Can you train employees to be happy?

Article by Sophina Rajah - Managing Director at 10Eighty

Training employees to be happy

The UAE government is funding a training programme for federal and local government managers that aims to create happy and positive work environments. His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai has declared that all ministries need to be ministries of happiness when it comes to their policies, programmes, and services.

The programme has been designed by Ohood Bint Khalfan Al Roumi, UAE Minister of State for Happiness in conjunction with the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, to train sixty Chief Happiness and Positivity Officers to understand the ‘science of happiness’ and implement it in the workplace. The Oxford Mindfulness Centre at Oxford University, will also train candidates in how to employ mindfulness principles to the workplace.