Is It possible to measure happiness at work?
How Meiuca Developed a Methodology to Assess Team Well-Being.
By Mila Di Cezar | March 13, 2025
Meiuca has been growing steadily throughout its nearly eight years of existence. In a controlled and thoughtful way, we’ve been expanding our team while refining how we evaluate our workplace culture. We’ve evolved our methodology, and today, I’m proud to share some of these results and reflections with you.
We’re deeply committed to our goals, with high standards for the quality of our work and a strong drive for autonomy. Social awareness is an important value, bringing discussions about social imbalances, encouraging finding creative solutions to address them and challenging each other on the privileges that surround us. All of this while maintaining a healthy, positive, and learning-driven work environment.
To ensure that People’s team vision aligns with the company we want to keep building, we created the Work Happiness Intersection (IFT). Think of it as a radar that generates valuable insights, helping us connect with each individual in a more catered way. It also feeds into other people management mechanisms, supporting a 360° view of each team member.
While developing this method, we analyzed many e-NPS references commonly used in the corporate world. However, we figured that none of them fully aligned with our vision, particularly when considering the perspective and focus of the questions in most surveys.
For us at Meiuca, it’s not just about measuring general opinion or how much people would recommend us. It’s about understanding how they see themselves within our ecosystem and in that “dream team” we want to focus on. All are based on our interpretation of ideal labor relations. That’s why we decided to create our version of e-NPS.
We began by questioning what being happy at work really is about. After many conversations with team members, we came to the conclusion that, for Meiuca, happiness at work comes from the balance between finding meaning in what you do, facing recurring technical challenges, maintaining a healthy work routine, and feeling comfortable with your current compensation.
When we talk about intersection, we refer to the point where these four pillars meet, which will be more or less balanced depending on each individual's current moment.
It’s important to recognize that both professional and personal moments will influence whether the balance leans more toward one side or the other and that’s perfectly fine. It’s natural for this balance to not always be perfectly aligned. For us, the key is the continuous pursuit of growth and understanding the reasons behind those results.
Designing the Pillars
After ideation sessions and extensive research, we realized that the four pillars of this method would be defined as follows:
Compensation
The team needs to understand the company's compensation structure and, above all, feel comfortable with their current salary.
Technical Challenge
We want our team members to understand that here, they have space and freedom to learn new things, as well as face continuous challenges that push them out of their comfort zone.
Meaning
Why are we here? It’s important to find purpose in what we do, see value in one’s role within our ecosystem, and feel pride in personal achievements.
Healthy Work Routine
We want to foster an environment where quality of life takes precedence, allowing people to experience their goals of a professional life.
Defining Frequency
After identifying the pillars, we concluded that to have an accurate measure of climate and culture that truly reflects the team's reality, we needed to do these check-ins regularly. So, once a month, we would send a survey to the team, and every insight gathered would feed our climate thermometer.
To measure the pillars, we ask questions in a linear scale format based on the following range:
1 = Very Unhappy
2 = Unhappy
3 = Neutral
4 = Happy
5 = Very Happy
Intersection of Happiness at Work - The methodology created by Meiuca
Monitoring Routines and Parameters
Once the results are collected, it’s time to work with our data. We are currently using Google apps to run the surveys (Forms), analyze the data (Excel), and present reports (Slides). However, we keep exploring alternatives to improve the management of this data, especially since we plan on creating a comprehensive dashboard that will offer a systemic view of each individual and how their intersection evolves throughout the year.
Finally, we established the goal parameters to look for if we’re on the right track. Through active listening, regular conversations with the team, and informal chats with market professionals, we estimated that the following parameters would be effective:
We aim to have at least 70% of our team satisfied across all pillars. In other words, this sample should be positioned between scores 4 (happy) and 5 (very happy).
It’s natural for the team to sometimes feel “neutral.” However, if we identify people in lower scores, we raise a red flag within our People & Culture department. From there, we’ll focus on understanding how to improve their perception of the pillar in question, and we’ll begin more personalized follow-ups for each case.
We’ve also agreed not to settle for many neutral scores. We will always strive to achieve scores of 4 (happy) and 5 (very happy) within our team.
