A successful business needs to have employees that want to be at work and specifically to be at work for your particular business. A study by Forbes has proven that a happy employee will be approximately 20% more productive than one who does not to be there. This can make a huge difference to the success potential of any business.
What a happy employee looks like
The following are arguably the main traits and behaviors of a happy employee that should matter most to the business that employs them. It’s important to understand how to achieve this and how you can keep your employees in this state over the long term.
The employee exhibits ongoing positive performance: An employee who wants to be where they are can show this through ongoing and continuous attainment of the set and expected standards and targets. Their performance and behavior is positive and generally displayed in a manner that allows it to be measured or quantified.
First in and last out.: The manner and timing that an employee arrives and leaves the workplace is a major telltale sign of their approach to the workplace and work in general. It is all about measuring an employee’s punctuality, seriousness to start times and dedication to completing the tasks that have been set regardless of the fact that home time may have come and gone. Of course, this can also be true for an unhappy employee who is overworked and fighting to meet deadlines, so you should take this carefully and look at other signs.
They’re smiling: Yes, it can be that simple. A smile and the ability to be friendly and sociable will go a long way to proving an employee’s happiness with their position in the firm and perhaps even life in general.
They take the initiative: A happy employee is able to take the initiative for the benefit of the business. They don’t always need to be directed or guided and are comfortable enough to make decisions that they think are in the business’s best interests.
They have a low incidence of unauthorized absences: it’s normal for employees to take time off when ill and to use all their holiday time as they please. However, a happy employee will displays a lower incidence of unauthorized and disruptive absences – although obviously family sickness and emergencies might come at once. A happy employee can also be an unlucky one.
How to keep employees happy
The intention of any HR team should be to determine what makes and keeps the employee happy and implement HR strategies accordingly.
Structure and clarity of purpose
It may be as simple as the job description that sets the basic requirements expected from the employee and is the structure within which the employee will be able to perform at their best. There is nothing like clarity of purpose to direct an employee’s performance.
Performance rewards
Having a clear idea of how to improve staff performance is key to any business’s success. Several strategies have proven highly successful in motivating employees, but at the heart of the most successful rewards programs is the intrinsic knowledge of the employee and what drives them, be it financial rewards, time off in lieu, specific vouchers, or shop rewards. All can be used to create a sense of purpose and drive employee performance.
Employee assistance programs
Wellness and health have become important factors in the development and growth of your employees. The truth is that your happy employees may not always have a smile and may not always be pleased with everything at the workplace or in their lives. As such, you need to ensure that you have an employee wellness and assistance program that will help employees through any hard times and develop a level of resilience that will only strengthen them and the business alike.
Consider flexible working arrangements
The genie is out of the box, and since the recent pandemic, it is clear that work can take place from anywhere and at anytime as long as there is a clear and stable internet connection. Flexible working has massively improved workers lives – they can get on with work as they need without being interrupted by coworkers, but they have also gained back time by eliminating their commute. Demanding that everyone returns to the office 5 days a week will only highlight the negatives of the situation and will likely make your employees look around for other jobs which will give them a better work-life balance and working conditions.
Conclusion
A happy employee is definitely a more productive employee, and the discussion herein has shown exactly what this looks like and how to achieve it. It’s an ideal worth striving for and could be the difference between success and failure. So, look at what you can do to help your employees be happy, and listen to concerns or suggestions they might have.
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