Beth Ewen:
612.331.5977
bewen@upsizemag.com
dev.divistack.com
by Beth Ewen
IS THE RECESSION making us slap-happy, so sick of bad economic news that we’re getting the giggles?
I ask because of two stories that crossed my desk in recent weeks:
Instead of doing a layoff, how about doing a lay-on?
Instead of tracking G.D.P. or gross domestic product, how about creating G.D.H., or gross domestic happiness?
Those are both real proposals, the former from an American entrepreneur and the latter from the kingdom of Thimphu, Bhutan.
And yes, when I read them I got my laughs for the day.
They could be signs that we’re becoming delusional, thinking that a change in wording somehow changes the awful reality. That never works, I thought. When President Obama called the swine flu the H1N1 virus, did people who were scared of eating pork suddenly race out to buy ribs?
But the ideas stuck with me for days.
Instead of laying off workers, what if business owners asked all their employees to work an extra hour each week, on an activity that would have the most impact on revenue or profits. (We’ll assume these employees are all exempt from overtime rules.) That’s what Clint Greenleaf urges, CEO of Greenleaf Book Group. Think of the impact of a lay-on, all of that extra productivity multiplied by each employee.
“And managers don’t have to hire a single new person,” he said in a May news release. “Rather than cutting expenses (and revenue), we’re keeping all of our employees’ benefits and increasing productivity, and revenue as well. And, we aren’t asking for anything big. Just a little extra time each week that is completely flexible.”
Instead of G.D.P., why not G.D.H, reported the May 7 story in the New York Times. “Greed, intangible human greed,” said Prime Minister Jigme Thinley of Bhutan, describing the cause of the current worldwide economic crisis. Under a new constitution signed last year, the Times reports, government programs must be judged not by the economic benefits they may offer but by the happiness they produce.
No word yet on how Gross Domestic Happiness would be measured, and no testimonials from the trenches as to how that extra hour of work is working over time.
So no, I’m not saying I buy these ideas. I submit only that they’re a refreshingly different way to view today’s problems, and maybe with enough of those we can work through the economic mess.
What’s your creative idea? Let me know, and when I quit laughing I promise to think about it.
– Beth Ewen