Analysis and Reports
To exemplify what we've gathered from the initial results, here are two samples:
Example 1:
Here we have an example of a designer’s progression across the pillars over six months. We can see a major area of concern regarding their technical challenge, which we immediately addressed by understanding the issue and creating solutions to improve their situation. In this case, the designer was in a phase of the project where tasks were more repetitive and less technically challenging, particularly for senior-level team members. Therefore, this fluctuation was expected to continue until the end of the project phase.
Example 1: Graph showing a designer's current dissatisfaction with the technical challenge
Upon identifying this context, we sought alternatives to bring more technical challenges into this person's daily life, such as suggestions for new studies, participation as a content producer for one of our discipline chapter rituals, or collaboration with other work fronts that could take them out of their comfort zone.
We do not always find alternatives to escape this situation within the specific scope of projects - which is also natural - but we certainly find options for developing new skills within the Meiuca ecosystem.
Example 2
We analyzed six months of a developer's time at the company and noticed they were starting to lose a sense of purpose in their role. Despite Meiuca's efforts to provide close support and explore ways to help them reconnect with their purpose, the conclusion was that the individual no longer wanted to continue in the Technology field. As a result, they began transitioning to a different industry, and we determined that the best course of action was to part ways.
Example 2: A graph showing a developer who no longer saw meaning in their role and ended up switching fields.
In this context, even though the outcome was losing a team member which may seem negative, from a closer look, we got to understand the situation and the reasons behind their change, which highlights the effectiveness of our methodology, our responsibility as a company, and the personal desires of the individual involved.
Looking at these two (out of many) examples, it’s clear that multiple factors influence this "thermometer." The project agenda, which left the designer unsatisfied with their technical challenge, is one factor. The discovery of the developer’s desire to change careers is another. Additionally, other factors tend to impact the indicators, such as approaching vacations, time at the company, and interest in different specialties.
Now, let's look at the overall numbers:
87% of Meiuca feels that they live a healthy work routine;
76% of the team is satisfied with their current compensation;
82% of the individuals feel a latent technical challenge in their routine;
84% of the team sees meaning in the result of their work.
Adding to the 4 pillars of the Intersection, we’ve measured that 93% of our team is happy with their direct leadership.
2023 vs. 2024
It’s interesting to see the overall progress we’ve made in the pillars since 2023. Since then, we’ve seen a positive annual average across all indicators, along with a 3% increase in team satisfaction regarding both compensation and sense of purpose in their work.
When it comes to technical challenges in our daily work, we’ve also seen a 6% increase in team satisfaction. This could be linked to the experiments we conducted last year, where we created a spinoff of AI-based products reinforcing our constant drive to stay at the forefront of the digital products market.
Our team also experienced a 10% increase in satisfaction regarding their direct leadership compared to the same period last year. This could be linked to the growing feedback culture we have nurtured, as the enhancements in our monitoring and development routines, the maturation of our current leaders, and the hiring of new, more experienced leadership.
Finally, we saw a satisfactory 13% increase in satisfaction with healthy work routines. This is an area where we’ve traditionally performed well, 74% of the team previously felt they had a good work-life balance in our structure.
Meiuca has become a benchmark for fostering a strong workplace culture, where psychological safety and active listening are at the heart of our relationships. That said, the jump to 87% of our team reporting satisfaction or high satisfaction with their mental health and daily work routine is truly something to celebrate. Several factors may have contributed to this improvement, from enhanced benefits and the expansion of our People team to the continued care and attention we place on supporting the well-being of everyone at Meiuca.
Variation of the pillars compared to the years 2023 and 2024: compensation (+3%), sense of purpose at work (+3%), technical challenge (+6%), leadership (+10%), healthy routine (+13%).
What’s next?
Artificial intelligence is quickly transforming the people and culture space. I believe that very soon, we’ll be able to dive even deeper into People Analytics here at Meiuca with three times the data accessibility, and at half the cost.
Our goal remains the same: keep tracking how our Happiness Intersection is helping to reduce absenteeism and lower turnover, towards the dream culture and work environment we believe in.
Warm regards, Mila
Chief People Office at Meiuca