Watch any episode from the long-running hit TV series, “The Office” and you’ll immediately notice two facts: first, the Dunder Mifflin paper team isn’t very happy and second, they sure aren’t productive.
And while disillusioned boss Michael Scott (in the earlier seasons) certainly tried to spread happiness in the workplace, somehow his antics usually did more harm than good.
He did, however, have one thing right — a happy team does play a direct role in productivity. Just keep in mind that happiness is a whole lot easier than it looks on television. And, leaders are always on the quest to discover how to make employees happy.
Why Happiness Is Important
Happy employees are inwardly motivated to do their jobs well leading to increased productivity and the health of your business. If that’s not enough, a recent Gallup study showed that disengaged employees cost the U.S. economy nearly $416 billion in 2009. Make no mistake, a good portion of that came from businesses like yours.
D. G. Myers, in The Pursuit of Happiness, says that compared to employees who are depressed or unhappy, happy employees have lower medical costs, work more efficiently and have less absenteeism.
No longer a subject for pop psychologists to dissect on daytime television, the pursuit of happiness has pervaded all aspect of business, affecting employee attendance, health (sick days) and eventually the bottom line — no matter which way you view it.
How You Can Encourage Workplace Happiness
The good news is that you don’t need a large “happiness budget” to form a culture of happiness in your workplace. A few simple changes in your outlook as a leader and a few changes in your workspace can go a long way in understanding how to make employees happy.
Action Steps
1. Encourage togetherness. Ben Waber, a research scientist and CEO of management consulting firm Sociometric Solutions, emphasizes the importance of having a tight-knit group in the workplace. It allows employees to gain support, share ideas and vent if they need to. Weber tells his clients that steps as simple as scheduling overlapping lunches and purchasing larger lunch tables can improve productivity as much as twenty-five percent.
Prioritize customer service. Happy customers help create happy employees and happy employees help create happy customers. Fred Reichheld in an article for Forbes Magazine insists that “there is no way to consistently turn customers into promoters unless they are being served by employees who are equally enthusiastic about their work, and there’s no way employees can be enthusiastic about their work if the customers they deal with all day long are detractors.”
3. Practice positive thinking and speaking. Never underestimate the power of thought and speech. The more those in leadership develop the habit of seeing potential rather than problems and challenges rather than crises, the more positive influence they will see in their workforce.
4. Help others. It always feels good to help others. Establishing a mentoring program at work, hosting a food drive and giving to charity are all tried and proved ways to spread the cheer.
5. Show appreciation. A recent survey by OfficeTeam revealed that nearly half of workers indicated they would leave their position if they didn’t feel appreciated. Showing gratitude on a regular basis is possibly the easiest way to create a happy culture.
6. Invest in work-life balance initiatives. Recognizing your employees’ lives outside work is a critical part of developing a culture of happiness in the workplace. Initiatives can be as simple as offering flex-schedules, opportunities to telecommute and offering floating holidays.