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.

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.

Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.