10 Jun IS ALTRUISM THE KEY TO HAPPINESS AT WORK?
As the saying goes … in giving, we receive.
Happiness isn’t just feeling good, it’s also doing good.
Doing good to and for others is one of the best things we can do for ourselves.
And this form of altruism is just as important in the workplace …
via the Atlantic
AMY LUKKEN has made it her mission to understand what humans want out of work. While previously working at a Fortune 500 company 15 years ago, she decided to pursue this new path: to understand the essence of human behavior and what it takes to build a thriving company culture.
“I studied with neurologists, psychologists, anthropologists, behavioral scientists, Buddhist monks, Baptist ministers, Catholic priests—anyone that would speak to me on this subject,” Lukken says of her career pivot. “They all agreed there was one thing that connected us as humans: love. If you think about it, that’s what’s missing from corporate America.”
Lukken aims to change that. That’s why, as chief joyologist at Tito’s Handmade Vodka—seriously, that’s her real job title—she strives to incorporate the principles of altruism into all aspects of the company’s culture. According to Lukken, altruism is a scientifically-proven way to boost happiness by finding meaning through community involvement and by giving to others—and, in turn, increase feelings of love. To that end, Tito’s allots employees a chunk of money to donate to charitable causes of their choosing. They refer to this as “the joy budget,” and it’s an experiment the company has seen through to great, unconventional success.
Over the last seven years, Tito’s Handmade Vodka employees have used their joy budgets to donate to tens of thousands of nonprofits, nurture community gardens, provide relief in response to dozens of natural disasters, and much more. At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, employees even turned some of the vodka bottling lines into hand sanitizer lines and distributed more than 1,270 tons of Tito’s Hand Sanitizer to frontline workers who were battling the pandemic across 48 states.
Of the joy-budget initiative, which began in 2015, Lukken says, “People felt they had purpose in their jobs. Innovation started happening all over the place.” She adds, “The more we gave, the more people told their friends about us. And the more they told their friends about us, the more vodka we sold and then the more good we could do.”
At a time when many American employees are disillusioned with corporate progress metrics that prioritize profit above everything, Tito’s continues to reimagine the employee experience by leveraging altruism as corporate strategy. We spoke with Lukken to learn more about how she fosters such an unconventional culture of happiness and gratitude, the merits of generosity, and Tito’s latest charitable effort to distribute small-business grants in celebration of its 25th anniversary…
… keep reading the full & original article HERE