What's that one thing that can make or break a business and transform the dynamics? It's the workforce. A business can reach new heights if the workforce is productive, dedicated, motivated, and happy. If your business isn't performing as well as you would like it to, and you can't figure out how to improve your situation, we suggest you look into how productive your employees are.
Most of the time, the below-the-par performance of a business is due to the poor productivity of the employees, and this is something many employers fail to see.
If your business hasn't neem performing too well lately, and you want to turn the tables around, it's high time you start working towards ensuring your employees are happy, satisfied, and highly productive.
What Does a Happy Workforce Mean for a Business?
Employees' happiness and well-being were the last things an employer would consider important back in the day. Employees were seen as robots who were expected to work non-stop throughout their shifts. They weren't expected to feel tired or human, primarily because they were being paid to work! But these dynamics and employee mindsets have now become obsolete.
Today, employers know how crucial it is to ensure employee happiness for the business. Let's see in detail what a happy workforce means for a business:
High Productivity and Efficiency
One of the biggest benefits of ensuring employee happiness is high productivity. When the employees are happy, they're in a good mood at work, and when they're feeling great, they're motivated to deliver the best results. Happy employees are the most productive. And productive employees not only deliver the highest quality results, but they do so timely.
Excellent Teamwork
Employee mood affects them and the business in more ways than you know. When an employee doesn't feel their best at work, not only will it come in the way of their productivity, but it will also affect their relationship with other employees. An employee's unhappiness at work will reflect in their behavior and attitude. Treating employees with a bad attitude will result in ridges between employees, which will affect the quality and timeline of results. Happy employees are more likely to communicate and coordinate with their coworkers more efficiently. Not only will it improve teamwork, but it'll also improve the workplace environment.
Sound Mental Health
Happiness is directly linked to an individual's mental health. When an employee is happy, they'll perform better. With better results, more appreciation, rewards, and professional growth will further boost an employee's mental health. If your employees look dull and gloomy, it's one of the signs that their mental health may be compromised.
Secrets to Happy and Highly Productive Employees
Ensuring employee happiness begins with acknowledging the fact that your employees aren't robots but humans. When you understand that your employees can get tired and may need a break, you'll feel more empathetic toward them and strive to help them so that they can feel happier at work and deliver better results.
We've listed some secrets to improving employees' moods and overall well-being that no one may have told you before!
1. Make Your Workplace Comfortable
The first secret to happier and more productive employees is providing them with physical comfort. Now, you may wonder what physical comfort has to do with an employee's mood and productivity. Well, they're closely related. Employees who aren't comfortable at work will be constantly distracted. This will affect their focus and concentration and eventually their performance. When employees fail to deliver good results, they'll feel stressed, which is the worst for their mental health and mood.
However, ensuring that your employees are comfortable at work will ensure that they're active, productive, and happy at work.
To make your employees feel comfortable at work, it's important to make their workstations comfortable and ergonomic because that's where they'll be spending most of their time when at work. Ergonomics is linked directly to employees' mood and productivity. Replace the traditional work desk and chair with an ergonomic work desk and ergonomic chair.
An ergonomic desk has an adjustable height feature that enables the users to lower or raise their work desk. If the height of the work desk isn't appropriate, the user will have to sit in an awkward posture like their back and neck stretched or back bent and head bent forward, which can be quite uncomfortable. However, the employees can work comfortably when their workstations are at the right height.
Next comes an ergonomic chair. Your employees will spend most of their day sitting in front of their computer screens. If their chair isn't comfortable, they won't be able to work comfortably and to the best of their potential. An ergonomic chair allows the employees to not only adjust the height of the chair to ensure that their feet aren't dangling in the air but also adjust the seat depth and backrest so that they're absolutely comfortable at work. The more comfortable they are, the better their mood will be, and the higher their productivity will be.
2. Don't Micromanage
You may take close follow-ups with your employees to ensure they don't miss deadlines. While you aren't wrong in wanting to safeguard your reputation with the clients, you should understand that micromanagement can cause your employees stress and anxiety. Stressed employees aren't the happiest or most productive. This is the next secret on our list. If you micromanage your employees, you've got to stop doing that. Instead of following up on the progress every few hours, plan weekly meetings where your employees would know they'll have to update their managers on the tasks' progress. This way, they'll prepare themselves accordingly and not feel stressed all the time. Giving your employees some space and a sense of ownership of the tasks will naturally make them more dedicated and happier about their job.
3. Encourage Breaks
Many employers think allowing their employees to take breaks between work will affect their productivity, and they may not be able to complete tasks in an assigned timeframe. You'll be surprised to know that not allowing breaks during the day will actually have a negative impact on employees' productivity. This is because working continuously will exhaust them physically and mentally and they'll be stressed at work. This will eventually affect their mood. Encouraging breaks will offer both you and your employees tremendous benefits.
Taking short breaks between work will allow the employees to get refreshed and reenergized and return to their workstations feeling active. Taking breaks also gives employees' eyes a break and reduces the discomfort of staring at the computer screen for long hours without a break.
Many employers are seen going the extra mile to encourage employees to take breaks during the day. Relaxing rooms and game rooms are becoming increasingly popular at workplaces today for the same reason.
4. Be Empathetic
Understanding the needs of your employees can be beneficial for their mental health and overall motivation and morale to work. If your employees know that their concerns and problems won't be addressed, they'll continue to work under problematic conditions, which will result in poor results, reduced efficiency, and increased stress levels. If you want to ensure employee happiness, you need to be empathetic towards them so that employees feel comfortable talking to you about any problems that they may be facing at work. When employees feel heard and understood, they're less likely to feel stressed and are highly likely to feel happier.
5. Incorporate Large Windows
Did you know that exposure to natural light can make you feel happier? Well, that's true. Redesigning your workplace to incorporate large windows to allow lots of natural light into the office can boost employee happiness and productivity. Working in a gloomy, poorly-lit office will make the employees feel the same – gloomy and less productive.
6. Encourage Employees to Stay Physically Active at Work
The biggest reason why employees don't feel as active at work as they should is the lack of physical activity. They spend all day sitting in their chair, doing nothing that requires them to be physically active. Lack of physical activity makes one dull and less productive. You can boost employee happiness and productivity by encouraging your employees to stay active at work. Providing them with equipment like an under-desk treadmill and desk bike can allow your employees to exercise as they work. Any form of exercise boosts feel-good hormones that'll make your employees feel happier, and this will make them more productive.
Closing Word
Any time, money, or effort that you spend for your employees' well-being won't go in vain. You'll get the return in the form of high employee productivity and a truly happy and devoted workforce. The more productive your workforce is, the better it is for your business. So, before you conclude that your employees aren't suitable for your business, give them a chance to work to the best of their potential. You'll be surprised to see the difference this can make!
