Why employee happiness is important for businesses
Happiness at work should be a priority across all industries, businesses, and countries across the world. Being happy at work and working in an environment that makes you feel happy and fulfilled not only makes you feel good, but it also actually makes you work better. Being happy and content with what you’re doing, working alongside people that bring you joy, and working for and under Management teams that promote employee happiness increases productivity and output. Happiness in the workplace isn’t just great for employees - It benefits everyone. Not only do happier employees make better employees, but they also make better friends, parents, family members, colleagues, neighbours, community members and they are more likely to give to charity and do volunteering work. It goes deeper than the surface-level, emotional feeling - happiness at work truly enriches people’s lives.
Promoting ideas for happiness in the workplace and how to make employees happier is something we feel strongly about. After all, our passion is people - that’s why we are in the Recruitment industry. Adopting measures to ensure employees are happy should be paramount in all businesses, across every industry. In this post, we’ll define happiness at work, show a few examples of how to implement strategies to increase it, and provide 3 ideas for getting started with improving happiness at work in your company.
What is Happiness at Work?
The term ‘happiness’ is of course subjective and fluctuates from person to person - the same can be said for different companies, as every business has different culture, values, goals, and purpose. Happiness at work, to us at least, is about creating and maintaining a working environment in which the members of your organisation feel as comfortable as possible, can perform to the best of their ability without hindrance, and want to come to ‘the office’ every day.
Why is Happiness at Work Important?
‘Organizations are increasingly focusing on their employees' happiness because research shows that, on average, organizations with happier employees are 9% more profitable than organizations with unhappy employees’ - via knolskape.com
Happier people are healthier
Being happy has a direct effect on your physical health, not just your mental health. This article, written by Northwestern Medicine, states that:
‘Happiness lowers your risk for cardiovascular disease, lowers your blood pressure, enables better sleep, improves your diet, allows you to maintain a normal body weight through regular exercise and reduces stress.’
Happier people are more productive
Overall, happier people tend to be more creative, resilient, focused, driven and ready to face challenges. Happier people are more likely to make decisions that benefit their goals - they aren’t afraid to take risks to succeed.
What does the research tell us about the effect happiness has on productivity?
In a study conducted by Oxford University, they found that Happy workers are 13% more productive -
‘We found that when workers are happier, they work faster by making more calls per hour worked and, importantly, convert more calls to sales,’ said Professor De Neve. via - Oxford University
Happy staff means less turnover
Feeling valued and genuinely appreciated for your work is something that matters to a lot of employees. This study from Boston Consulting Group found that the most important factor (when it comes to people caring about their job) is an appreciation for their work.
Considering how you can show appreciation for your team or an individual in your organisation will make a difference to their happiness at work. This will help with increased staff retention and, ultimately, ensure that you keep the best talent at your company without worry that they will look for other opportunities.
People want to feel valued, they want to feel like they matter and that they make a difference.
Happier people build and maintain better relationships
Not just in their personal lives with family or friends, but in the office with their colleagues and their management, with customers, clients and members of their community. Happier people are always more likely to do more for others. Your team are a reflection of you and your business, just as much as your products and services are. The happier the employees are within the company, the happier your customers and clients will be.
3 Ways to Increase Employee Happiness in your organisation
We’ve discussed what happiness for employees means and how it benefits every organisation. Not only are the benefits there for the company and the employees, but it will also create an environment that you want to be a part of. As a leader, be it CEO or Team Manager when you come to work every day you want to be surrounded by smiles, good energy and happiness amongst your people.
How can you take steps to achieve that?
Create and Develop a Strong Company Culture
Give your employees purpose - what do we mean by this? This means establishing and explaining what your company values are and doing so in a way that resonates with people. If you are selling a product, tell them why you started the company and why you are selling the product. Align your business goals with their professional goals, collaboration and alignment are key to a strong culture. For example, show them what your product or service does to positively impact people’s lives.
Be supportive - invest in the health and wellbeing of your people. If your employees know they can take care of themselves inside and outside of work and are able to talk to the right people about any health issues they may face and have the correct support - you will have a strong foundation for great company culture.
Offer Flexibility - where possible, of course as flexibility is often industry-specific. But the best companies around the world already offer full flexibility when it comes to things such as work location (office vs home), working hours (some say the 9-5 is outdated), and providing freedom for employees to fit work around their personal lives. The number one thing flexibility does is instil trust between the company and employee.
‘One of the best things about building a positive culture is that it can be done with any budget, at any size company and within any industry. As long as employers take the time to genuinely invest in the happiness and well-being of their workforce, a positive culture will grow and thrive.’ Read more: Forbes
Engage Employees
Here’s how:
Ask for input - things like asking for opinions or feedback on topics go a long way. Find out exactly what makes your employees tick, what interests them, what motivates you, and take steps to implement those things. People like to be heard and if you ask the right questions and genuinely listen to the answers, you will find that they will react well to the feeling of being appreciated.
Allow autonomy - do not micromanage. Give your employees the trust to be autonomous and trust that they will get the job done - provide assistance and guidance where needed but allow them to get it done.
Give praise wherever possible - highlight specific achievements either by a team or individual, this can be personal or professional. Shout out the success of your employees, in person or via email. However you choose to do it, just make sure they are being recognised for their hard work.
Create boundaries between work and life
Employees must be allowed downtime, time to relax and switch off from work. We all need time to reset and recharge. Outlining that your employees are not expecting to work out of hours or showing that you shouldn’t feel guilty for taking breaks or holidays are great ways to create boundaries that work towards happiness in the workplace. Being overwhelmed from work leads to many problems like stress, anxiety, underperformance, and disorganisation. Of course, you want your team to work hard, but employee output should always be prioritised over input. Overworked and overstressed employees will not be as productive.
Employee Happiness is Important
Being happy at work should be the rule, not the exception. We spend a large part of our lives at work and how we feel when we are there directly affects our relationships, health, wellbeing, and work productivity. Employers should do more to listen to the wants and needs of the people that are part of their organisations, it will benefit them in the long run.
This week is International Week of Happiness at Work, if you want to get involved with doing more to make your workplace a happier place to be, check out the website and sign the manifesto below, there are some great examples of how to organise events to get your employees feeling happier.
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