Two billion people worldwide are not happy at work. This short TED series video on ‘The Way We Work’ provides an insight into 4 key areas to increase employee happiness at work.
Trust and Respect
Trust and respect are buzz words that many leaders and managers promote as being present in their organisations and teams. But often the actions don’t support these words. In this video, Michael Bush shares an example where a $1,500 laptop purchase went through 15 layers in the approval process. That doesn’t give the impression of trust at each of the many levels of approval chain.
Compare this to an organisation that gives its staff the freedom to, “do whatever you think is right to make the customer happy”.
Fairness
One of the quickest ways to erode happiness at work is for things to be ‘unfair’. Whether it be one rule for one employee or team, and another rule for others. Or wages or perks not provided consistently.
Whatever it is, as soon as employees feel they aren’t getting fair treatment, they become unhappy. This is a common factor in high turnover teams.
Listening
We’re talking about ‘real’ listening here. And that involves being humble and always looking for the best idea possible. That means being open to the thought that your idea or the status quo may not be the best idea or way of doing things.
If employees feel that their ideas are being listened to, and there is a chance that these ideas will be given reasonable consideration, that will increase their happiness at work. Conversely, if there is no chance the idea will see the light of day, then what is the point of having conversations. And in those situations, employees can become quite disgruntled.
Change
This is all about change for something you believe in. Whenever people join an organisation, there is usually some change required. Even if it is only small things. But ultimately people need to want to change for the right reason. Otherwise it won’t last.
Take these 4 areas into consideration when creating a happy workplace and the benefits are obvious: lower turnover; increased productivity; and just a great place for people to work.
Watch the QUICK 4-minute TED series talk here to learn about happiness at work.
Want to watch even more TED Talks we have shared. Check them all out here.
