After hiring freeze, understaffed company posts listing for 'Chief Happiness Officer': 'I predict a whole bunch of mandatory fun'

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JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Jun 18, 2026 9:00 PM EDT

What kind of a job is a "Chief Happiness Officer"

There are all sorts of jobs one can have in this life. Jobs that you could have never imagined existed, let alone paid a salary. The person in this story, who shared this to the antiwork subreddit, found out that their company was hiring for a pretty crazy position. When your company is struggling, there are certain things you don't want to see them do. When they start making frivolous decisions, it can reflect poorly on them and might even mean that your job is in jeopardy. When you see your company spending money as if it doesn't matter, and yet you are severely understaffed, there is a huge problem. It can make you feel like they're not looking out for you and trying to appease someone else. Someone who may not even exist. But that's what was happening here, after an employee discovered a listing for a "Chief Happiness Officer." That, to them, felt like a slap in the face, since they were having to make do on a slashed budget. That's the kind of role you try to fill when you have money coming out of your ears and don't know what to do with it. Plus, you have to imagine that the CHO (Chief Happiness Officer) will want to have a pretty big budget so they can do dinners and team building and cookies in the office and all the other ways you could think to make an employee happy without paying them more. That's the kind of stuff that they'd likely be signing up for, which doesn't make perfect sense. But what does, in this day and age? 

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    via algoleague

    A group of people sit at a table working with balloons around them

  • The frustration was real, though, for this worker who felt like their company had all the wrong priorities. This can be difficult to work through when you're trying to make the best of a situation where not much is going right. Keep scrolling to read the full story and see what commenters had to say about the whole hullabaloo.

  • My company's hiring freeze ended and the first role they posted was "Chief Happiness Officer"

    we've been understaffed for 8 months. people have been doing double the work, some burned out and quit, i burned through most of my savings just trying to decompress on weekends
    via Imaginary-Cicada3578
  • and the freeze lifts and they post a Chief Happiness Officer role. full time. competitive salary. benefits. to make us happy. instead of just hiring for the 6 roles we actually needed
    via Imaginary-Cicada3578

  • Commenters gave their opinions and takes.

    JamesMcC2 I predict a whole bunch of mandatory fun in your near future.
    via JamesMcC2
  • Independent-Two97 Ok but did you apply? Seems fun and your company sounds like if you get the job, recommending pizza parties and casual fridays will be satisfactory
    via Independent-Two97
  • TenTonSomeone They can either hire 6 people to fill in gaps (expensive!), or they can just hire ONE person to manage your happiness! It's simple economics. Us non c-suite folks would never understand.
    via TenTonSomeone
  • MJblowsBubbles The title alone brings rage.
    via MJblowsBubbles
  • C
    via algoleague

    A group of people work on laptops in a room with balloons

  • Zest724 We have a chief morale officer at work. That's not her real title, just what we call her. She walks around passing out candy to us, sticking whimsical magnets and googly eyes in odd places, and asking how we like the job.
    via Zest724
  • snapnshred My current company is laying off key people, making really bad business. decisions, and is really hoping their tactic of making everyone "do more with less" will catch on. It is not.
    via snapnshred
  • Our GM said the other week that we'd all be much happier at work if "we focus on the company values and cut back on all the water cooler talks." Next Friday is my last day.
    via snapnshred
  • vasectomy7 Taking that position would be unbelievably stressful... a constant struggle to justify your existence and 1000% guarantee to be the first person fired at the next round of layoffs
    via vasectomy7
  • tachycardiclVu These are the same kinds of people who would rather let good nurses quit than pay them properly and then end up paying traveling nurses 3-5x what they'd pay a regular employee. Get owned....I guess??
    via tachycardiclVu
  • Gathering Circle The happiness officer is being hired so they can be tasked with increasing retention, but that will inevitably fail because they won't let him enact any changes. Instead he's the fall guy they can fire first.
    via GatheringCircle
  • obsoleteconsole Guarantee someone high up has a friend they want to give a cushy job to
    via obsoleteconsole
  • Hexent_Armana God I hate companies that do this sh. And they almost always hire some annoying office girly who doesn't know how to read a room and shoves the resulting happiness of her lazy and low stress life in everyone's faces. Which of course only makes them more miserable.
    via Hexent_Armana
  • I wish these companies would just pay a living wage and stop overworking their employees. That would make themah I of a lot more happy than a "Chief Happiness Officer".
    via Hexent_Armana
  • neonninja304 This sounds like a scapegoat position. Just someone they can blame and fire to make it look like they are doing something.
    via neonninja304
  • itsagoodtime Good news is you'll burn through that money faster with mandatory fun week nights and week ends
    via itsagoodtime
  • Ok-Return7750 Brace yourself....or gird your loins or whatever saying is appropriate. You'll need to smile constantly.
    via Ok-Return7750
  • Be forced to hum happy tunes. Be forced to attend birthday parties and Friday night drinks with people you hate. Any failures with result in HR write ups and disciplinary measures. So brace yourself....
    via Ok-Return7750
  • Cats_Waffles Ooooo our boss brought in an expert at making staff happy once! Now we have to do all these bulls activities to make us boost our own moral, like monthly costume days, monthly potlucks, extra meetings,
    via Cats_Waffles
  • arts and crafts at the mandatory after hours unpaid staff meeting, wearing jeans to work for a small fee, monthly secret santa, and mandatory door decorating.
    via Cats_Waffles
  • She showed the superintendent and school board all the extra garbage she's been making us do and they gave her principal of the year, complete with a bonus.
    via Cats_Waffles

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boss antiwork corporate workplace-stories toxic-workplace job bosses working workplace happiness
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