Free Happy Hour is 9 to 5 by Alexander Kjerulf

their ability to get down and party.
Kirsten and her party team cornered a few senior partners and garnered their support, which convinced the others to give it a try. The party became Accenture’s best ever. Not only was it more fun than the traditional parties, but suddenly the partners were approachable to all employees, who could simply step up to the bar and order a gin and tonic from them. The employees loved it and, maybe most surprisingly, the partners loved it. Each of them had to be forced to leave the bar when their shifts were over!
Even after the party, the effect was felt — better relations and communication between Accenture’s partners and employees.
    Go bowling, go to a pub or café, have dinner at someone’s house, go to the park, have an office party — anything that gives co-workers a chance to see each other outside of work and to get to know each other as people. Whatever event you choose, don’t make it too traditional, fancy or expensive — make it personal and memorable instead.
    Make love the foundation of your work
“The most powerful force in business isn’t greed, fear, or even the raw energy of unbridled competition. The most powerful force in business is love. It’s what will help your company grow and become stronger. It’s what will propel your career forward. It’s what will give you a sense of meaning and satisfaction in your work, which will help you do your best work.”
- Tim Sanders, in his excellent book Love is the Killer App
    What if your work was an expression of your love for the world, for other people, for your community, and for yourself? What if you worked not only because you have to support yourself and your family, not only to advance yourself, not for the money, the title, the status symbols and the power, but because your work is a great way for you to express this love and to make a positive difference in the world?
    This may seem to be a high-flying and unrealistic goal, but people who take this approach to work find that work becomes incredibly fulfilling. Everything they do becomes imbued with meaning and purpose, and their work days are spent improving people’s lives — and that makes them really happy at work.
    Getting results and relationships
    It really is that simple to create happiness at work. Make sure that you get:
     
Results
Relationships
    To get great results you must:
    1. Praise
    2. Grow and learn
    3. Find meaning
    4. Be free
    To create great relationships you must:
    5. Be positive
    6. Be yourself
    7. Love
    These seven actions can be added to any activity in the workplace. Want to improve the quality of your meetings? Want to run a great project? Want to make your department a happy workplace? Ask yourself how you can help yourself and the people on the project be positive, learn, be themselves, and so on.
    This is great news! This means that almost any company can become a happy place to work. Everything you need is already present or can easily be found.
    Unfortunately, many people and companies don’t focus their attention where it matters. They look to other, more traditional, means to create more happiness at work. Means that, unfortunately, don’t work. We’ll look at those in the next chapter.

3. looking for happiness in all the wrong places

    There are three things that we traditionally strive for at work. The bad news is that they simply do not work, and pursuing them relentlessly may even be harmful to your work-happiness. They are:
     
Money, raises, bonuses and incentives.
Promotions, impressive titles and similar rewards.
Job security.
    As long as we look to these three things to make us happy at work, we will get nowhere, and happiness at work will remain beyond our grasp. Let’s take a closer look.
    It’s NOT about raises and promotions.
    A high salary does not make people happy at work. Neither does a raise, a bonus, a prize, or any other kind of financial reward – except perhaps very briefly. When a person gets a