Socio-demographic variable effects in the evaluation of competencies that facilitate the Chief Happiness Officer (CHO) Labor

Seeking to create an acceptable working environment in which every employee gives the maximum of himself, some companies have incorporated the position of Chief Happiness Officer (CHO), or the responsible person for happiness into their organization chart. A set of general competencies is required from the CHO to develop work efficiently. This work, which is centered on Arco de la Bahia de Algeciras (Spain), seeks to test to what extent companies consider these skills fundamental when they are selecting personnel. The idea is that the more demanded they are, the easier to find a profile that fit a CHO position within companies. Additionally, the estimated availability of such skills is measured in the active personnel of their respective area. In a different matter, the possibility of associations between the variables of the socio-demographic respondents' profile with the abilities that are studied is analyzed. A questionnaire is handed to directors or human resources managers in a sample of entities, with Likert scale of values. After confirming the strong intercorrelation between the capabilities, an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) is conducted in order to contain the information in a smaller number of constructs or factors. The data exposes a clear consensus on the need for generic competencies. The first factor, core competency, is associated with the age of the participant, and the size and activity sector of the company, especially with the financial service sector and corporations. Despite its limitations, the utility of the work is twofold: on the one hand, it covers part of the notable gap that still exists in CHO literature; on the other hand, it gives guidelines on the behavior of companies and sectors, and provides data to trainers in order to reduce identified deficiencies in terms of analyzed competencies in professionals' profiles.