What Every HR Leader Needs to Know About Engagement, Emotion—and the Neuroscience of Happiness

Let’s be honest: as HR professionals, we’ve tried it all.

✨ In-house massage.
✨ Chill-out zones and employee wellness rooms.
✨ Table tennis.
✨ Subsidised yoga and gym discounts.
✨ Mental health days.
✨ Employee recognition platforms.

We do all this because we care deeply about our people.

We want to see them thriving. Motivated. Engaged. Happy.

Because we know: when people are happy, they’re more productive, there's better team dynamics, and culturally it's a win-win.

According to Gallup’s 2024 global report, published in April 2025, employees who are engaged and thriving are 59% less likely to look for another job, and 78% less likely to report frequent stress or burnout.

The report indicated that engagement has fallen only twice in the past 12 years — in 2020 and 2024. The report says the situation is sufficiently serious that “the productivity of the world’s workplace is at risk”.

And yet...

When the latest employee engagement survey lands in our inbox, and we see answers like:

“I don’t feel the organisation really cares about me.”
“I’m not sure if I’m happy at work anymore.”
“I just feel flat a lot of the time.”

…well, we don’t feel too happy either.

We should be winning. We’ve ticked all the boxes. But something’s still missing.

So what gives?

The Short Answer: You Can't Make Your Employees Happy!

Because here’s the truth most organisations overlook:

Happiness is not something you give your people.
Happiness is something your people learn to access.

It’s an inside job.

The Science of Happiness (Yes, It’s a Real Thing)

When we talk about happiness in the workplace, we’re talking about neurochemistry.

In simple terms: your thoughts create your emotional state. And your repeated emotional state creates your biology.

When an employee is constantly focused on stress, pressure, or lack—when they’re living in survival—they’re repeatedly activating the sympathetic nervous system. That means the body is pumping out stress chemicals like adrenaline and cortisol, which are designed for short-term danger—not long-term performance.

But when we begin to shift our focus to elevated emotions—like appreciation, gratitude, joy, and inspiration—we begin producing an entirely different internal chemistry.

We activate neurotransmitters like:

• Serotonin, which supports emotional regulation and a sense of well-being

• Dopamine, which creates feelings of reward, motivation, and forward momentum

• Oxytocin, the bonding chemical, which enhances connection and trust in teams

• Endorphins, which create natural feelings of ease and resilience

The moment an employee begins to feel these elevated emotions—not because of what’s happening around them, but because of what they’re generating within—they’re no longer living as a victim of their environment.

This is where our employee wellbeing webinars are a game changer - knowledge is power.

How many times have you received employee engagement surveys back filled with employees' feedback, and are left wondering where you are going wrong as an organisation?

The problem with happiness is that people believe happiness comes from external factors such as;

• The company they work for
• Salary
• Their manager
• Company car
• Benefits and Reward Schemes

And happiness can look like that because the brain is an association machine.

The Teddy Bear Effect

Let me explain this with a simple metaphor I often share during our employee wellbeing webinars.

Imagine a small child with their favourite teddy bear.

The child holds the bear and immediately feels safe. Calm. Happy.

They believe—with all their heart—that the teddy bear causes those feelings.

But you and I know—it’s not the stitching or the fluff doing the work.

The feelings are coming from within the child. The bear is just the trigger.

Fast forward to adulthood—and we’ve simply upgraded our teddy bears.

• The promotion
• The house
• The holiday
• The relationship
• The recognition
• The Salary Package

We believe those external things create happiness. But they don’t.

They’re teddy bears in disguise.

The feelings—connection, confidence, peace—are still being generated internally.

So if we want to help employees feel genuinely fulfilled, we need to stop polishing teddy bears—and teach people how their emotions work.

The "I’ll Be Happy When…" Trap

You’ve heard this before. You’ve probably said it:

“I’ll be happier when I finally get promoted…”
“When I can afford that trip…”
“When I’ve finished this project…”

This is the illusion of future-based happiness. And it's deeply conditioned in most work cultures.

But the reality? People achieve the thing, get the dopamine hit… and then the feeling fades.

Gallup’s research confirms this: the majority of employees globally are not thriving—only 33% report high well-being, and many report a steady drift back into dissatisfaction.

Because happiness that’s tied to circumstances will always be temporary.

Unless we show people how to generate that happiness themselves.

Can Happiness Be Measured in the Workplace?

Yes.

But not by how much you’ve spent on wellbeing initiatives.

And not by how many people show up to your employee wellbeing webinars.

You measure happiness by how well your people can access their internal emotional state.

In neuroscience, we call this interoception—the ability to tune in to the body and regulate one’s nervous system.

In psychology, we talk about subjective wellbeing—a scientifically validated measure of how positively people feel about their lives.

And in consciousness work, we call it what it is:

The ability to recognise that thoughts, beliefs, and perceptions are creating your emotional experience—moment to moment.

When organisations begin measuring and supporting that, everything changes.

What’s Blocking Access to Happiness?

When I ask employees, “What would let you know that you’re feeling happier?”—there’s usually a pause.

They’ve spent so long focusing on what they don’t want:

• “I don’t want to wake up dreading the day.”

• “I don’t want to keep overthinking everything.”

• “I don’t want to be stuck in this job for another five years.”

• “I don’t want to keep feeling like I’m not enough.”

They’ve forgotten how to connect with what happiness even feels like.

So when I ask, “If you woke up tomorrow, and a miracle had occurred—what would let you know you're happy?”—they struggle to answer.

Because they’ve been trained to scan for what’s wrong. Not what’s good.

Helping Employees Return to Their Natural State

And that’s the biggest mindset shift for HR leaders:

Happiness isn’t something people achieve.
It’s something they return to.

Just like peace. Calm. Joy. These are innate states. They don’t need to be created—they need to be uncovered.

In our employee wellbeing and resilience webinars, we teach people how to:

• Understand where their emotional state is coming from

• Reconnect with their natural ability to self-regulate

• Stop waiting for external circumstances to feel better

• And start accessing their own “feel-good” chemistry, on demand

This is what changes workplace culture.

Not another Slack channel about wellbeing.

But deep understanding.
Conscious awareness.
And the ability to return to themselves—again and again.

💼 Ready to Move Beyond the Perks?

If your last engagement survey revealed low morale, flat energy, or signs of burnout, we can help.

You need a real conversation about how happiness works—and how to help your people access it.

✨ Our Employee Wellbeing & Resilience Webinars are designed exactly for this.

We combine neuroscience, coaching, and consciousness-based insight to help employees reconnect with their natural state of happiness, so you have a happy, engaged workforce.

Let’s talk about how we can bring this to your organisation.

👉 Take the Next Step To Creating a Happy Workforce - From the Inside Out.