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WHY EMPLOYEE HAPPINESS WILL MATTER EVEN MORE IN THE NEXT NORMAL?
WHY EMPLOYEE HAPPINESS WILL MATTER EVEN MORE IN THE NEXT NORMAL?

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Happiness: Once a popular subject among poets and philosophers who would capture its essence with careful choice of words; is now a hot topic for all kinds of research communities. From the past 20 years, happiness research has gained momentum. Scientists, psychologists and more experts from across the fields are constantly giving us new arguments on “what is happiness?”. Brands want to debunk facts on how happy customers engage differently, the governments want to know how happy citizens function, and so on. But why? Because happiness is rewarding and bears positive results. Always. 

 

Many aspects of happiness, scientific and non-scientific, are not privy to us anymore. 

 

From a business perspective, happy employees are self-driven, can make better decisions and have greater respect for the work they do. A recent report by Kelly Services also found that happy employees are twice more likely to retain their jobs with their employers for more than 4 years compared to non-happy employees who would barely like to complete a year or so. Thus, the happiness of employees is crucial for organizational survival and success.

 

Happy employees contribute to business growth in the following ways:

 

  1. Increased productivity: Various industry studies across the globe suggest that a happy employee's performance level improves by at least 10%. Positive experiences that greatly contribute to employees’ joy quotient refreshes the mind and organically pushes them to work faster and more efficiently. While the correlation between happiness and the speed of work is not a surprise. We can also experience the same in our homes. When we are happy, we tend to wrap up more home chores and surprise ourselves and others, of course. But thanks to science, our response to happiness can be measured, making it easier for businesses to weigh its importance and contribution to an organization's success.

 

  1. Transformed relation with work: Happy employees work differently. They are willing to put more than what is actually expected out of them. Every opportunity at work is treated fairly by a happy employee – whether it is about making a complex strategy or a routine work of preparing a work update sheet. And if it about managing critical business projects, happy employees make the best team to successfully drive them with zeal and energy – much needed for such projects.

 

  1. Increased sense of ownership: Euphoric employees are self-driven and are likely to fulfil their responsibilities by completely embracing the situation encircling the work. They tend to showcase fine leadership qualities and resilience at work. Their ownership is not only limited to their job role but they prove to be brilliant brand ambassadors. Happy employees do not require any special training on how to represent their employer socially and on important internet platforms such as employer review platforms. They are also more likely to refer talent that is a great fit from various perspective – work culture, team culture, etc. Happy employees, organically, develop a lens to filter out candidates who may find it difficult to embrace their company’s culture. Hence, their referrals are often get more weightage too.

 

Besides, happiness also promotes good health. Along with keeping one’s mental health in check, happiness can also positively impact our nervous system's functioning and immunity. Never in history before, the authorities have collectively stressed the importance of health and immunity. From meticulous details on ideal ways to wash hands to foods to promote health, it took over everything else in 2020. Our mental health, too, took a hit. And badly. The unprecedented lockdowns, job uncertainty and fear of the deadly virus disrupted our life and optimistic thought processes. It negatively impacted the way we lived and also the way we worked.

 

Therefore, the weight of this simple word – happiness- is felt more deeply today. For companies, it means to broaden their understanding and approach to promote employee happiness. 

 

Before 2020, companies were busy introducing unique concepts at their workplaces to attract new talent and retain the existing ones. In a way, it did promote a sense of happiness for being “present” in the office. For example, some firms offered access to free food and beverages. Some chose to uplift the vibes of their offices with fancy décor and creative lounge ideas. A concept of bringing pets to work for single pet parents worked pretty well too. The companies within the same industries, and otherwise, were almost like in a race to take the lead for being a great employer. Employee happiness became synonymous to many tangible offerings at the workplace. Offerings that were measurable and thus comparable.

 

However, the definition of workplace in the post-COVID era has transformed and so does the meaning of happiness. Since, now employees join-in for work from their respective homes, their happiness quotient is highly influenced by factors surrounding them physically. Further, the idea of happiness will also be impacted by future employees (Gen-Z) gearing up to join the workforce.

 

The point is, companies can’t extrapolate the standard happiness boosting practice anymore, even if the businesses resume as usual. The year 2021 marks the beginning of fresh ideas deeming everything we did before as redundant. 

 

We conclude this blog by leaving you with a sense of hope and the quest to explore the new realms of possibilities in this subject. How has the value of happiness changed for existing employees? How does the new generation look at it? Is there a point we can arrive to experience shared happiness? We at PERSOLKELLY are as curious to address these aspects as you are to learn. In our next blog, we will closely examine how companies can ensure employee happiness in the new normal and how it will be impacted by Gen-Z joining the workforce.

This article was originally published on PERSOLKELLY India blog here 

 


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