Performance is directly linked to the states of satisfaction and happiness of employees. However, the ways to achieve this state of happiness are very complex. Here a few ways, tested and found effective, are presented to create a 'happy 'culture in your own sphere of working.
1.Personally thank an employee for a specific job well-done . Specify what was good about it and why you appreciate it, which tells the employee you do pay attention. For example, say: "Thank you, Jim, for organizing that project so well. You made it very clear what should happen, when and why."
2.Put that specific praise in a letter or thank-you note. When you take the time to write something down, you clearly value it. This makes the praise even more meaningful. When appropriate, copy the employee's manager on your praise letter. Sharing the praise with management lets the employee know you support his or her success at your company.
3.Provide as much information as possible about the company. Share as much as you can about how the company is doing, where it's making money, where it's losing money, how its products are doing in the marketplace, what new initiatives are being considered and why, and how the employee can best contribute to these efforts.
4.At every opportunity, include your employees in the decisions you make. In many cases, your employees understand a side of an issue that you may not. If you need to create a more efficient delivery system, ask your delivery men and women how they would improve the current system. If you want to improve work flow for support staff, discuss with your secretaries and clerical workers how to best keep the work flowing. Use their ideas, and give them credit for them.
5.Give employees the opportunity to learn as many new skills as they are able to. Most people like to learn, to grow, and to improve their marketability, and the more skills you enable your employees to learn, the more they will value their position with you. Cross-train whenever possible so employees know each other's jobs. An added benefit is that employees who understand the realities of one another's positions are more willing to cooperate and feel more like members of the same team.
6.Celebrate successes. Celebrate an employee's successful completion of a project, a salesperson's landing a big client, your company's improved sales figures, your organization's successful year-end. After a particularly tense week, bring donuts and coffee and gather everyone together to applaud a hard-working team. Provide balloons and noisemakers for a rousing chorus of cheers for the completion of a difficult project. Buy a plastic crown at a party store to place on the head of an employee who mastered a difficult skill or finished a course of study. Mark the successes of your staff and celebrate them. Don't be afraid to be goofy in your celebration; it's a refreshing change from hard work.
7.Provide free time and flexibility. Set aside an hour here and there for employees who have delivered an extra level of work. Make it clear that the free time is a reward for a specific accomplishment, such as finishing a challenging project or delivering month-end reports early. Alternatively, you can reward all your employees together, for example, by letting them leave an hour early to miss rush-hour traffic on a day of expected heavy traffic. Give extra time for lunch to an employee or team who has worked through lunch to deliver something to a client. Allow time off for personal or family responsibilities.
8. Admittedly, these rewards are not entirely free. They require time and energy to implement, at a minimal cost.. However, your investment will be rewarded by happier, more dedicated employees who make it their job to make you and your company more successful. It's a classic win-win situation.
Happy employees are more productive employees. The power of that happiness was made clear by a Sears, Roebuck and Co. survey of 800 stores that showed when employee attitudes improved by 5 percent, customer satisfaction rose 1.3 percent and revenue grew 0.5 percent. In a tight economy, many business owners believe they don't have the means to make their employees happy because they can't increase their salaries. While all of us want and appreciate salary increases, money is not the only, or even the best, motivator. According to several studies, as long as we are paid competitively, or even close to competitively, the money issue is not the deciding factor in whether we remain at a job and how enthusiastically and competently we do that job.
According to a "National Study of the Changing Workforce" conducted by the Families and Work Institute of New York City, the factor that ranked highest for the surveyed employees when it came to choosing their jobs was "open communication." People want to know what is happening in the organizations they work for! In the same survey, salary ranked 16th. Gerald Graham, a professor of management at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas, evaluated 65 potential incentives in a study of 1,500 employees. The winning incentive was "personalized, instant recognition from managers"; second was a letter of praise for good performance.
As Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a management consultant based in Cambridge, Massachusetts put it, "Compensation is a right; recognition is a gift." And therein lies the power of recognition: Everyone loves gifts.
cheers!
Rajeev.V
From India
261.Personally thank an employee for a specific job well-done . Specify what was good about it and why you appreciate it, which tells the employee you do pay attention. For example, say: "Thank you, Jim, for organizing that project so well. You made it very clear what should happen, when and why."
2.Put that specific praise in a letter or thank-you note. When you take the time to write something down, you clearly value it. This makes the praise even more meaningful. When appropriate, copy the employee's manager on your praise letter. Sharing the praise with management lets the employee know you support his or her success at your company.
3.Provide as much information as possible about the company. Share as much as you can about how the company is doing, where it's making money, where it's losing money, how its products are doing in the marketplace, what new initiatives are being considered and why, and how the employee can best contribute to these efforts.
4.At every opportunity, include your employees in the decisions you make. In many cases, your employees understand a side of an issue that you may not. If you need to create a more efficient delivery system, ask your delivery men and women how they would improve the current system. If you want to improve work flow for support staff, discuss with your secretaries and clerical workers how to best keep the work flowing. Use their ideas, and give them credit for them.
5.Give employees the opportunity to learn as many new skills as they are able to. Most people like to learn, to grow, and to improve their marketability, and the more skills you enable your employees to learn, the more they will value their position with you. Cross-train whenever possible so employees know each other's jobs. An added benefit is that employees who understand the realities of one another's positions are more willing to cooperate and feel more like members of the same team.
