Have you ever had a boss or co-worker who made your day-to-day work life miserable? On the flip side, have you ever had a boss or co-worker who made it a pleasure to come into work on a regular basis?
Attitude is one of the biggest blessings and curses that we all experience at times in our working lives. People who bring a happier demeanor to their jobs tend to bring more than skill sets to the table. If you have ever worked with a happy and energized team, you know what a powerful component happiness is to the mix. Similarly, if you have ever worked on a team that included a lot of negativity, you know how quickly ‘moving forward’ can screech to a halt.
But it’s not just about people who are already ‘happy’ who can help to boost business; it’s also about companies who know how to help foster a culture that creates happy workers. Numerous studies have been done in the last several years focusing on the positive impact of happy employees. Consider the following:
- An Oxford University study found that happy employees, across the board, used their time more wisely and achieved superior results, even though they did not put in more hours than their unhappy colleagues.
- In a study from the University of Warwick, happy workers were 12% more productive than unhappy employees.
- The Academy of Management Perspectives found that happy employees are not only retained by employers longer than their unhappy colleagues, but also choose to stay at jobs longer (four times longer than unhappy employees).
- The University of California, Riverside discovered a powerful correlation between happiness and career success.
Whether you are a small business leader or have some say in a larger corporate culture, you have no doubt seen that employee satisfaction is now looked at as being as important as customer satisfaction. Why? Because happy employees tend to see more possibilities than their more pessimistic cohorts, who tend to focus on roadblocks instead; and possibilities are good for business.
Armed with the knowledge that happiness is a key component to success, you might be wondering how you can improve happiness in your organization. Here are some ways to do that.
Don’t Guess
Understand that you can’t just guess what makes people happy. Different things motivate different people. This doesn’t have to seem like a big undertaking to figure that out - just ask them! Practicing effective communication with your employees (and encouraging them to do the same with you) makes everything easier.
Encourage Your Employees to Speak Up (and then listen to them)
Encourage employees to take ownership of not just their own roles, but the company as a whole. You can do this by encouraging them to share their ideas - and then by listening to them! This doesn’t mean that you are going to implement every idea, but it does make employees feel heard. When people feel heard, they are encouraged to share more often; when people share more often, a lot of problems get solved by people you may never have thought to approach for solutions in the first place.
Let Your Employees Take the Lead
Happy employees feel more empowered and, therefore, feel more comfortable making decisions. It’s not uncommon for decisions to come to a standstill in so many businesses because employees feel unsure about their decision-making abilities, due to either so many checks and balances being in place, or just a lack of confidence due to them being punished more than praised for taking the lead.
It goes without saying that happy employees create pleasant customer experiences. There are too many options for products and services today to gloss over the experience you give your customers. We have all experienced rude sales reps and employees who seem to really not care. When employees don’t feel like they are valued, it comes out in their interactions with customers. Employees who are not happy make for customers who are not happy.
It is common for businesses to invest in technology, marketing materials, and office space, but those that also invest in the happiness of their human resources not only improve their overall productivity and morale but retain the very people who drive their business success for a long time.
As a leader, you have the opportunity to build positive relationships within your company, at every level. Ask how you can support your people in a way that is meaningful to them. Find opportunities to give them feedback about them bringing value, not just what they need to do better. The result? A happier team.
By the way, if you would like a steady stream of people who have discovered how to bring happiness to their work lives, subscribe to my podcast, Work From your Happy Place.