We are pleased to invite you to NBCC Mental Health Day 2026, held in celebration of World Mental Health Day. 

Theme: Happiness at Work – From Lived Experience to Real Change
Date: 22 October 2026
Time: 14:00–15:00 CET
Location: Online (Microsoft Teams)

Workplace mental health and wellbeing remain key priorities for organisations seeking to create healthy, resilient, and sustainable workplaces. This year’s session will explore an important question: how can organisations move from listening to employee experiences, to turning those insights into meaningful and lasting change?

During this session, we will discuss:

• What happiness at work really means beyond satisfaction and engagement
• How organisations can effectively listen to and measure employee experiences
• How employee feedback and data can be transformed into meaningful organisational insights
• How leaders can translate insights into positive and sustainable workplace improvement

Case Study: From Happiness Scores to Meaningful Insight

Research from the McKinsey Health Institute, based on insights from more than 30,000 employees across 30 countries, including the Netherlands and the UK, highlights key factors that influence positive workplace experiences, including:

• Meaningful work
• Psychological safety
• Belonging
• Supervisor and coworker support
• Job autonomy
• Learning and growth opportunities
• Career opportunities
• Workload and workplace demands

The research found that employees reporting more positive work experiences also reported better holistic health, greater innovation, and improved job performance, while recognising that positive workplace enablers and excessive demands need to be considered together.

The workplace data from the Netherlands, where 79.2% of employed people reported being satisfied or very satisfied with their work, 64.0% reported having autonomy in deciding how to do their work, while 19.7% reported experiencing work-related mental fatigue. These figures demonstrate that employee experience is complex and cannot be measured through satisfaction alone.

Research shows, where a six-month field study involving 1,793 UK call-centre workers found an association between increased self-reported happiness and productivity. The study reported approximately a 12% increase in productivity linked to a one-point increase in self-reported happiness (on a 0–10 scale) within that specific workplace setting.

Speakers include:

Lyne Biewinga
CEO at NBCC
Welcome & Introduction

Stijn van der Vat
Founder at Deepler
Measuring happiness at work, understanding employee experience, and translating data into meaningful organisational insight.

Anne-Maartje Oud
Behavioural Expert, Speaker, Advisor, Consultant, Trainer, owner at The Behaviour Company
Happiness at work in practice: why it matters and how organisations and leaders can create conditions in which people can thrive.

This event is especially relevant for:

• Business leaders and senior management
• HR and People & Culture professionals
• DEI and workplace wellbeing professionals
• Managers and team leaders
• Employees interested in workplace wellbeing
• Organisations seeking to understand and improve employee experience

Join us for an insightful conversation on how workplace happiness can be understood, measured, and transformed into meaningful action.