I recently met with one of my clients, Budget Home & Office Cleaning.  The company is in a tough industry, working in a difficult environment given today's economic woes for the demographic they serve.  Through much hard work, smart marketing (much of it Social Media) and great leadership, they have continued to grow year after year.   We were recently discussing what kind of Key Performance Indicators they can use as predictors to understand where their business is headed and how healthy it is.  And one of the most interesting ones we discussed was the "laughter factor."  Will (the owner's son and future successor) explained it as follows:

"When the crews are getting ready for their day, when everyone is running around putting supplies and equipment in our team vehicles, there's a new energy in the air.  There's a higher sense of camaraderie & happiness, there's joking around, there's well - frankly, a lot of laughter!" 

We both paused for a moment and then talked about how that "whistle when you work" attitude builds on itself.  It becomes self-fulfilling and ultimately leads to indicating how happy the employees are - which in turn impacts productivity and retention, customer-service and the customer's experience.  

Yes, employee surveys are important tools to gauge employee loyalty & engagement.  Yes, performance evaluations are critical.  But for a quick pulse & checkpoint - consider your happiness factor, with the amount of laughter coming from you teams as a clear indicator of your company's future health!