Author(s): Rommel Pilapil Sergio, Mohsin Munaf, Rachid Alami
The formation of the Ministry of Happiness and Wellbeing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) shows the government’s strong commitment to ensuring that the basic human feeling of ‘happiness’ is attained and strived for. The purpose of this research is to investigate the perception of middle managers (n=333) on happiness. A qualitative descriptive survey and interview method was employed to gather data on the subjective well-being of the respondents. Out of 350 questionnaires distributed, 333 (95%) were completely gathered and analyzed. The research-made questionnaire was distributed to 10 private multinational organizations through accessibility sampling and was analyzed through descriptive statistics. The results of the study show that the majority of the respondents claim that they are ‘happy’ with their current job, willing to make an effort to be happy and positive in the workplace and staying because of the quality of life in UAE, better community ties and cultural activities, quality of education for their children, and better retirement options. The respondents also identified some indicators that employers can consider improving workplace happiness like promotion, salary increase, training, and orientation of work rules as part of promoting the ethical practice.