The barriers to entrepreneurship in Australia
General economic success in Australia has not brought business success for the nation’s entrepreneurs. Why is this...
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Finland has been named the world’s happiest nation for the sixth year running. The small nation doesn’t stand out accidentally – it works on improvement across a range of metrics, and treats happiness as a teachable skill. Small businesses looking to boost performance and team wellbeing could take a lesson.
Australia’s first national wellbeing framework, Measuring What Matters, could help small businesses support employees amid increasing awareness of the relationship between happiness, wellness and performance, and a focus on holistic metrics alongside financial indicators as measures of business success.
In recognising the value of measuring progress through wellbeing indicators, many countries have developed frameworks to assess citizens’ quality of life.
New Zealand’s Wellbeing Budget prioritises mental health, children and supporting Indigenous people, and the United Kingdom introduced the Measuring National Wellbeing program in 2010, which is based on health, relationships, education, environment, and personal finance.
The United Arab Emirates has the National Program for Happiness and Wellbeing which aims to promote health and happiness as a lifestyle, develop metrics to track happiness, and ensure happiness is included in all government and workplace policies, programs and services.
Among the various frameworks, budgets and approaches, however, one country consistently tops the United Nations’ World Happiness Report – Finland was in first place in 2023 for the sixth consecutive year.
Finland’s winning formula includes low financial disparity between citizens, healthy life expectancy, social support and generosity, freedom to make life choices, and low perceptions of corruption. Finland also stands by the notion that happiness is a skill and can be taught.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has developed a multi-dimensional framework for measuring wellbeing, and it provides a useful starting point for small businesses to improve overall performance, employee engagement and customer satisfaction.
By incorporating the OECD’s indicators into strategic planning, small businesses can gain valuable insights into their employees, customers and communities.
These indicators might also assist small businesses to become more resilient when challenged by natural disaster, a pandemic, recession and cybersecurity threats.
Small businesses can apply the OECD framework to:
In Australia, we have the Treasury Wellbeing Framework, and the Federal Government is also currently developing a new Measuring What Matters framework to enable more accurate progress assessments on a range of social and environmental indicators in conjunction with traditional measures of economic strength.
Importantly, the framework can be used to develop economic, social, and environmental policy to meet the needs of small businesses.
The new Australian framework focuses on five major themes: prosperity, inclusiveness, sustainability, cohesiveness and health.
The first, prosperity, may be of most interest to small businesses. It aims to support a growing, productive and resilient economy, and includes an indicator related to opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurs.
The indicators for prosperity are:
Incorporating wellness frameworks like the OECD Framework for Measuring Wellbeing and Progress can bring numerous benefits to small businesses.
By adopting a holistic approach that goes beyond financial indicators, small businesses can pave the way for long-term success by using sustainable growth to manage the challenges of fast-paced business environments as well as external threats to their success.