What is happiness at workplace?
Happiness at workplace and satisfaction are subjective concepts, while for some of us the cash benefits can be equated with job satisfaction, some may want recognition for their hard workplace in addition and lose motivation if they don’t get it.
How important is happiness at workplace?
According to a survey conducted by the Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship, at the University of California , happy employees are on average 31% more productive, three times more creative, and when they work in sales, they achieve 37% better results than unmotivated professionals.
In addition, when they feel satisfied with their job, workers perform 27% better than their peers, 125% less burnout, 32% more commitment, and 46% more satisfaction with their role.
We don’t even need to explain why these numbers are business-relevant.
For professionals, in addition to having a better quality of life, statistics relate happiness to professional development.
The logic is simple: the happier, the more productive and engaged, and thus, the greater the chance of winning promotions and/or developing professionally.
Main concepts of Positive Psychology
Positive Psychology is an area of study aimed at improving strong aspects in a person’s profile. Therefore, it considers elements such as optimism, positive emotions, emotional intelligence and purpose.
In addition, because it is related to several issues that impact happiness and well-being, this line of research serves as a basis for many organizational studies. In this context, some concepts have been re-signified and applied in daily work. Meet the main ones!
1-Happiness
Happiness is relative to each person, and can vary throughout life. It can also be associated with different factors such as personal life, work and relationships. Therefore, we say that happiness is subjective and is related to the way the individual experiences his essence .
2-subjective well-being
In a definition close to that of happiness, we have the concept of subjective well-being. It takes up the premise that each person thinks and feels differently about life‘s stimuli.
For this reason, increasing well-being, or the pleasant feeling of happiness, is a subjective task, which demands protagonism in the act of transformation.
Thinking about the corporate environment, increasing well-being at workplace with teams requires a broad change process. This is because each employee will experience these initiatives in a unique way . For this, it is necessary to carry out different actions to contemplate different people.
3-Motivation
Motivation is individual and happens from the inside out. It is she who directs the actions and choices of individuals, based on what generates greater or lesser identification, enthusiasm or a sensation of pleasure.
As a result, instilling motivation at workplace is a complex process, as it is not up to leadership or HR to arouse it in a professional.
However, some actions can help keep a company’s employees motivated. The first is to highlight the company’s purpose and help people identify their life purpose , seeking to associate both.
Another interesting strategy is to allow professionals to work in positions that highlight their talents. Thus, they are likely to feel more motivated and creative to fulfill demands.
4-Satisfaction
Satisfaction is associated with factors external to the individual. It is impacted by aspects such as the relationship between expectations and results, benefits, relationships built and, in the work environment, compatibility with the company.
Thus, satisfaction is an important indicator in teams, as it directly affects the productivity, behavior and physical and emotional health of employees.
5-engagement
Engagement is what all companies want to see in their teams. After all, a person who has a positive and rewarding relationship with their tasks becomes more productive, performing better at workplace.
6-Purpose
Purpose is related to the meaning and intentionality given to life. That is, it is related to a person’s “big dream” – even though it may change over time.
As a result, it is also associated with an individual’s goals, desires and aspirations, as well as the way he expresses this in the world. After all, in search of a purpose, we direct what and how we are going to invest our time and energy.
For this reason, happiness at workplace also depends on having a common purpose with the company , identifying with its culture and values.
7-Sense
Meaning is what guides an action or thought, motivating people to something. Here, having meaning in life and work proves to be an essential aspect of achieving happiness.
Thus, as researchers Hansen and Keltner explain, meaning at workplace refers to the personal experience of doing something meaningful and that generates value for oneself and for the people around them.
But it is necessary to remember what seems obvious: different people seek different types of meanings, just as different works provide different types of meanings.
It is even interesting to note that the search for happiness and meaning are the two most central motivations in an individual’s life, being essential for their well-being.
8-Happiness, meaning and purpose
People are always looking for accomplishments, right? And, therefore, understanding what is really expected for life, its goals and its purpose is necessary. After all, only in this way will it be possible to act towards these achievements.
In addition, work is a fundamental part of the transformation in the world, being also important to provide personal fulfillment. All this makes even choosing a profession and drawing up career plans require a cautious process of self-knowledge.
Another important aspect is that to bring happiness, work needs to have meaning and be connected to a person’s professional and life purpose.
Thus, when perceiving significant impacts of their performance on society, the proximity to their mission and the motivation to go beyond, an individual experiences positive sensations. Among them, greater satisfaction, engagement and well-being at workplace.
5 benefits of keeping employees happy
According to the TLNT , it is highly beneficial for companies to create a happy and healthy work environment, even as the loss of employees can be costly.
1. Better decision-making skills
People are better equipped to make decisions when they are happy. Difficulties at workplace create some degree of fear and nervousness in most people, but satisfied people can return to their state of mind faster after facing adversity.
