We all get unhappy from time to time. It's part of the parcel of being human, but one of the biggest contributing factors to potential unhappiness is a person's workplace, which is why this special wristband was created: Moonbeam. While, on a first glance, Moonbeam might look like existing wristbands that monitor a person's heart rate and other vitals, this wristband measures a person's happiness, helping their employer to monitor their wellbeing. The wristband connects to a mobile app and web interface and contains two buttons: a yellow one which employees should press if they are happy and a blue one they can press if they are sad. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/BBCNews/status/1350973725110317058]] The idea is that as many companies have switched to remote working as a result of the ongoing pandemic, employees can wear the wristbands (if they want to) and press the buttons as is relevant during the week. Managers will have access to an online dashboard which will allow them to check in on how their employees are feeling since they can no longer do it in person. Moodbeam co-founder Christina Colmer McHugh told the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55637328">BBC</a>: "Businesses are trying to get on top of staying connected with staff working from home. Here they can ask 500 members: 'You ok?' without picking up the phone." McHugh invented the wristband when she discovered that her daughter was unhappy at school and she wanted to invest in a way of letting her easily communicate when things are tough. <img class="wp-image-12633851 size-full" src="https://img.vt.co/2021/01/2494b1c7-screen-shot-2021-01-19-at-14.34.56.png" alt="A sad person." width="788" height="521" />[[imagecaption|| Credit: Pixabay ]] Launching commercially in 2016, McHugh said that even though the product was initially designed with her daughter in mind, adults are happy to wear it too. "We moved away from anonymous to identifiable data after trials found that people do want to be identified," she says. UK Charity Brave Mind is now using the Moonbeam wristbands. "One member of the team was in an uncomfortable place, struggling with a huge workload, and disillusioned with what was going on," says trustee Paddy Burtt. "It's not something he would have flagged up, and we wouldn't have known about it unless we had seen the data." The <a class="css-1xgj2ad-InlineLink e1no5rhv0" href="https://www.who.int/teams/mental-health-and-substance-use/mental-health-in-the-workplace">World Health Organization</a> reports that prior to the pandemic, depression and anxiety cost the global economy $1 trillion (£730bn) per year in lost productivity and these issues have only worsened as a result of Covid-19.

New wristband alerts your boss if you're unhappy

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