As an employer, you influence the happiness of your employees. You know that, of course, but in practice, it sometimes remains challenging to pay attention to this on a structural basis. In this blog, we mention several factors that directly influence your employees' happiness. We can imagine that you would like to get started with this because good people are difficult to find and you want to keep your staff right now. Recently, there was another media report stating that there are more vacancies than job seekers for the first time in history. That shows how tight the labour market is. In addition, surveys show that employees who feel good about themselves in the workplace call in sick less often and are more productive and sustainable. And finally, and perhaps most importantly, where people enjoy working together, enjoy their jobs, employees have fun and are more engaged.
These are the three aspects of happiness that you can influence starting tomorrow
1. Having relationships and enough challenge
People who are in a proverbial warm nest are happier, more self-confident and are not afraid to make mistakes. This does not only apply to the private sphere, especially in a business setting where performance and results are essential; attention to the relationship is critical. And not only with the manager but also with the colleagues themselves.
When you combine relationships with sufficient challenge and the freedom to do your work autonomously, you have gold in your hands. After all, if employees feel challenged, they are involved, work more effectively, and display greater creativity. How are the relationships within your organization? And are colleagues challenged enough at the moment? Or is the work pressure high, and do you want to do something about it?
2. Doing meaningful work
Most people want to feel that they are doing something worthwhile. Value, in this case, is not about salary but about contributing something meaningful to someone else. When people work in a job they perceive as significant, they associate it with favourable terms such as self-confidence, optimism, hope and a general sense of well-being. In the ideal situation, people's motivations are equal to those of the organization; company culture fits like a jacket. Do you have a picture of how your people experience this?
3. Creating flow and experiencing positive emotions
Remember how you could spend hours doing an activity you performed effortlessly as a child? Playing football, baking a lovely cake, or endlessly practising that one dance step, Do you or your colleagues ever get the same feeling during work? And if not, why is that? Have your colleagues pursued their dreams and done what they wanted as a child? It is precisely that flow that you want to have within the company. Because then the rest will take care of itself, and there will be much positivity. Getting people into flow involves intrinsic motivation, pleasure, challenge, and working conditions. Think, for example, of the degree of comfort or the freedom to organize your working hours and tasks within specific frameworks. That makes people feel inspired to contribute to a higher cause.
Go with the flow
We wish you every success and cordially invite you to spar with us about the possibilities to increase happiness at work within your company. We do have a few ideas…
