What Does Employee Happiness Mean to You?
Not the surface-level version. Not the ping-pong tables. Not the Friday drinks. Not even the engagement survey scores.
Iโm talking about the deeper layer. The one leaders ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญโฆ but often struggle to define.
A few years ago, I asked a Senior Leader a simple question: โ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฐ๐บ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ป๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ?โ
He paused. Then said: โ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ.โ
And thatโs where it gets interesting. Because silence is not happiness. Compliance is not commitment. And comfort is not fulfillment.
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This year I was honoured to be selected as one the jurors, alongside an amazing group of esteemed HR leaders, to judge the inaugural Employee Happiness Awards SG MY 2026, and I saw something powerful:
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Employee happiness is not about how people ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ in the moment.
Itโs about how they ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด at work.
Happiness is the experience of ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ when I show up.
At its deepest level, employee happiness exists at the intersection of three human truths:
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I matter – Not just in words, but in decisions. My voice shapes outcomes. My presence has weight.
ย I am growing – Not just doing more, but becoming more. Learning. Stretching. Evolving.
ย I belong – Not because I fit inโฆ But because I am ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ, and still challenged to rise.
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When these three are present, people donโt just work.
They care, create, and commit.
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Congratulations to all the winners of this yearโs inaugural Employee Happiness Awards SG MY 2026 for your intentional efforts to build organizations where people genuinely matter, grow, and belong.
Here are the ones that I had the honour of handing out:
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Best L&D Strategyย
๐ฅ Gold Radisson Hotel Group
๐ฅ Silver Jardine Engineering (Singapore) Pte Ltd
๐ฅ Bronze Nippon Sanso Holdings Corporation
Best Leadership Succession Strategyย
๐ฅ Gold BREGO Life Sciences Sdn Bhd
Best Use of Social Media to Attract & Hire Talentย
๐ฅ Silver Nandina REM
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Thank you so much to the organizing team from Employee Happiness Awards Singapore and Malaysia – Aruna Avanthika Saravanakumar, Amorette Reina, Riya Malhotra, Jatin Deepchandani for organizing a wonderful celebration of Employee Happiness at the beautiful Shangri-La Singapore.ย
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And thank you to my fellow jury members: Shafnas Siddiq, Anand Wong, Deepali Jain, Nitin Goil, Shuchi Bahl, Haikal A., Alex Png. It was an honour to serve alongside you.ย
And to all the finalists and winners for your intentional efforts to build organizations where people genuinely matter, grow, and belong.
And what about you? What do you think? What does employee happiness mean to you?
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