Happiness by Ottention
Happiness at work is more than having a fussball table or a pingpong table or organizing a team activity. Based on scientific research, we now know which controls to adjust in order to increase the employee happiness in an organization. More happiness at work means less absenteeism, less people leaving the organization and higher productivity.
Happiness at work
An overview of interesting articles about happiness at work, the science behind happiness at work and figures and a business case for investing in happiness at work.
Who is Ottention
My name is Ivo Otten and I specialize in happiness at work. Because organizations that do well with regard to employee happiness, perform better and are more pleasant to work in.
As change manager - mainly in the non-profit sector - I have led reorganizations and mergers and I have introduced new ways of working and I have completed an organizational transformation (including culture change).
Posts about happiness at work
A selection of the most recent posts. Click below for all posts about happiness at work and related topics.

(Nederlands) Mind your Work – werkboek werkgeluk
Sorry, this entry is only available in Dutch.

Factsheet Happiness at work
46% of all absenteeism is work related. And this figure is increasing; the previous figure (2016) was 42%. Half of that comes from psychosocial workload

Factsheet Happiness at work
42% of all absenteeism is work related. More than half of that comes from psychosocial workload (work load, work pressure, work stress, bullying, sexual harassment,

Self management
In his plea for reinventing organisations, Frederic Laloux states that the traditional ways of organising are no longer sufficient for the requirements of the current

The auto pilot of the traditional management theories
Many organisations depart from the rational planning & control paradigm and the metaphor of the organisation as a (military) machine. This perspective assumes a world

Reinventing organizations: emphasis on culture and completeness
In his book ‘Reinventing organizations’, management writer Laloux explains his vision on organizations based on research in a number of progressive organizations. Positive relations and

(Nederlands) Vergeet Belbin en Meyers-Briggs. Cultuur bepaalt teamsucces
Sorry, this entry is only available in Dutch.

(Nederlands) Het belang van liefde op de werkvloer
Sorry, this entry is only available in Dutch.

PTSD and burn-out
According to the Dutch Agency for Statistics, 10% of the Dutch labour force suffer from burn-out related complaints. Burn-out is a combination of exhaustion, cynicism,

Holacracy – Robertson
The concept of Holacracy (Robertson) is based on the assumption that the top-down and predict & control paradigm no longer suffices. Holacracy is a way

Governance | Holacracy – Robertson
In Holacracy (Robertson) there is a clear governance process for keeping roles up-to-date: on regular intervals (e.g. every two weeks), each organisational entity (in Holacracy

Laloux: evolutionary purpose
One of the underlying principles in Laloux’ research is the “evolutionary purpose”: a purpose that the organisation naturally wants to pursue, instead of trying to