Tips to Create a Happy Workplace & Boost Employee Engagement

Happy staff within a workforce is doubtlessly one of the most important elements of a successful business today. Many studies and workplace reports show that workplace happiness leads to more creativity, innovation, and productivity. But, with the millennial workforce who are unafraid to leave your company at a moment’s notice in search of a workplace where they will feel appreciated and happy, you need to restructure your workplace to be inclusive, supportive and fun. This is not an easy task.

Here are five tips that we believe to be the most important to keep your employees happy and build team success.

• Provide Feedback

Are you aware that the #1 reason Americans leave their jobs is feeling unappreciated at work? Offering praise and recognition to your employees regularly when things are done correctly and letting them know when they have done right (or wrong) will help them gain confidence in what they are doing. Confidence equals happy employees which in turn equals higher productivity. If a team member deserves to be recognized for outstanding work do it right away and don’t wait for their “review” as the days of annual reviews are over.

• Opportunities for Personal and Professional Growth

Career development is the key factor that influences employee satisfaction and if there is no room for growth in your company, then you can expect to lose valuable employees each year. To boost your retention rate and keep your employees happy you can structure and effectuate comprehensive growth programs for your employees. You can fund advanced training and education courses or even provide the knowledge that there are opportunities for promotion within their job position.

You could also let your employees choose four personal and professional goals. These can be broken down into parts by the manager and employee.  Monthly or quarterly benchmarks can be set up so that the employee will have a realistic pathway to achieve his/her goals.  These opportunities will boost the morale of your workforce and have a significant impact on your office and your company.

• Encourage Workplace Exercise & Wellbeing.

As “living a healthy life” has become integrated into people’s lives, employees expect their employees to provide wellness practices in the company. Investing in a wellness program is a bright idea and is another way of showing your employees how important they are to your company.

You can offer your employee’s benefits like good health insurance, a gym reimbursement or creating a culture of wellness with strategies like:

• • Preparing and distributing a list of healthy food options within a 2-mile radius of your business.
  • Pay for snacks and swap out candy and chips for fresh vegetables and nuts.
  • Arrange for bike-racks and promotional material for “bike-to-work”
  • Hire a mindfulness specialist or a yoga instructor to come to your office once a month to reduce team members’ stress.

Making healthy habits convenient can help your employees stick to them and add positive value to the workplace.

• Build Team Unity

Building team unity or having a unified team of people with a singular focus takes time and requires practice. It will not happen overnight. The first crucial step is to clearly define the goals of your company. It is important that everyone in your team understand the company’s mission, values, and vision and work towards achieving them. You can accomplish this by a weekly video conference or team meetings so that they can gain an insight into what the rest of the company is up to and enhance the feeling of working together towards the same overall goal.

Another effective method of achieving this unity is team building activities inside and outside of work. This will allow them to bond and work together towards one common goal. These activities do not have to be expensive or extravagant. Only organize regular activities to bring your teams together like a Happy Hour once a month or half-day Fridays in the summer to hang out together.

• Small Rewards

Even if your company cannot stretch to provide a big year-end bonus, offering employees small perks to show that they are appreciated will go a long way to improve their loyalty and make for a happier workforce. You should consider perks that improve the quality of life and demonstrate that you care for your employees such as free health and wellness programs, free counseling, free childcare, extra vacation days, gift cards and more.

Conclusion

Employee happiness is the key driver of productivity and success. Study after study has shown that employee happiness has a direct link to a company’s bottom line and they outperform the competition by 20%. Yet entrepreneurs often fail to imbue their business with this powerful feeling and their valuable employees leave them for good. But as Sternberg says, increasing employee happiness is not that hard. “Everyone wants to know that they matter, they are significant, and that they make a difference.”