Happy Employees Work Harder and Better!
Most small businesses owners understand that you have to look after
your employees, but did you know just how
much of an impact happy employees can have?
Feeling good at work is not only a signal of
good functioning but will actually enhance
an organisations performance according to
Nic Marks, Head of the centre for
well-being, at nef (the new economics
foundation).
Research from the Chartered Institute of
Personnel and Development (CIPD) has shown
that if your employees feel good about their
work, then not only will they be happier,
but they are likely to perform better, take
less sick leave, and are less likely to
quit.
Nic Marks says: “Employee well-being is becoming increasingly
important as organisations realise the link
between happy, healthy staff and their
long-term success. Research shows that
challenge and interest are key drivers of
well-being in the workplace. If jobs aren’t
challenging or interesting enough this will
be reflected in lack of commitment,
underperformance and satisfaction. By
measuring and focusing on well-being at work
we can create good jobs, and good jobs not
only benefit employees, but also employers.
”Organisations are likely to get greater
impact by fostering positive emotions rather
than simply dealing with problems as they
occur. Employers should focus on well-being
at work by identifying and sharing good
practice, and should implement well-being
audits.”
As a smaller company you may find it
difficult to run a well-being audit, but the
principle of finding out whether your
employees are happy, and taking steps to
keep them that way is extremely sound.
Unhappy employees leaving will not only give
you problems in getting jobs done, it will
cost you for advertising, re-hiring, and
training a new employee to fill their job.
Try and keep your employee’s jobs
interesting and challenging (that doesn’t
mean setting impossible targets!) and you
are likely to have a happy workforce that
will be loyal and hard-working.
Find out more about Motivating Your
Employees in our free article here.
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