2. Happy people sell more
A simple Google search for “happy people, productivity, success, business” returns countless articles and numerous studies showing that happy employees are more productive.
3. Greater innovation
There is strong evidence showing a correlation between happiness and creativity. Some studies have shown that happy employees have higher levels of creativity than unhappy employees.
Being happy can free up the brain, allowing for greater mental flexibility and imagination.
4. Increase in productivity
Happy people are healthier. When employees take less sick leave, they are more productive, thus improving their productivity.
5. Better customer service
When it comes to customer service, companies need to be lighthearted. When employee morale is high, customer interactions reflect that.
Happy people are the perfect people for customer service-based roles.
As an employer, you can spend time and money on many aspects of your business, but your workforce can be your best investment of all.
So take proactive steps to address employee concerns and create a happier work environment.
How can companies create happier workplace environments?
That image of stressed professionals, inside an office full of tables with divisions and phones ringing non-stop is no longer anyone’s dream.
People look for light environments that stimulate creativity and allow a balance between personal and professional life .
There are many formulas out there on how to build a happy workplace environment, but in all of them the “magic ingredient” is conversation.
Encouraging feedback is essential. In this way, noises are resolved before they become a problem, professionals feel valued for being heard and they also receive feedback on how the company sees their role within the operation.
All of this substantially decreases anxiety and improves levels of happiness at workplace.
How to be happy at home office or remote workplace?
At times when the global scenario is not favorable and people are having to share the same space for work, leisure, taking care of children, household chores, exercise, among others, happiness at workplace is even more difficult to achieve. .
So, in addition to conversation, two new “magic ingredients” are part of the formula for the new happiness at workplace: empathy and generosity.
These two elements are essential to create light, cooperative environments, without unhealthy competition, open to new ideas, tolerant of errors and tests and that facilitate the execution of day-to-day tasks.
Business empathy is more than putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, it is listening to and understanding their reality.
Putting it in the context of a home office: if a professional has young children and the leader realizes that morning meetings are complicated because the children are agitated, it doesn’t hurt to move the meetings to the afternoon.
These are small actions that can transform a moment of stress into one of productivity and happiness.
Generosity goes the same way and generates a cycle of cooperation. If, for example, an employee who has a more relaxed volume of tasks is willing to help a colleague who is overloaded, he will feel grateful and when he has the opportunity, he will return the kindness.
Conversation permeates these two elements, since it is through conversation that one can perceive situations in which a colleague is uncomfortable and understand how it would be better to deal with the challenge, to help without taking the other’s protagonism, autonomy and freedom.
These attitudes are ethereal and remain part of the company’s culture regardless of the work environment, encouraging the happiness of professionals working in the business and the best cooperation among all.
The role of leaders in employee happiness
Leaders need to create a feedback culture where it is normal for employees to share their feelings.
When we share what we are feeling, we tend to encounter two scenarios:
- When the feeling is bad
In this case, talking about concerns or even annoyances helps in solving problems.
As long as we don’t let the bad feeling evolve, we can deal with it in a simpler way, with mediation. This prevents something from accumulating and negatively impacting deliveries.
- When the feeling is good
When talking about our achievements, we encourage other people on the team to feel the same way. Furthermore, satisfied people tend to be more solicitous to help their colleagues develop and improve their own.
In both cases – a problem well resolved and the sharing of achievements – the end result is a happier work environment that knows how to value outstanding professionals.
This scenario is already a big step towards building happiness in the workplace.
Sharing feelings can be done through a people management platform , or one- on-one meetings .
It is important that the leader has access to these reports to be able to mediate in case of problems, and to value the employee, if the feeling is positive.
So far we have talked about feelings related to professional life. But it is important for the leader to fully understand employees, respecting when they have problems outside of work and occasions for celebration.
Thus, professionals will have even more engagement with the business, which also encourages them to feel happy in the work environment.
And in your company, how is the sharing of feelings seen ? Do you encourage or repress this behavior? It is important to reflect on these actions, whether they are conscious or not.
How to achieve happiness at workplace
It is possible that you are now wondering how to achieve happiness at workplace and spread this satisfaction among teams. But, as we have seen, these actions demand a lot of self-knowledge and self-care – inside and outside the corporate environment. In addition, they must happen in volume and diversity, to positively impact all teams.
However, there are some initiatives that can contribute to achieving happiness in the corporate environment. See the top 7!
- Promote actions between leadership and led professionals for personal and professional development;
- Propose self-knowledge exercises that favor the understanding of individual purpose and the meaning given to life and work;
- Strengthen the organizational culture , highlighting mission, vision, values and purpose;
- Encourage internal recruitment for open positions;
- Allow the exchange of functions between professionals in order to highlight talents;
- Conduct courses, training and workshops for different areas;
- Invest in get-togethers and incentives based on results.
Now you know why it’s important to be happy at workplace and how happiness, meaning and purpose impact this journey. But other concepts are also fundamental to corporate happiness and achieving good results.
