How to Help Your Employees Be Happier at Work

By LeAnn Thieman. This was originally published on LeAnn's blog.

Are your employees happy at work? According to a recent Gallup survey, 51% of America’s 100 million full-time employees aren’t engaged at work, meaning they feel no real connection to their jobs and tend to do the bare minimum. Another 16% reported being “actively disengaged,” meaning they resent their jobs and tend to drag down morale as a result.

A separate study by Gallup and the Queens School of Business shared insight on the costly effects of these disengaged employees.They found that disengaged workers had 37% higher levels of absenteeism, 49% more accidents and 60% more errors and defects. Companies with low employee engagement scores also experienced 18% less productivity and 37% lower job growth.

To combat the threat of a disengaged unproductive workforce, employers must strive to help employees feel happy in the workplace; happy employees tend to be more engaged. Plenty of scientific research over the years supports that there are clear neurological links between feelings, thoughts and actions. Employees who feel happy and hold a positive mindset behave in such manner at the workplace. Happiness has many benefits in the workplace that lead to a successful workforce.

In Shawn Achor’s book, The Happiness Advantage, Achor states that “When we are positive, our brains become more engaged, creative, motivated, energetic, resilient, and productive.” Happy employees are – for the most part – better employees. Here are just a few examples of the benefits of happiness in the workplace:

Happiness combats stress. Happy employees build resilience when it comes to workplace stress.

Happy employees also take fewer sick days.

Happy employees create a positive and strong company culture and boost morale.

A strong company culture benefits retention.

Happy employees devote more time and effort to their work and outperform their competition by 20%.

To learn how to make your employees and coworkers happier, visit SelfCare for HealthCare™.
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