5 Ways to Ensure Your Employees Are Happy

A recent study by the Harvard Business Review found that happy employees are generally more productive than unhappy employees. Moreover, another similar study by LinkedIn found that employees who feel respected, empowered, and engaged are less likely to switch employers, whereas employees who do not feel involved, respected, and empowered have a 65% chance of changing employers. Based on these studies, workplace happiness is possibly one of the most underrated resources in the workplace. A happy workplace usually tends to boost employee productivity, creativity, engagement, and loyalty, among other things. Additionally, it makes it easier to recruit new talent.

Keeping this in mind, here are five great ways to keep your employees happy.

1. Allow Flexible Work Arrangements

Consistently ranking highly in life satisfaction studies, a healthy work-life balance is one of the key aspects of employees’ happiness. One of the best ways to promote work-life balance is to offer flexible work arrangements. Popularly known as flextime, flexible work arrangements essentially refer to work schedules and environments that lack the constraints associated with a traditional job. Such arrangements typically consider employees’ personal needs, allowing them to synchronize their personal responsibilities with their work hours. Some of the most common examples of flextime arrangements include:

• Home sourcing
• Job sharing
• Compressed workweek
• Telecommuting
• Remote working
• Customized work hours
• Part-time positions
• Flexible vacation time

2. Create a Culture of Trust

Trust between employees and management goes a long way in making employees feel valued and invested in an organization’s vision and mission. Moreover, employees generally appreciate trust when it comes to career pathways and prospects. Keeping this in mind, some of the strategies you can use to cultivate trust between you and your employees include:

• Holding regular business briefings
• Building a culture of transparency
• Embracing diversity
• Promoting workplace equity

3. Set Realistic Performance Goals

Realistic and achievable performance goals can improve workplace productivity and help align an employee’s achievement with the overall vision of the company, ensuring the business continues to grow and flourish. On the other hand, unrealistic or unachievable performance goals are likely to dampen employee morale, creating an unhappy and potentially toxic work environment.

4. Encourage Open Communication

To increase the happiness of employees, encourage communication in the workplace. One of the best ways to do this is to adopt an open-door policy in your business to encourage your employees to communicate outside of pre-planned meetings. An open-door policy usually encourages employees to communicate openly and freely, meaning you’re more likely to get their honest feedback this way. Some of the other strategies you can use to encourage communication in your business include:

• Schedule regular one-on-one meetings with your employees
• Create a culture of employee feedback
• Actively listen
• Avoid jumping into conclusions

5. Recognize and Reward Your Best Employees

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) says that an employee recognition program can increase workplace productivity, reduce attrition rates, and improve employee morale. Furthermore, a recent study by Deloitte found that good employee recognition programs reduce employee turnover by about 31%. In essence, these studies point to the benefits of rewarding an employee for work-related efforts and achievements. With this in mind, you, too, should implement such a program to keep your employees happy. Besides cash rewards, some of the things to recognize your best employee include:

• Saying “thank you”
• Taking your employees to lunch
• Organizing fun activities for your employees
• Shout-outs
• Paid holidays

Use these five ways to increase employees’ happiness in your business. In addition to creating a happy work environment, have proper business insurance to protect your business from unexpected incidents. Contact the experts at Robert J. Los Insurance Agency in Hamburg, New York, for all your insurance needs. We look forward to helping you with all your coverage needs.