6.Celebrate successes. Celebrate an employee's successful completion of a project, a salesperson's landing a big client, your company's improved sales figures, your organization's successful year-end. After a particularly tense week, bring donuts and coffee and gather everyone together to applaud a hard-working team. Provide balloons and noisemakers for a rousing chorus of cheers for the completion of a difficult project. Buy a plastic crown at a party store to place on the head of an employee who mastered a difficult skill or finished a course of study. Mark the successes of your staff and celebrate them. Don't be afraid to be goofy in your celebration; it's a refreshing change from hard work.
7.Provide free time and flexibility. Set aside an hour here and there for employees who have delivered an extra level of work. Make it clear that the free time is a reward for a specific accomplishment, such as finishing a challenging project or delivering month-end reports early. Alternatively, you can reward all your employees together, for example, by letting them leave an hour early to miss rush-hour traffic on a day of expected heavy traffic. Give extra time for lunch to an employee or team who has worked through lunch to deliver something to a client. Allow time off for personal or family responsibilities.
8. Admittedly, these rewards are not entirely free. They require time and energy to implement, at a minimal cost.. However, your investment will be rewarded by happier, more dedicated employees who make it their job to make you and your company more successful. It's a classic win-win situation.
Happy employees are more productive employees. The power of that happiness was made clear by a Sears, Roebuck and Co. survey of 800 stores that showed when employee attitudes improved by 5 percent, customer satisfaction rose 1.3 percent and revenue grew 0.5 percent. In a tight economy, many business owners believe they don't have the means to make their employees happy because they can't increase their salaries. While all of us want and appreciate salary increases, money is not the only, or even the best, motivator. According to several studies, as long as we are paid competitively, or even close to competitively, the money issue is not the deciding factor in whether we remain at a job and how enthusiastically and competently we do that job.
According to a "National Study of the Changing Workforce" conducted by the Families and Work Institute of New York City, the factor that ranked highest for the surveyed employees when it came to choosing their jobs was "open communication." People want to know what is happening in the organizations they work for! In the same survey, salary ranked 16th. Gerald Graham, a professor of management at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas, evaluated 65 potential incentives in a study of 1,500 employees. The winning incentive was "personalized, instant recognition from managers"; second was a letter of praise for good performance.
As Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a management consultant based in Cambridge, Massachusetts put it, "Compensation is a right; recognition is a gift." And therein lies the power of recognition: Everyone loves gifts.
cheers!
Rajeev.V
From India
Hi Rajeev Good Article but I wonder how many companies really implement or try to implement that :wink: Regards Sujata
From India, Faridabad
From India, Faridabad
Does happiness depend only on organisational parameters ? Is not related to interpersonal relations? regards
From India, Delhi
From India, Delhi
Thank you Archana ji,
Can people here post the happiness parameters they know?
I am posting here 2.
1.Add a smile to your "good morning"
2. Then say-cheer up and gear up and march ahead
Can any one practice just these two.
regards
From India, Delhi
Can people here post the happiness parameters they know?
I am posting here 2.
1.Add a smile to your "good morning"
2. Then say-cheer up and gear up and march ahead
Can any one practice just these two.
regards
From India, Delhi
Interpersonal relations is a significant source of any person's happiness and being an employee is no different. As a manager or supervisor, you can be a strong source of your subordinates happiness through seemingly small gestures, like a timely word of praise, a pat on the back, a word of greeting, an enquiry regarding his personal well being , besides larger, more significant processes. It is this aspect which I have tried to bring out.
Of course, the list is not exhaustive....but only indicative of the process concerned.
Rajeev.V
From India
Of course, the list is not exhaustive....but only indicative of the process concerned.
Rajeev.V
From India
"an enquiry regarding his personal well being ," Rajeev V Should this enquiry reflect sincerity or just superficial? regards
From India, Delhi
From India, Delhi
Meenu ji, Are these tips enough to make you happy and maintain your happiness or some more are necessary? regards
From India, Delhi
From India, Delhi
This is with regard to DR Jogeswar's query above...
An enquiry regarding the personal well being of your subordinate, whether you are sincere or not, if you are make it in such a manner that the employee percieves it as sincere, is adequate enough to make him happy and feel that his boss is concerned with him. The end result is that you have, through a small gesture created a small sunshine in his personal world. That is enough.
The ways of making your subordinates happy is contextual and person specific. Because what makes one person happy need not be so for another. If you are able to use your observations and inter-personal sensitivity to effective use, you can create the right combinations for keeping your staff satisfied on the personal front.
I am stressing on one single point- that keeping your employees happy would make them more productive. The ways to do so lies in your hand.
From India
An enquiry regarding the personal well being of your subordinate, whether you are sincere or not, if you are make it in such a manner that the employee percieves it as sincere, is adequate enough to make him happy and feel that his boss is concerned with him. The end result is that you have, through a small gesture created a small sunshine in his personal world. That is enough.
The ways of making your subordinates happy is contextual and person specific. Because what makes one person happy need not be so for another. If you are able to use your observations and inter-personal sensitivity to effective use, you can create the right combinations for keeping your staff satisfied on the personal front.
I am stressing on one single point- that keeping your employees happy would make them more productive. The ways to do so lies in your hand.
From India
Dear Rajeev ji,
I am not disputing your thesis that happy persons perform well. But what I want to say that happiness depends upon multitude of parameters, social order in on extreme and endorphin generation in the body on the other. Rather I like that paaticipants of this discussion may please bring their experience and knowledge to make this thread a manual of happiness and productivity. Will you not like it?
regards
From India, Delhi
I am not disputing your thesis that happy persons perform well. But what I want to say that happiness depends upon multitude of parameters, social order in on extreme and endorphin generation in the body on the other. Rather I like that paaticipants of this discussion may please bring their experience and knowledge to make this thread a manual of happiness and productivity. Will you not like it?
regards
From India, Delhi
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