What Happiness Means for Employees
Happy wife, happy life. Teamwork makes the Dream work.
We all know that improving employee satisfaction leads to a better workplace. Happy staff are more productive, they work faster, they are willing to put in longer hours, they are willing to go the extra mile. Many employers still underestimate the importance of happiness in the workplace. It is important to think about how to make people happy, on an individual level as well as on a team level and a department level. Some companies worry that if they are making individuals happy, they are ignoring the whole team. So it is hard to find the right balance.
Analysing what makes employees happy is quite difficult. As an employer, you can conduct an employee satisfaction survey. This could generate different results to what was wanted or expected. It is important to consider what makes some people happy will not make others happy. For some it is more money. For some it is flexible working. For others it is more vacation days. Some people even want to be able to bring their children to work. Every person has different perceptions of happiness and we cannot control the way an employee feels at work.
Happiness has a unique effect on everything we do; even if we are not aware of it, being sad is extremely detrimental to our performance. It reduces the ability to think critically or creatively. To improve employee happiness is to build a positive relationship and to learn what happiness means to each team member.
- Showing you value them – valuing employees in the workplace has been proven to create fantastic results. Employees who feel valued have increased motivation in the workplace. Happy employees stay in their job longer than unhappy employees.
- Let them speak – give them a chance to speak and express what they feel. Let them contribute their ideas and make them feel that their opinions are valued.
- Give them a break – stressing about an issue at work can cause negative behaviour. Let them take a pause to take a stroll, a quick nap or to go somewhere private to reduce their stress. Happy employees have more energy than unhappy employees.
The solution is very simple: keep them happy and their happiness will lead to success and increased organisational productivity. Having a happy employee is a necessity for every successful workplace. Just having one unhappy staff member can affect the entire team and the organisation will suffer.
