Increasing employee happiness at work: 5 tips

Since employees spend a large part of the day at work, happiness at work is an important part of life. As an employer, you benefit from encouraging it. It improves business results and reduces the risk of employees dropping out. In this blog, we look at a few tips that help you increase your team's happiness at work. That creates a win-win situation for both your employees and you as a team leader!

What is happiness at work?

As the name suggests, happiness at work means becoming happy from your work, for example by getting enjoyment and satisfaction from it. Several factors contribute to happiness at work, such as motivation, satisfaction, joy, positive stimulation, safety and balance. Someone enjoys coming to work, feels good about it and will therefore generally perform better and be sick less often. That immediately shows how important it is to encourage happiness at work among team members.

The importance of happiness at work

Although happiness at work is hard to measure, it's sometimes said to make employees about 12% more productive. That has a positive effect on the company. And not only that: it also reduces the risk of absence. Do you notice employees are often late, sick or even at risk of burnout? There's a good chance that the person isn't experiencing enough happiness at work. Fortunately, there are tips for employers to encourage it.

1. Provide a healthy and flexible work environment

As an employer, you're supposed to provide a healthy and safe work environment. But there may be things you haven't thought about before. Talk to your employees and ask for their input.

Both the work situation and the private situation affect happiness at work. For example, an employee can get very stressed by certain working hours because they have to pick up a child from daycare. Flexibility can help. With Workforce Management software, you can better determine when employees can be spared, which gives them more freedom to arrange their work schedule.

2. Organize a brainstorm

You can rack your brains over how to increase happiness at work in your team, but you can also simply ask them. Talking with your employees is the best way to find out which factors increase or reduce their happiness at work. That's why it's nice to organize a brainstorm in which you discuss together which changes would contribute to happiness at work within the team. Together, you know more than alone.

3. Let employees have a say

Employees who have a say feel more that they can really contribute to the organization. They feel connected to the company and know they can help shape decisions. This autonomy increases happiness at work. That's why it's important to involve others in decision-making. Which steps are important for the team to increase happiness at work? If you decide not to do anything with the team's input, it's also important to explain why. That creates understanding.

4. Recognize your team

Rewarding your team for their performance, in whatever form, makes a positive contribution to happiness at work. Celebrating successes together is a must! How you do that is up to you, of course. You can plan a team outing, for example, but you can also reward them financially. Simply giving a compliment also helps. Who knows, you may come up with the perfect reward system using tip 2 above.

5. Make sure the workload is right

Employees with too high a workload are more likely to burn out and experience less happiness at work. Too little workload, on the other hand, means too little challenge, which can lead to boredom. As a team leader, it's your job to create a good staff schedule that puts the right person in the right place at the right time. Staff scheduling software can certainly help with that. With capacity management, you can always make sure you have the right staffing based on peak and quiet times. That helps increase your team's happiness at work!

Dyflexis for more happiness at work!

Want to get started with Workforce Management software and capacity management? So you can give employees more autonomy and freedom when it suits them? Want to balance your staffing levels and increase employee happiness at work?  Contact Dyflexis and discover what we can do for you. Dyflexis offers an accessible staff system that gives employees more autonomy and flexibility. Ready to get started with staff scheduling software? Request a free demo of the Dyflexis Workforce Management System.