This App Tracks Your Happiness While You Work

How you work has a lot to do with you how feel. Your ability to perform well and work productively is largely dependent on your mood. Now, there's an app called Niko Niko that can actually measure your mood while you work, allowing managers to track team morale, productivity and overall performance.

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The app launched in 2013 by Max Webster, 24, and cofounders Alex Be and Dilyara Scerazutdinova in the hopes of helping people find happiness and fulfillment.

"What will a world look like where people are tracking what actually makes them happy and fulfilled?" Webster told Fast Company. "We know from research in positive psychology and cognitive science what actually makes people happy and fulfilled day-to-day and long term. A world that has this kind of metrics base is a society that’s far more sustainable."

Niko Niko is based on a happiness calendar, where users answer questions to measure their moods instead of drawing a happy or sad face. Questions include, "How encouraging was your manager today?" and "How do you feel your voice was heard today at work?" Employees can choose to stay anonymous, and the data is displayed in line graphs and in an analytics dashboards that HR managers can review.

With more and more teams being scattered in different locations, Wester says the use of technology can help keep employees engaged.

"The workplace is fundamentally changing and more companies are looking to get these emotional indicators," he said.

Niko Niko is currently working with 50 teams, which includes sports teams, student groups and even therapy groups. Wester says the most successful cases are those that have managers dedicated to employee engagement.

"When you have someone using this to actually drive change in their organization and saying ‘hey, here are problems that we need to improve,’ if employees actually see action on that, then they view this [Niko Niko] as a way to drive positive change and are excited to participate."

Of course, not all employees will be willing to participate, and some will simply lie on the report. The majority, however, will provide mangers will valuable feedback that they can evaluate to find new and creative ways to engage employees and ensure they have a team that is happy and fulfilled in their individual roles.