How Employee Happiness and Business Performance Go Hand-in-Hand.

“Happiness” is not just a pipe dream. It is based on research and theory, a whole field of Psychology is devoted to it. Martin Seligman, author of “Authentic Happiness,” and several other scholars have conducted extensive research into what makes people happy.

You won’t be surprised to learn that buying something new will make you happy for a few minutes, but it wears off fast, just like a sugar rush. This is the equivalent of landing a fantastic deal or earning a great price cut in the workplace. It’s thrilling, but just for a short time.

The feeling that you have a good life is the next stage of satisfaction, which seems to last a lot longer. That kind of feeling comes from enjoying what you’re doing and having a positive attitude about your work. Being able to feel as though you are contributing to the environment is the most sustainable form of happiness.

As a consequence, in the corporate workplace community, happiness is a key factor in assessing a workforce’s efficiency and satisfaction. It also strengthens a company’s reputation and the ability to maintain its workers for the long term. So, it is fair to say that happiness at work is indispensable.

While most of us believe that rewarding workers with more money would make them happier, this isn’t the only way to keep them happy. Improving work-life balance, being available, offering better benefits, and saying “thank you” more frequently can all help raise employee morale.

Here are a few ways that how can a workplace foster happiness and productivity:

Giving Recognition to employees for their efforts and contribution

Everyone is well aware of the fact that status is one of the driving forces in a human’s life. People work hard for a reputed living and recognition. So, companies can use this as an advantage to keep the employees happy. Therefore, acknowledgment of their hard work will boost their confidence and make them willing to work for the organization with a positive attitude.

Showing faith in the Employees

When all the people are working together, trust plays a significant role. When a company trusts its employees with their skills and gives them some responsibility to manage work by themselves, they feel equipped and also satisfied and happy.

Make Work Fulfilling

No one wants to feel like their work doesn’t matter. To make work fulfilling, the employees first have to know how each individual’s contributions help drive the company closer to fulfilling its purpose. And how each team member’s role is critical for the company to fulfill its purpose.Even if the employees in a commoditized industry like insurance, there are still ways to give your organization purpose. Zappos is a great example. They sell shoes and clothing online, but their mission is to “deliver happiness.” All new hires at Zappos spend two weeks fielding customer service calls, no matter which department they’re going to be working for. This ensures that everyone sees the value of their work — “delivering happiness” to their customers.

Offer Meaningful Perks

A recent study found that employees value perks over a pay raise. This is especially true of millennial workers, who see compensation more as a threshold than a scorecard. So what does move the needle? Perks that improve quality of life and demonstrate that your company cares about employees, things like health and wellness programs, child care, and unlimited vacation. This shouldn’t come as a surprise — it’s the reason you see top companies like Google, Facebook, and Apple offer extensive perks to boost workplace happiness.

Invest in Your Team’s Personal & Professional Growth

Personal development is a basic human need, and employees need to constantly grow to feel fulfilled. When employees feel stagnant, that’s when many start scrolling through the job boards in search of something new. Here are some ideas that a lot of top companies are doing (and most of them don’t cost that much):

– Subsidize education for team members who want to take classes, purchase online courses, or attend industry conferences to improve their skills.

– Host “lunch and learns” where a team member presents a topic he or she is passionate about.

– Start a book club or crowdsource a library.

– Launch a company-wide Individual Development Plan: where employees come up with their personal and professional goals that they want to achieve by the end of the year. From there, the manager and employee break down each goal into parts, setting quarterly and monthly benchmarks. Dates are set so the employee has a realistic pathway to achieving her goals.

Throw Fun Events that Allow People to Interact and Bond

It’s a fact: having friends at work just makes going into the office more fun. It helps create a sense that you and your colleagues are all “in this thing together .”Having ongoing fun events at a set cadence gives the team their chance to connect with their co-workers on a more personal level. Offsites are best to get people mingling, but the organization can also do things like a Happy Hour once a month or half-day Fridays in the summer to hang out together. The magic of a summer beach day with the team cannot be overstated!

Provide tools for success

While the policy may be the sole focus at first, remember to think of creative solutions. Instead of giving strict guidelines, try to allow problem-solving to come into play. Create safe environments for employees to express their thoughts and ideas for the company.

Respect staff time

While the needs of your business may shift gears from time to time, it’s important to have a consistent schedule.

Don’t keep score

It’s important to not keep track of all of the good and bad results employees have produced. Remaining positive and reassuring a common goal to work towards the success of the organization is most helpful.

Allow workplace flexibility

While showing up to work on time and completing all tasks promptly is important to keep a business flowing, it’s also great to show flexibility. If respect is shown at work, employers should respect that their employees have a life outside of work as well.

Celebrate both personal and team milestones

As you set goals and track employees’ progress, it’s nice to take a step back from the work and see what everyone has accomplished. Make sure to celebrate the goals you all accomplished.

Make your employees part of the bigger picture

Informing the team is key to running a successful business. To have great communication and trust, it’s great to talk about the company’s future and goals for the upcoming months or years. This will make them feel valued and demonstrate to them that their hard work is going towards something great for the company.

Prioritize a good work/life balance

As employers and employees, they all share the common aspect of learning to balance good work with a good life. Embrace the importance of work, but also understand the importance of maintaining a healthy life.

Encourage breaks

It’s important to work hard but also put a value on rest periods. By allowing employees to take a breather, they’ll be more productive and come back to work with a focused mindset.

The above-mentioned ways can be adopted to help employees increase their belongingness towards the company and create a happy and positive attitude among employees. But these are not the only ways, ideas have no limits and no one can put a full stop to thoughts which means there are a lot of ways to create a happy environment in the workplace. The main aim stays the same, that is the well-being and happiness among the employees because ultimately they are the key resources of an organization and it is the responsibility of the organization to keep their employees satisfied and happy because everything here goes hand in hand. Every effort put towards the well-being of the employees will ultimately benefit the organization in the form of increased productivity.

Content by: Aditi, Arshita , Ananya