I think chasing employee happiness is a crock. A never-ending quagmire with little return.
I DO believe, however, that we can positively influence employee engagement, and those measurable efforts will frequently add to some employees’ overall “happiness” as a by-product.
The article mentioned here is a good one, though incorrectly titled 11 Tips That Make Workers Happy is likely better positioned to drive engagement than happiness; room for growth, training, and autonomy will only make those employees happy who are interested and able in adding discretionary efforts to their current output.
I travel a lot–way too much. During the past 8 months, I’ve been asking every travel employee I came in contact with “Do you like your job,” and “why?” After polling nearly 400 workers, the resounding majority of “why?” responses to those who liked their jobs was “they just let me do my job.”
We complicate this stuff unnecessarily.
If employees don’t do as they should, there are only three possible reasons:
1. They don’t know how, 2. They don’t want to, or 3. We won’t let them.
#3 is huge. We need to get out of their way, and let them do what they are paid to do. We might even be surprised.
But that’s just me…
