A growing body of research on happiness in the workplace finds that optimism and cheerfulness have a measurable effect on the bottom line.

The chart below is from Wharton finance professor Alex Edmans, who has found that companies with happy employees perform better than other companies.

Makes sense that happy workers are motivated, and that efficiency ensues.  The good news is that happiness is a muscle you can strengthen.

The happiest employees are those who believe they get to do what they do best every day. Only one-third of working people feel that way.

Ensuring that people’s jobs are well-aligned to their strengths is an ongoing process. As your employees grow and broaden their skills, seek to evolve their work to ensure a continued fit with their skills. To achieve “flow” — complete absorption in a task — their workloads should be challenging but not too tough for them.

For those among you who are recruiting amidst this recession, hire for people’s strengths, and not just for their resumes. I will address how to do this in future blog posts, but in the meantime, you can see an overview on our website here.

Robert Aliota, founder of parts-maker Carolina Seal, says happiness science has led him to make lasting changes at his company. He regularly analyzes his own moments of triumph, “times when I was truly in the zone, utilizing my natural strengths and having fun,” as a sort of happiness fuel.

That’s the sort of fuel that can power the success of your company.