Leger Buys Pierre Côté's Happiness Indexes

Canadian polling and market research firm Leger has acquired the Relative Happiness Index (RHI) and the Workplace Happiness Index (WHI), founded and created by marcoms consultant Pierre Côté. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

The RHI and WHI provide a measure of Canadian and French citizens' levels of happiness with their lives and at work. On an annual basis, RHI is consulted by more than 100,000 people and a variety of rankings are generated from the two indexes, including the happiest cities, the happiest jobs and the best employers. Leger is planning to develop both and promote them in the US.

As part of the deal, Côté (pictured) joins the Leger team as Research Director, while remaining a RHI and WHI Partner. Jean-Marc Léger, President of Leger comments : 'With the difficulty that companies have when it comes to recruiting and retaining employees, the Workplace Happiness Index is a necessary tool to measure the quality of the workplace climate and to increase employee performance and retention'.

Web sites: www.leger360.com and www.indicedebonheur.com .