Making our employees happy in our company will have direct benefits on the annual results. We tell you what you need to do to achieve an optimal working environment.
According to a study by the University of Warwick, a happy employee is 12% more productive, while an unhappy one is 10% less.
There is no definitive formula for a happy employee, as each employee is unique. However, there are certain variables that, when well applied to our employees, will help our company and its ecosystem to be a happy place to work.
Internal communication is fundamental for creating empathy and understanding how employees value a company.
The best way to know if your employees are happy or not is to ask them. This way you will identify potential internal problems and be able to eradicate them before it's too late.
Many companies use tools such as Typeform to create small surveys and send them to your workers at the end of the week with the aim of identifying potential improvements. These tests ask basic questions such as:
How has your week been?
– Have you had a lot of work?
– Would you highlight anything from this week?
Employee feedback is of the utmost importance to a company. We must consider their ideas and concerns. This is essential for making them feel valued and, in turn, improving our internal processes.
Remember that their happiness directly impacts their productivity and, therefore, the company's overall results. A happy environment benefits everyone.
Besides surveys, constant and open communication is essential. There are internal chat tools, such as the chat from Google in Gmail or Slack, which help improve communication between employees.
Giving a worker power and responsibility helps to keep their motivation high. It gives them a reason to keep striving and to give meaning to their daily work, offering them direction to follow so they don't wander aimlessly around the company.
But it's not enough to just delegate responsibilities; you'll also need to set objectives to be achieved within a defined timeframe (monthly, quarterly, annually, etc.).
It is advisable for the achievement of these objectives to have a reward behind them. In this way, both the company and the employee will benefit: the worker feels fulfilled with their work, obtains a reward that will impact their happiness, and the company can increase productivity and, therefore, improve the financial result.
In the vast majority of cases, professional paths lead us to places we might not have considered in the past. There's a possibility that our professional dreams could be cut short, and we end up working in positions that we don't consider our calling.
However, this situation can be well managed if we help our employees to understand that each position has interesting elements that can help their self-realisation.
Help your employees with their training. Encourage them to sign up for courses, workshops, or conferences to expand the knowledge they can use in their day-to-day work. Continuous learning makes employees feel more useful and capable within a company and, therefore, more comfortable there.
There's no doubt that celebrating makes us happy, and there are plenty of reasons to celebrate. Successes, new clients, project completions… Make the most of this to bring your team together in the company cafeteria or at the local pub. Anywhere.
We must involve all staff in that positive atmosphere. It's important that everyone feels part of the successes achieved, that their contribution has served a purpose in achieving important company goals.
This will undoubtedly help to ease tensions and foster a pleasant environment where a good working atmosphere should be paramount.
Finally, as Margarita Álvarez confirms, As an expert in the study of workplace happiness, the master key to fostering an optimal environment is «to seek out what makes you enjoy your work. To focus on the positive.» And in that regard, we as a company have a lot to contribute.
