The Chief Oxytocin Officer

One of the challenges the human resources departments of corporations face is that they are unable to get clear, quantitative feedback on various policies and programs that they implement. Employee satisfaction surveys are really an aggregate of individual subjective responses. There can be many a slip between what is felt by employees, how that is expressed by these employees in surveys and how the results are interpreted by management.

So is there a way to quantitatively measure employee morale and feelings of oneness?

Oxytocin known as the love hormone or cuddle hormone is known to increase trust, generosity and empathy and decrease fear. It is the biologically opposite of cortisol (also known as the stress hormone.)

Oxytocin production is said to increase among people who share a pleasant experience such as a meal, a laugh, a hug or a high-five.

What if a corporation created the position of a Chief Oxytocin Officer whose role would be to create organizational systems that increase the production of oxytocin and reduce the production of cortisol among employees? What if there were a simple way to measure the amount of oxytocin and cortisol coursing through the bodies of personnel? What if this COO (Chief Oxytocin Officer ... not Chief Operating Officer) were rewarded based on the level of oxytocin increases and cortisol decreases in the workforce?

This would provide an objective and quantitative measure to let management know whether it's employee retention programs were actually working.

While we wait for the science to catch up with our wishes, it's a good idea to watch the video below by author Ori Brafman. Ori talks about how to build instant connections and devotes a fair amount of time to discussing the role of Oxytocin in human relationships (NOTE: the video is cut off a little on the right ... this has probably something to do with Google's blogger software or the video itself ... but the content is quite enjoyable even with a part of it being cut off.) If you'd like to see the video in all it's glory, go here.