Happy employees have become a buzzword, especially in the post-pandemic era. Besides, the Great Resignation reveals that monetary benefits cannot satisfy your employees. One of the simplest ways involves saying a “Thank You” for their effort and contributions.
The blog post combines the 10 best ways managers and organizational leaders can adopt to motivate their employees and keep them happy without increasing their paycheque. Before that, let’s understand the importance of employee happiness for an organization and how to measure employee happiness.
Employee Happiness: Why Is It Important?
Economists at the University of Warwick conducted a study and found that if your employees are happy, their productivity increases by 12%. Besides, workplace happiness influences work relationships and outcomes. Here are some reasons why having happy employees at work is necessary.
1. Happy Customers
Satisfied employees express their satisfaction when they interact with customers. Your employees’ warmth and enthusiasm makes the prospective customers buy your products and services, thereby becoming loyal brand follower and champion for a positive experience.
2. Fosters Teamwork
Happy and satisfied employees work well with others. They project their happiness around the workplace, encouraging members to work together and ensuring the projects run smoothly and complete within the stipulated deadline and budget.
3. Contribute to Professional Development
Employees working in a positive environment encourage them to learn from mistakes rather than fear the consequences. Often mistakes are the driving force that inspires individuals to hone their skills.
4. Better Engagement
Maintaining high employee engagement is one of the most important things your organization needs. When your employees remain engaged, they are passionate about their work and excited to contribute.
5. Enhances Creativity
Since satisfied employees work dedicatedly, it enables them to see more of the big picture and offer creative ideas and suggestions that would benefit your organization. Employees who take risks and suggest creative ideas are vital for innovation.
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How to Measure Employee Happiness?
Although happiness is a different metric to capture, workplaces and leaders must tackle employee happiness measurements. Here are a few methods that leaders and managers can use to measure employee happiness.
1. Surveys
Surveys are excellent ways to get a 10,000-foot view of what is happening with your employees. You can gather anonymous feedback through surveys, allowing employees to share their opinions and concerns. You need to conduct feedback surveys at least once every three months.
2. Manager Check-Ins
One-on-one meetings help managers and leaders identify individual concerns and offer solutions. You can combine these meetings with quarterly surveys.
3. Focus Groups
Another method to measure your employees’ happiness is through intimate settings like focus groups. They can allow employees to dive deeper into specific topics related to work satisfaction.
4. Weekly Tracking
Leaders and managers can utilize various tools that help in tracking employee sentiment. Employees offer their weekly morale level, and the leader can track how an employee is doing overtime and determine the entire team’s morale.
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10 Ways to Keep Your Employees Happy Without a Raise
Employees want to work in places they enjoy. Although several professional and personal factors affect your employees’ workday, leaders can promote employee happiness in numerous ways. Enlisted are some of the ways you can motivate your employees.
1. Honesty and Transparency
Organizations around the world are prioritizing transparency, which helps in building trust between employers and employees. It further boosts employee morale, reduces job-related stress, and enhances employee satisfaction and performance. As a manager or a leader, you can maintain your employees’ trust by being honest about the organization and regularly sharing feedback. You can achieve your goals if you have the right technology. Remember, a lack of transparency will lead to a lack of direction and emotional commitment among your employees.
2. Prioritize Work-Life Balance
Although maintaining a balance between your personal and professional life is difficult, it is necessary. When employees have an excellent work-life balance, it reduces stress, lowers burnout risk, and makes them feel good. Your employees will never like choosing between their careers and families. Therefore, you must create a work environment where employees never have to choose between the two, leading to higher retention rates. You must create an organization that lets your employee feel belonging, enabling a positive work experience. Besides embracing their work responsibilities, encourage employees to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
3. Offer Opportunities for Growth and Learning
Support your employees with growth and development opportunities. It will help them expand their knowledge, skillsets, and abilities and implement them in new situations. Do you feel that your employees are an essential part of your business? Invest in your employees’ training and education to make them feel important to your organization. Continuous learning will boost employees’ confidence in their abilities and motivate employers to accept challenging tasks. The new skills and experience keep your employees motivated and satisfied at their jobs and handle stress. Your organization must offer employees free courses and training programs to enhance their skills. Besides improving your organization’s standards, it encourages everyone to participate in the programs.
4. Offer Flexibility at Work
Flexibility and freedom play a vital role in employee satisfaction and turnover reduction. Flexibility offers workplace benefits to both the employer and the employees. How? You will experience a boost in productivity within the organization, reduces stress in your employees, and increases employee satisfaction. Since most employees require managing heavy workloads, they fail to spend quality time with their families. Therefore, managers and leaders must grant them temporary leaves or time off. These approaches are sure to keep your employees happy.
5. Encourage Breaks
Though employees must work hard, they must also take proper rest. When your employees take proper rest, your organization will experience increased productivity. Regular breaks, such as coffee runs, walks, lunches, and vacations, keep your employees motivated and happy. When you grant time off to your employees, they become dedicated to their work, boosting productivity in the organization. Besides, when they spend time with their families and on vacation, they return to work with a positive and focused mindset.
6. Improve Company Culture
Improvement in organizational culture is essential for a motivated workplace. When your employees feel a part and valued member of your organization, you will see a boost in productivity in your workplace. You reflect your organization’s culture in a philosophy where everyone is equal and valued, thereby contributing to their skills towards the objectives of your organization.
7. Health Benefits and Others
Perquisites like sabbaticals are unconventional and risky, yet keep your employees happy. Often employees experience the burden of too much personal and family turmoil. In such a scenario, they need a break. When you force them to work under pressure, it turns out to be negative, such as a high turnover rate. In specific scenarios, career breaks help employees to take off their time for a few months, helping them fulfill their liabilities.
8. Encourage Employees to Participate In Decision-Making
Traditionally, leadership is used to make decisions. While employees learn about the decision-making process, managers and leaders already make the decisions and can no longer participate. Such an approach makes your employees feel left out and ignored. Millennials love to be a part of the decision-making process, and any major decision influencing the organization must have employees’ input.
9. Encourage Innovation and Team-Building Activities.
While employees must take their work seriously, creativity and fun activities help them perform their best. Managers and leaders must encourage employees in team-building activities like to participate in brainstorming sessions, organize enjoyable contests, take relaxing work breaks, and use the organization’s fitness equipment. You can organize friendly competitions between teams, celebrate special occasions and holidays, and lunches every week.
10. Create a Career Pathway
Your employees are always eager to know what is ahead of them and the opportunities for their growth. Often organizational leaders forget this aspect in the overall motivation of people. Leaders and managers must set career paths within the organization. Although specific circumstances require outsourcing talent, you must first consider your employees. Are you practicing the same? You are sending a positive message to everyone that you are open to various career opportunities within the organization.
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Conclusion
Motivating employees isn’t always easy. However, leaders need to promote employee happiness. Maintaining a happy employee workforce is vital to the organization’s and each employee’s success. The tips above will help promote happiness and motivate your employees without a raise.
