Employee Happiness

There’s no “secret” to employee happiness. There’s no checklist of items employers can tick off to ensure their teams will be happy and excited each day in the office.

That’s because no one employee is the same. There’s no ‘one size fits all’ model to employee happiness.

If you want to build a team that truly loves their jobs, consider this:

Recognise individual efforts.
Everyone, I mean everyone craves gratitude and appreciation. Even the simplest things go a long way.

Think of a time when your boss praised you. Do you remember how that felt?
Now imagine giving that same feeling to your team members. Pretty amazing, huh?

When employees feel appreciated, they’re also more engaged, productive and enthusiastic.

Make a Difference

Nowadays, employees want their work to mean something. It’s not enough anymore to just show up at the office, do your job, then clock out and go home. People want to feel like their work impacts lives and changes the world.

Now, we can’t all be NGOs or philanthropically generous, but that doesn’t mean your team can’t make a difference.

Volunteer a few hours together in the community. Hold a fundraiser. Donate old clothes or books. Run a cheeky 5k that supports a local charity.

Even small things like offering recycling bins in the office can make employees feel like they’re contributing to the greater good.

Set clear expectations.

Uncertainty creates stress and anxiety, especially when employees fear that underperforming could cost them their jobs.

Set out to make expectations as clear as possible. Why is your employee’s role vital to the organization as a whole? How does each person’s role support the other? How do we define success? How do we measure it?

Engage your employees to understand if you’re all on the same page. If you’re not, get there!

The best thing you can do to make your employees happy is ASK THEM. At the end of the day, it’s their input that really counts.

 
Words by Kelly Dundon