By Carlos Barboza Furzan
Today, if you want to create value in the marketplace, you must create value in the workplace.
Do you know that employee happiness has increasingly become a new rule in business? It’s simple. Happy employees mean successful organizations.
According to Social Market Foundation (SMF), happy employees are up to 20% more productive than unhappy employees. Even the Harvard Business Review states when it comes to salespeople, happiness has an even greater impact, raising sales by 37%.
It is amazing how happy employees are twice as motivated, up to 30% more productive, three times more creative, 20% more accurate and 40% more persuasive. They have almost 20% fewer sick days per annum and lower employment costs – staying up to five times as long with a single employer, according to Michelle Hawkins, Happiness at Work Consultant, The Guardian, 2012.
So how can you promote a workplace happiness?
In theory, this sounds easy, but when you try to apply it, you need to keep in mind that each employee brings their own personality, strengths, culture, language, weaknesses, experiences and ambitions to work with them every day, and I will include that an employee’s mood changes every day too. So the less thing you want is an environment in your workplace that will decrease your employee performance.
For instance, don’t be surprised if you scream at your sellers, and then you receive a negative review from one of your customers because of a bad customer service experience. This result is not bad karma, it is just a consequence of your actions. Negative customer experiences don’t just come from the people touching the customers, they come from leadership mindsets that focus more on the profit and not enough on the people who produce it.
The only way you can consistently and reliably create happy, engaged, committed and loyal customers is by creating and nourishing a work environment where the employees feel valued, appreciated, connected, cared about, and challenged to be the best of who they can be. An employee who feels these things would most likely say that they are happy or fulfilled at work.
Therefore, use coaching techniques that will help you to increase happiness, engagement and performance and make a positive impact on your people, your culture and your bottom line.
There are a few ways to intervene and build happiness among you and your team:
• Today, if you want to create value in the marketplace, you must create value in the workplace. Any product or service can become a commodity overnight or someone can sell the same product you have immediately. What differentiates one company from another is the quality of the customer’s felt experience. Therefore, happiness has value; unhappiness has a cost.
• Companies that take good care of their employees also take good care of their customers. The customer’s experience is based on their perception of the value you deliver, whether tangible or intangible.
• People who feel good at work out-perform those who don’t.
• Happy employees, again, are sick less often and for less time. That means they are on the job more.
• Being creative is a natural talent we are all born with. Happy people feel more comfortable offering their best ideas. Combined with a higher level of comfort in the creative space, happy people are better at solving problems. Give your employees the autonomy they need in order to make a good decision.
• People in a more positive workplace want to stick around longer; therefore, they become loyal employees.
• Happiness is linked to productivity; remember that this increase in productivity is achieved without increasing payroll.
Whether you are a CFO, a business owner, a steward of your corporate culture, a manager at any level, or a frontline employee who is interested in the success of your organization, notice that taking care of your happiness and paying attention to the happiness of those around you will benefit both you and your team.
One last thing, happy people focus on what they have, while unhappy people focus on what’s missing. I want to share this quote from Eckhart Tolle: “Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.”
Be happy. Lead well.
Carlos Barboza is the owner of Eco Green Auto Parts, Orlando FL. Their website is https://ecogautoparts.com and they can be found on Facebook @ecogreenautoparts.
