The Happy-Productive Worker Model and Beyond: Patterns of Wellbeing and Performance at Work

According to the happy-productive worker thesis (HPWT), &ldquo
happy&rdquo
workers perform better than &ldquo
less happy&rdquo
ones. This study aimed to explore the different patterns of relationships between performance and wellbeing, synergistic (i.e., unhappy-unproductive and happy-productive) and antagonistic (i.e., happy-unproductive and unhappy-productive), taking into account different operationalizations of wellbeing (i.e., hedonic vs. eudaimonic) and performance (i.e., self-rated vs. supervisors&rsquo
ratings). It also explored different demographic variables as antecedents of these patterns. We applied two-step cluster analysis to the data of 1647 employees. The results indicate four different patterns&mdash
happy-productive, unhappy-unproductive, happy-unproductive, and unhappy-productive&mdash
when performance is self-assessed, and three when it is assessed by supervisors. On average, over half of the respondents are unhappy-productive or happy-unproductive. We used multidimensional logistic regression to explain cluster membership based on demographic covariates. This study addresses the limitations of the HPWT by including both the hedonic and eudaimonic aspects of wellbeing and considering different dimensions and sources of evaluation. The &ldquo
antagonistic&rdquo
patterns identify employees with profiles not explicitly considered by the HPWT.