How employers can help boost the happiness of their employees (and how you can boost your own happiness).

Yesterday I made the case that employers should care whether their employees are happy: happier people outscore their less-happy peers on performance and productivity.

So how can employers help make their employees happier?

Control
Research shows that people’s happiness is affected by their sense of control over their lives. Being able to do your own work in your own way, or to influence your environment, gives a big boost in satisfaction.

Employers can look for ways to amplify employees’ sense of control over their work, schedule, and environment. In particular…

Commuting
Bad commutes are a major source of unhappiness. People feel frustrated, powerless, and stressed.

Employers can consider whether telecommuting or staggered start/end times for work might be practicable, to allow people to avoid rush hours.

Wasted time
According to a recent study, one factor that most upset people’s daily moods was having tight work deadlines.

One way to free up work time to meet deadlines is to stop having long, inefficient meetings.

Employers can take a look at meetings – how often are they being called? Is anything actually being accomplished? Could conference calls substitute? One easy fix: have a meeting without chairs. In Bob Sutton's book The No A****le Rule (he also has a great blog), I read about a study which compared decisions made by groups where members STOOD during the meeting compared to decisions made where members SAT. Groups that stood took 34% less time, with no loss in quality. (Might cause a lot of grumbling, though.)

Social connection
Studies underscore the critical importance of social relationships to happiness. Also, interacting with others gives people a boost in mood – surprisingly, this is true even for introverts.

To foster strong connections among employees, employees can consider office designs that make social interactions more pleasant and convenient, encouraging office celebrations, like birthday or holiday parties, and other ways to help people have closer relationships.

Health and energy
Corporations pay a heavy cost for stress-related illnesses, such as hypertension, gastrointestinal problems, and substance abuse.

Employers can consider ways to bring down the stress level of the workplace. Employers can also take steps to educate and encourage folks to take steps that will help them manage stress:
 Sleep – surprisingly, lack of sleep (which many of us take for granted as a part of daily life) is a major disrupter of people’s daily moods.
 Exercise – exercise is one of the most effective and easiest ways of lifting people’s moods, and even a ten-minute walk will boost a person’s spirits.

An atmosphere of growth
People have a strong desire for growth, progress, and advancement in their lives.

Employers can consider creating benchmarks for people whose jobs don’t provide a sense of completion and accomplishment, providing opportunities for training so employees can expand their skills, giving employees a chance to take risks and enlarge their responsibilities.

Surprise!
Even a small treat can boost people’s happiness – and people get a bigger kick from an unexpected pleasure.

Employers can consider some kind of intermittent small benefit or give-away. This might seem kind of childish, but we've all seen adults scrambling for little freebies in very undignified ways. People love a treat.

But these suggestions don’t just hold for employers. We should all be trying to bring these elements into our own lives. Find a way to bring “an atmosphere of growth” into your day, get more sleep and exercise, make plans with friends, surprise your family with some little treat.

*
Yesterday I had coffee with blogger and entrepreneur-since-age-12 Ben Casnocha, who’s in town to help promote his new book My Start-Up Life. My copy hasn’t arrived from Amazon yet, but I’m a fan of his blog so am eager to read it.

Comments

[Florinda]

Yesterday's post on this topic inspired some reflection in my own blog - thank you! Today's suggestions, as you say, can be put into action by each of us (and a lot faster than most employers would do it!). It's a little bit like "think globally, act locally, " in a way.

This is my first time leaving a comment here, but I've really been enjoying your blog.

[robert edward cenek, RODP]

Gretchen:

Your point about having control over one's work is absolutely on the money.

In the late 80's I was part of a team that converted many of General Mills manufacturing facilities to high performance work teams (i.e., semi-autonomous work teams). Our efforts in redesigning the workforce for greater levels of commitment (a step above happiness) were wildly successful and featured on the cover of Fortune. With the help of Ed Lawler's camp at USC (The Center for Effective Organizations) we were able to prove that our new work settings were up to 35% more efficient. We attribute much of that, if not all, to a work redesign effort that enabled folks to have significant control over their daily job duties.

People need to be committed to their firm's cause. They need to be believe that their efforts are making a difference, and that they are achieving this without a "micro-managing" boss or supervisor.

robert edward cenek, RODP
www.cenekreport.com
Uncommon Commentary on the World of Work

[legweak]

Gretchen;

I am in a situation right now where my work is driving me crazy. Your comments are dead-on. Most of what I am irritated about has to do with being made to things that are inefficient, wasteful of time and energy, and just plain wrong. It's become bad enough for me to consider leaving.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Great blog. I read it often.

legweak

[Gretchen Rubin]

It's great to hear from people who know from deep personal experience what a difference conditions in a workplace can make in terms happiness and productivity -- both for good and for ill. Good luck Legweak!

[Twinmama]

Nope, people don't like being treated as cogs. Yet most employers seem to think employee turnover and unhappiness is just a normal part of doing business.

Have you heard of this book by Barrie Jaeger? http://www.amazon.com/Making-Work-Highly-Sensitive-Person/dp/0071441778/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4/104-3128342-5240741?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180913441&sr=8-4
It helped me understand why I have had such a hard time working "normal" jobs. Finally, after a decade of beating myself up over not being able to handle those sorts of jobs, I can see that they were never meant to be in the first place.

[Gretchen Rubin]

I have not read that -- always on the look-out for reading recommendations. I'm off to Amazon to check it out...

[capo]

Glad I discovered your blog. I'll be back. I agree enthusiastically, especially with your comments about eliminating useless meetings and commutes. Unfortunately, my employers, though they consider themselves "progressive" and "environmentally responsible" refuse to budge on either issue. I too am looking for alternatives and hoping to get some ideas from you and your readers.

[Jack Walsh]

Hasn't anybody ever seen the Hathorne studies in a GE plant in, I think, Illinois?

Turns out just about anything you do in the workplace increases productivity.

Reversing the changes you have made to increase productivity increases productivity.

Constant change is the only sensible course. But it doesn't matter what the change is.

[raymond lee quijano]

well said.
will try to post this on our cork board.

[Gretchen Rubin]

Yes, that study is very interesting. But I thought I remembered that the conclusion reached was not that any change was good, but rather that any action by employers that seemed to show a concern for employee well-being had a good effect. A provocative distinction...

[sandi Harvey]

I agree with your last point, Gretchen. Concern for EACH employee is important since we are as individual as our charges( my case teaching) There should be the same values practised from either side. We should be treated with the same respect that we are supposed to nurture the kids with.

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