Happy at Work | Coding Happiness into the AI Workplace
Sep 22, 2026 · 37 min · 11 segments
What if better productivity, happier employees, and more satisfied customers were not a trade-off, but the same design problem? Thomas Bertels says most organizations still get work design wrong—and…
Thomas BertelsGuestTatiana KovalHostAnd I want to ask you to summarize our conversation and give the three main tips to the old leaders who want to change their workplaces for achieving more effectiveness and more employee happiness.
So, I mean, the first thing is, I think Richard Hackman said that you can only do a good job if there's a good job to be done.
And so it might be a really good idea to look at these jobs in your organization and say, are those good jobs? If I were to do this job, how long would it be? How long would I last? Would I enjoy doing this work for six months, nine months, 12 months, two years without getting bored, still feel challenged and engaged? Well, that's probably maybe a well-designed job.
People, um, if you want people to do a good job, there gotta be a good job to be done.
The second idea is I think work design really is a triple win, right? You can get a more effective and efficient organization.
You can get more engaged employees and you can get more satisfied customers.
And I think the third piece is if you want to go far, if you want to go fast, right? You should probably go alone.
But if you want to go far and you want to make it sustainable, you got to go together.
You got to give them some meaningful autonomy and agency and a real role to play, rather than just treating them as like a dependent variable.
So those are probably three ideas that I would suggest leaders consider as they think about work design.
And I want to ask you to summarize our conversation and give the three main tips to the old leaders who want to change their workplaces for achieving more effectiveness and more employee happiness.
So, I mean, the first thing is, I think Richard Hackman said that you can only do a good job if there's a good job to be done.
And so it might be a really good idea to look at these jobs in your organization and say, are those good jobs? If I were to do this job, how long would it be? How long would I last? Would I enjoy doing this work for six months, nine months, 12 months, two years without getting bored, still feel challenged and engaged? Well, that's probably maybe a well-designed job.
People, um, if you want people to do a good job, there gotta be a good job to be done.
The second idea is I think work design really is a triple win, right? You can get a more effective and efficient organization.
You can get more engaged employees and you can get more satisfied customers.
And I think the third piece is if you want to go far, if you want to go fast, right? You should probably go alone.
But if you want to go far and you want to make it sustainable, you got to go together.
You got to give them some meaningful autonomy and agency and a real role to play, rather than just treating them as like a dependent variable.
So those are probably three ideas that I would suggest leaders consider as they think about work design.
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