not just about free lunchtime yoga classes and ping pong tables in the breakroom. And while flextime and remote work have a positive impact on employees’ ability to juggle professional and personal responsibilities, it is the way we view our work that has the most influence on our wellbeing.

Healthcare salaries fail to keep up with workers’ commitment

Financial Times

More broadly, De Neve points out that structural aspects of the workplace tend to be more important drivers of wellbeing than interventions offered to individual staff. As he argues in his latest book (co-authored with colleague George Ward) Why Workplace Wellbeing Matters, overall “the majority of people are not happy at work”.

“The main drivers of low or high wellbeing are the structural environment more than the individuals themselves,” De Neve adds. Based on detailed research primarily focused on employers in the US, he says the main drivers of satisfaction are job security; relationships and a feeling of belonging; and independence and flexibility. Less important overall are earnings and safety in the workplace.

The paradox of women’s well-being: Why they report higher happiness despite worse mental health

El País

The bottom line: global evidence points to a decline in women’s well-being, particularly in terms of emotional distress.

The research focused on subjective well-being, which refers to how a person perceives and describes their quality of life. “Our study analyzes and explores gender disparities in well-being. There are two disconcerting contradictions that we aimed to investigate: why they exist, whether they persist in different countries, and what really drives them,” says Caspar Kaiser, a researcher at the University of Oxford and the study’s author, in an email response.

The human resources reckoning

Financial Times

The area of wellbeing exposes some of HR’s weaknesses. “Many HR teams pay for services from a variety of vendors that aren’t bringing positive effects,” says William Fleming, research fellow at the University of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre. Last year, he found that programmes and apps to sooth stress and teach mindfulness made no difference.

The problem, he notes, is that many HR departments are stuck between having too little and too much influence. This may become more of an issue in the coming years, as AI begins to play a bigger role in the workplace, taking on more of the tasks people do.

“We recommend organisational change and improving job quality,” Fleming says. “How many HR managers decide how many hours people work, how much autonomy people are given in their team, how many staff are assigned to tasks, how technology is introduced? These are the types of things that really drive wellbeing at work. Yet they can fall outside the remit of HR and instead [are] based on executive decisions or line manager discretion.”

Top tips from a happiness expert

This Morning

Dr Michael Plant, the founder and director of the Happier Lives Institute and research fellow at the University of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre, appeared on ITV’s This Morning to offer research-backed advice on how to be happier.

3 Policies to Guide a Pro-Growth, Pro-Worker Economy Under Trump

Harvard Business Review

There is a powerful business case to be made for increasing the economic status of the lowest paid workers. Lower levels of inequality are correlated with higher overall economic growth that benefits every member of society, including shareholders. Companies with the best employee practices create sustained long-term value for their shareholders, as shown by new research conducted by the global hiring platform Indeed and the University of Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre. This point is further demonstrated by funds that track companies with pro-worker policies, such as the Just 100 Index and the ETF Harbor Human Capital Factor (HAPI) that have consistently outperformed the Russell 1000 and S&P 500, respectively.

Do wellness interventions actually make employees feel better?

Irish Examiner

Yet, a question remains: Do wellness interventions make employees feel better?

William Fleming, a research fellow at the University of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre, attempted to answer this question in a study published last year.

[…]

His study looked at a wide range of wellbeing interventions and controversially concluded that almost none had a lasting impact on worker wellbeing or job satisfaction.

“While these findings do not entirely discount positive effects for some individual workers, any such effect may be averaged out by a negative effect elsewhere,” he concluded.

In memoriam: Richard Easterlin, 1926-2024

VoxEU

Richard Easterlin, who passed away in December 2024, was a visionary economist whose pioneering research transformed how we think about economic growth, happiness and human wellbeing. This column, written by a friend and colleague, outlines some of the key contributions and impact of a long professional life mostly spent examining data on, and discussing the importance of, human feelings. The Easterlin paradox, which demonstrated that rising income does not necessarily lead to increased happiness, challenged traditional economic assumptions and continues to shape global policy debates.

How to be happy in 2025

The Telegraph

“Spend more time doing things you enjoy, and less doing what you won’t,” recommends Dr Michael Plant, the founder and director of the Happier Lives Institute and research fellow at the University of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre.

It may sound obvious but many people are engaging in activities because they think they should enjoy them, when they, in fact, don’t, he says. “The trick is to pay attention to your experiences. Do you actually enjoy the opera?”

Apply the same principle to your work, where we spend around a third of our life, he says. “Find a job with tasks you enjoy, supportive colleagues and that does something you think is useful,” he says. “If you can’t find one with all three, look for one with two.”