Renowned psychologist and behaviour change expert Ron Friedman said, “The secret to a happy workplace is not spending money. It is about creating conditions that allow employees to do their best at work.”
Successful organisations nurture individual differences, add value to the employee instead of extracting from them, offer something meaningful as a vision, and finally work is rewarded lavishly. They also make the rules simple and apply to everyone equally.
Research results of the UK based Hay Group reveal that highly engaged employees are 50% more likely to exceed expectations and outperform than average workers. The research also divulges that companies with highly engaged employees do better in areas such as employee retention, customer satisfaction, and revenue performance. Employees who feel encouraged to express themselves at the workplace display substantially higher levels of commitment toward individual performances. They show more tendencies towards team spirit as well.
The organisations that genuinely look for employee satisfaction are aware that organisational culture, work behaviour, and management styles make a dominant current. The benefits of harnessing the full range of talents are important ingredients. Therefore, nurturing individuality is a clear incentive to make workers happy in the workplace.
Efficiency
When stimulating employees, it is necessary to make them feel that they are the same people at home and when at work. This action can tremendously encourage the employee’s sense of belonging. They feel comfortable by being themselves even at the office. This sentiment can make the workers think more creatively and enhance their efficiency.
Employees usually wish to know what is going on in the organisation. Therefore, it is a good practice to tell the whole story without holding back unless they are sensitive information. Therefore, two-way information flow is an important part of the employer-employee relationship in a successful organisation. It is always good to let the staff know company information before they find out from a third party. In such situations, workers tend to feel neglected or left out of information
In my personal experience, I have come across companies that suppress information even without valid reasons. In a good organisation, all available channels of communication are open to the staff where employees feel that even bad news is accepted positively by the management.
The ideal organisation transforms the best employees even better in performance and productivity. When the availability of talent is scarce, it is easier and more productive to develop existing staff rather than looking for new workers. As an example, I have come upon a very efficient salesman who has initially joined the company he works for as a driver. A good manager has identified the capability of the person and trained him to be in his sales team, making him a very successful field salesman. Making staff multi-tasking is very productive and also helps reducing labour costs in an organisation.
A company that is keen to provide good working environments should make the employees believe that they are offered an opportunity to develop themselves. Employee loyalty, a very important criterion in organisational success, can be tremendously developed by inculcating the impression that the employer is genuinely interested in career development.
Loyalty
The workers can be influenced and inspired by offering development opportunities, predominantly through training and other career development programs. When this set-up is established, even the weak employees can see the future path of improvement and invariably become loyal to the organisation. When the workers are motivated on career and personal development, they attempt their best to generate value for the company. Promising to bring out the best is a high-reward strategy for an organisation.
Good companies make the employee aware of where they stand in the market. It is a very important measure to make them feel important as usually workers are inclined to be proud to announce that their employers are successful and they work in a flourishing organisation.
This may encourage them to exceed their prevailing duties and do better.
They can be made to think that they are accomplishing something worthwhile. In this state, undeniably they feel proud to say where they work. Constant appreciation of performance makes employees happy and most or all of them expect some kind of admiration by the authorities. This is a hugely effective motivational tool to improve productivity. Whether the general functioning is good, average, or bad, workers tend to improve when they see a regular performance appraisal. Periodical appraisal and appreciation of their contribution to the organisation is vitally important to encourage workers.
This practice not only improves two-way communication but also helps negate any imbalance of negativity in the company. Celebrating success is another essential factor in a team. Usually, the employees most often are fatigued due to the monotony of whatever they do almost every day. Hence, they are always looking forward to amusement.
Although the staff of an ideal company understands that they are a professional family, they should be offered opportunities to enjoy. Hence, employee-centric companies provide opportunities at every possible occasion such as achievements, innovations, and even individual birthdays to gather staff and celebrate.
Respect
Perfect companies try to keep staff-related matters simple, as much as possible. The rules that govern the organisations should be clear and must apply to everyone equally. The reasons for rules are communicated and the whole organisation understands why they are made. The authority of these organisations is highly respected with adherence to the chain of command.
When the workers are made to understand the rules, regulations, and the organisational culture at the beginning of one’s employment, such employees do not resist the general rules of the organisation at a later stage.
Therefore, irrespective of the size, organisations must have induction programs to make new workers understand the said criteria.
Despite all employee-friendly theories discussed above, organisations need the culture of respecting superiors as suggested by the German-British philosopher Ralf Dahrendorf’s theory of ‘imperatively coordinated associations’ that describes organisational groups based on power relations.
The organisational culture customarily is created on the ideals of people in the authority.
Today, employees are increasingly sceptical about the hierarchical power of authority and becoming suspicious of charisma.
This is a challenge the management of companies need to manage carefully.
What employees expect is a sense of moral authority from the importance of the final result they can produce. The organisation that they dream of, gives them powerful reasons to conform and support the purpose.
Depending on the work environment created by the ownership, work can either be liberating or exploitative. To create an authentic organisation using human potential, the challenges must be considered carefully and cautiously.
The suggestions to create a dream company environment are purely based on the understanding the employer and the employee maintain in official and personal matters. Workers in such an environment feel better and secure with their respective careers.
Hence, companies should consider the reasons for workplace happiness. By making the workplace a cheerful place, productivity, efficiency, effectiveness, and success can be achieved while being content.