By Rita Marques, CEO & Dream Builder
For a long time, companies believed that the path to success lay solely in processes, technology, and strategy. Today we know that the true competitive advantage lies in People. Happiness at work is not a romantic concept, it’s a management strategy. Companies with motivated, respected, and engaged people make better decisions, innovate more, and are more resilient in difficult times.
I truly believe that companies with happy people aren’t naive companies, they are smart companies. Take our case: What started as just one startup in Lisbon with just Diogo and I, because a multi-brand social enterprise with presence across Europe, mostly because we put people at the centre of decision-making.
One of the things I find most interesting in business today is how many companies still talk about wellbeing as if it were some kind of luxury benefit.
As if creating a healthy environment is just a nice-to-have.
As if ambitious companies need stress to function.
Honestly, I think the opposite is true.
The healthiest companies I know are usually the ones where the leaders care about the team. People care more. They communicate better. They solve problems faster. There’s less ego, less politics and less emotional exhaustion hidden behind “professionalism”.
At Impactrip, we work in social impact, volunteering and hospitality, sectors where human connection is literally part of the product. If the team is disconnected, exhausted or emotionally drained, people feel it immediately, and over the years, I’ve noticed something important: purpose is powerful, but purpose alone is not enough.
In the social innovation world, there’s often this unspoken idea that because the mission matters, people should simply “give more”. More time. More emotional energy. More flexibility. More sacrifice.
But meaningful work should not require self-destruction.
Some of the most burnt out people I’ve met worked for causes they deeply believed in. That contradiction says a lot.
I think younger generations are also changing the conversation around work in a very healthy way. People still want to grow, achieve things and be challenged, but they also want coherence. They want to understand why their work matters, who it helps and whether the environment around them is sustainable.
Not performative wellbeing. Real wellbeing.
The kind that shows up in small things: being trusted, having autonomy, being able to speak openly, having flexibility when life happens, feeling respected even during stressful moments.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t intend to portrait Impactrip as a perfect example! We are far from perfect, but we try to build a culture where people feel ownership over what they do and connected to the impact behind it.
We’ve had team members stay for years not because the work is easy, it definitely isn’t, but because they feel part of something real. And I truly believe that’s the difference.
People can handle pressure.
People can handle challenges.
People can even handle uncertainty.
What they struggle to handle is spending most of their lives feeling emotionally disconnected from what they do every day.
The companies that will attract the best people in the future are not necessarily the ones with the biggest salaries or the fanciest offices. Not even the ones which offer beer on Casual Fridays and ping-pong tables. They’ll be the ones capable of creating
environments where ambition and humanity coexist, where people are encouraged to grow without burning out in the process.
Ultimately, what we are advocating is simple. Happiness is not the opposite of productivity. Happiness, grounded in well-being, health, and psychological safety, is the engine of productivity.
Read more on thought leadership at Our Power, Our Planet & Our Responsibility: A Case for Earth Stewardship
