Positive Links Speaker Series: Wellbeing Works: The Science of Employee Happiness and Organizational Performance
George Ward
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
1:00 - 2:00 p.m. ET
Free and open to all, registration required to obtain login information
Online

Event link: https://myumi.ch/2rQkE

Positive Links:
The Positive Links Speaker Series, presented by Michigan Ross’ Center for Positive Organizations, offers inspiring and practical science-based strategies to build and bolster thriving organizations. Attendees learn from leading positive organizational scholars and connect with our community of academics, students, staff, and leaders.

About the talk:
New evidence drawing on data from millions of U.S. workers reveals that workplace wellbeing is a critical driver of productivity, retention, talent attraction, and ultimately, profitability, even though it is often dismissed as a “nice-to-have” perk. In this session, Dr. George Ward will share research from his recent book, "Why Workplace Wellbeing Matters: The Science Behind Employee Happiness and Organizational Performance" (Harvard Business Review Press, 2025), and highlight how organizations shape both how people think about their jobs and how they feel while doing them. He believes it’s time to take happiness seriously.

Using insights from the world’s largest dataset on employee wellbeing—collected in partnership with Indeed and spanning millions of workers across industries and countries—this session will discuss why workplace wellbeing goes far beyond individualized wellness programs. Instead, wellbeing should be seen as a core organizational capability, fundamentally shaped by how work is designed and managed. Join us to learn how organizations can foster employee happiness, and how these choices may translate into performance gains for companies that prioritize their people’s wellbeing.

About Ward:
George Ward is an Assistant Professor of Organisational Behaviour at INSEAD. He earned his PhD from MIT’s Sloan School of Management and was subsequently the Mary Ewart Junior Research Fellow in Economics at Somerville College, University of Oxford. He has published widely in leading academic journals across economics, psychology, and management, and is the coauthor of Why Workplace Wellbeing Matters (Harvard Business Review Press) and The Origins of Happiness (Princeton University Press). His work focuses on the study of human wellbeing, using Big Data and cutting-edge statistical techniques to address pressing challenges in business and public policy.

Host:
Monica Worline, Faculty Director, Center for Positive Organizations

Series Sponsors:
The Center for Positive Organizations thanks the Sanger Leadership Center, Tauber Institute for Global Operations, and the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurship for their support of the 2025-26 Positive Links Speaker Series. 

Series Promotional Partners:
Additionally, we thank Ann Arbor SPARK, the Managerial and Organizational Cognition (MOC) Division of the Academy of Management, and the Organization Development and Change (ODC) Division of the Academy of Management for their Positive Links Speaker Series promotional partnerships.