For years we have been told that happiness was a consequence of success. If we work hard enough at our jobs, we will be successful and if we are successful we will be happy.
Thanks to research in the areas of neuroscience and positive psychology we now know the opposite is true. When we are happy at work we are smarter, more motivated and thus more successful.
However many business owners do not know this, or refuse to believe it is true, despite the overwhelming research confirming happiness causes success and achievement.
Happiness can also improve our physical health, which in turn keeps us working faster and longer and therefore makes us more likely to succeed. Healthy employees are more productive. By contrast unhappy employees take more sick days, staying home on average an extra 15 sick days a year!
Neuroscience and psychology also show us that positivity can give someone a seriously competitive edge, is an antidote to stress and anxiety and makes us more creative and open to new ideas. All these attributes are beneficial to businesses.
The good news is there are some simple, cost effective and practical things we can do to improve our happiness baseline or our employees’ happiness baseline. Imagine the significant impact on your business if you as a manager are able to increase your employees’ happiness. It makes sense to concentrate on understanding this issue further, rather than using outdated methods of employee engagement.
If you have any employment or HR queries that you would like assistance with, please contact us.
This article is intended as a point of reference and should not be relied on as a substitute for professional advice. Specialist advice should always be sought in relation to any particular circumstances and no liability will be accepted for any losses incurred by those relying solely on this article.