This guy Alexander Kjerulf is really on to something! I must hire him to learn more …

“Imagine waking up every morning, totally energized about your job, your co-workers and the chance to go in and make a difference. THAT is happiness at work and every single one of us can have it!”.

I like to think that this could be an exact depiction of TraceWorks. I know I spent a lot of my energy thinking about how to make TraceWorks an awesome and cool place to work. These are some of things we have today:

For the geeks

• A chance to work with cutting-edge technology
• A rare chance to really be challenged (speed, data size etc.)

For the adventurous

• Working as an early adopter in a potentially huge market

For the rest

• Beers every Friday (and whenever we like celebrating something)
• Cool offices on Christianshavn - best place in Copenhagen!
• Brunch for everybody at least once a week
• Healthy smoothies & super coffee & and best in-town lunch
• Competitive salary and perks
• Working with fellow TraceWorkers?

But we’re not there yet! Traceworks is not a 100% happy. Maybe only 80% right now. What can we do?

We’ve been working on a HUGE project for 2 years now. Which is 99% finished (meaning; it’s a web application so it’s NEVER finished). The last year has been just hard work and we haven’t really enjoyed the fruits of our hard labor yet.

I’m sure when we see clients really beginning to use our new awesome can-do marketing tool and when we see all the positive feedback coming in this will boost our moral a lot. I’m certain of this. This might be 10% of the last 20% missing.

So what about the last 10%?

What about something like this (the full “Happy At Work Manifesto”):

4: Knowing what makes me happy or unhappy at work is my responsibility
It’s not up to my boss, my co-workers, my employees or my workplace to experiment to find out what it takes to make me happy at work. It’s up to me.

15: Happiness at work is something I create now.
Not next month, next quarter or next year. You’re happy now - or never.

16: I recognize that happiness at work doesn’t come from the absence of bad things in the workplace
All workplaces can have unpleasant people, too much work, demanding customers, stress, red tape and other idiosyncracies and annoyances. Though we strive to minimize these, I won’t wait to be happy at work until all of these have been eliminated. If I did wait, I would never be happy.

17: Happiness at work is infectious - I will be a carrier
Unhappiness at work is also contagious - but it’s no fun to pass on that particular virus.