Everyone has seen the statistics about employee happiness and how it’ll change the way your workplace operates. Companies with happy employees outperform their competitors by 20%. Some companies have even gone as far as hiring an employee experience officer. One of the most notable companies to hire someone dedicated to employee experience was Airbnb back in 2015 when they transitioned their Chief Human Resources Officer to the Head of Employee Experience. The duties of the new role include shared HR functions as well as responsibilities that focus on their new “workplace as an experience” vision. To achieve this vision, most offices included a group of employees called “ground control” that focus on bringing AirBnb’s culture to life.
So why are companies focusing so much on employee happiness and their experience at work? Beyond looking good in Forbes’ Best Places to Work List here are a number of benefits that outweigh the cost when investing in employee happiness. But, most offices can’t afford to hire a Head of Employee Experience. Often, departments delegate responsibilities to one person or a team of individuals to ensure that tasks don’t fall through the cracks. At the end of the day, you want your employees to be both happy and productive. So, what are you doing to promote their happiness?
Productivity, happiness and your bottom line
According to a new report titled The Financial Impact of a Positive Employee Experience, the companies that scored the highest reported nearly three times to return on assets and doubled their return on sales. Your employee experience isn’t just tied to happiness but also productivity throughout the workplace. The better the experience your employees have, the happier they become. This can lead to a drastic improvement in your company’s bottom line. If you notice that productivity is low and it seems you’ve done all you can do to promote employee happiness in the workplace, take a look at your hiring practices and see if there needs to be more precision when hiring. Sit down and take the time to assess options to improve gaps in your hiring process. Moving forward, this can tremendously impact your employees’ future happiness and productivity.
Offering a work-life balance isn’t easily maintainable. Adding simple changes can help employees feel like their entire life isn’t about their job. Being able to separate work and personal life often gives people freedom, allowing them to unplug and recharge. When employees aren’t having to constantly worry about work after work, it increases their drive. Allowing employees to recharge gives them the opportunity to come in with a fresh attitude instead of being bogged down. Having a clear break between life and work is an easy way to promote happiness.
Engagement, happiness and a retained workforce
The average cost-per-hire for companies is $4,129 per new employee according to the Society of Human Resource Management’s recent Human Capital Trend Report. In terms of employee retention, the average employee tenure according to this same study is eight years with an annual turnover rate of 19% and an involuntary turnover rate of 8%. Take this cost-savings approach when it comes to factoring in your budget for employee happiness. To maintain a level of employee happiness it’s important to keep employees engaged. Your employees are responsible for sparking energy and creating ideas throughout your company. One way that companies are able to decrease retention and increase happiness is by having better engagement between co-workers. Developing and enforcing friendships can have a great impact on your organization. Work friendships help employees to become more engaged and more innovative. Employee happiness is 23.3% more correlated to connections with coworkers than direct supervisors according to a recent survey. At the end of the day, real success comes from how engaged your employees are.
Be creative and ask your employees for suggestions
Who knows what they want more than your actual employees? While there isn’t much science behind the idea of a suggestion box, there is behind your employee’s knowing what they want out of a successful workplace. Add a suggestion box and pick out something each month to improve your workplace, whether big or small. Not only will your employees feel heard and appreciated, but it’s a simple and quick way to increase employee happiness.
Allowing your employees to ask or suggest tools and resources they may need to collaborate and improve in the workplace can serve as a big win for your company in the end. Tapping into their resources, technical savviness and creative expertise, your employees can show you things that you may have missed in your organization. By inviting employees’ best ideas, you are continuing to foster and promote a more collaborative culture that sparks creativity beyond your expectations.
Employee happiness benefits everyone because, at the end of the day, you’re increasing your bottom line by either saving or not having to spend a ton of money on new employees.
Think of happiness as something you can offer by tweaking different aspects in your workplace that benefit employees and improve your organization.
All in all, it is possible for employees to be happy and productive in their workplace. Caliper offers you the tools and resources to assess, track and improve employee engagement in your workplace.
About Caliper – For nearly half a century, Caliper has been helping companies achieve peak performance by advising them on hiring the right people, managing individuals most effectively and developing productive teams. The accuracy, objectivity and depth of our consulting approach enable us to provide solutions that work for over 25,000 companies. To find out more about how Caliper can help you identify and develop people who can lead your organization to peak performance, please visit us at www.calipercorp.com or call them at 609-524-1200. Email editorial@mhwmag.com to contact Caliper.
