The Business of Personal Happiness

The recent celebration of Alares’ First International Congress, held under the motto “Quality of Life and Business Competitiveness,” and enhanced by the exceptionally large turnout of speakers and attendees, has highlighted the social and business interest in the new initiatives that are bringing together what might generally be described as people services. Indeed, all the speakers, regardless of their field or perspective, focused their presentations on examining the many opportunities that arise when seeking to meet people’s needs in an advanced society—one in which new family patterns, demographic change, migration flows, steadily increasing life expectancy, the requirements of equality and integration, and care for dependent people are shaping horizons of new activities never previously imagined. To this particular objective, we must add others related to talent retention, the joint development of personal and professional life, and the productive convergence of public and private initiatives to shape the new Welfare Societies. Since this requires the commitment of every citizen, as well as of business and institutional networks, it even seems to seek to transcend the development of what has come to be called the fourth pillar of the Welfare State. For these needs extend beyond the development of new dependency-care services, opening up to a multiplicity of activities devoted to people services—in short, to increasing and enabling personal happiness in every sphere of collective life. Such a range of services is not limited to that particular objective; it also points to how all of this will enhance the competitiveness of business and institutional networks. It is clear that, as people are better able to balance their family responsibilities, they will be more motivated and integrated into production processes, since these will no longer be seen as an obstacle to personal well-being. This cannot be achieved—and this is the main complexity of these new activities—in a uniform, generalized manner. On the contrary, each solution must be adapted to different personal circumstances. Personalization of services is therefore the central principle around which all initiatives must be organized, bringing together public policies, labor-market requirements, shared financing for care services, and the development of new regulatory frameworks. This will only be possible if these new activities begin to make use of the advantageous technological applications that can be redesigned for them, and if companies demonstrate their commitment to developing their social responsibility in favor of collective quality of life. It will be essential for these activities to be included in collective bargaining agreements, since personal happiness means more than salary increases or improvements in job quality. Thus, in recent months there has been much discussion of how the Fourth Pillar mentioned above is taking shape. Today, as was evident from the presentations at the Alares Congress, people are beginning to discuss how to shape the Fourth Sector. This is where public, private, and Third Sector initiatives must converge in developing the collective happiness referred to here, with a focus on solidarity and the search for solutions tailored to each individual situation. It is also essential that the personal commitment of each person requesting new services converge within this effort. For these services must be personalized on the basis of each individual case, while pursuing the shared goal of contributing to and supporting the development of new ways of living. In these ways of life, solidarity, efficient use of resources, and the competitiveness of new activities will be decisive for people’s quality of life and for the competitiveness of business networks. Ultimately, these are what must generate the surpluses needed to make that quality of life possible. This is therefore a challenge that is no longer personal or limited to companies and institutions, but collective—one that will drive the development of new ways of living and working.