What is “Workplace Happiness” anyway?

What is the definition of “workplace happiness?” The answer is, it depends.

We throw around this phrase that is so broad and can mean so many things. Being “happy” is a concept that is relative and what makes people happy is also relative, so the variables are exponential.

Is your head exploding yet?

If people are smiling around the office and there are no complaints, then workplace happiness is not an issue, right? Sometimes no news is NOT good news. (Hint: those smiles may be fake and there may be complaints that aren’t being communicated.)

Some people think if their team isn’t happy, then they just need to buy lunch for the office more often or a box of donuts every other Friday and voila- problem solved!

Wrong!

We have already talked about WHY you should care about workplace happiness. Now that you’re on board with that, if you really want to find out what makes your team happy and what will motivate them, you have to ASK. And not just ask, but LISTEN to the answers.

There is no generic Top Ten Ways to Make Your Team Happy. Well, there is. And those things can serve as guideposts, but each team is unique.

To really find out what motivates your people specifically (and maybe even discover some issues that need to be resolved) you need to communicate.

(SPOILER ALERT: communication also involves listening.)

Have a conversation with your team. It may get uncomfortable and you may be surprised by the answers, and that’s ok.  The act of asking and listening says to your team that they matter, and that’s never wasted effort.

Not everyone is motivated by money alone- in fact, most aren’t.

And not everyone is motivated by what motivates YOU. Ask and listen.

In my work, workplace happiness is a simplified way to talk about work culture as a whole. There are so many categories to look at and dive into that it’s a multidimensional process to find out where the issues are and how to correct them based on your industry, your business, and your team.

Some of these categories include connection to the company mission, hiring and onboarding, workplace design, and health habits.

We can boil down workplace happiness to one thing: inspiration.

What inspires new hires to stay and grow with the company?

What inspires existing team members to be more creative and productive?

Is your team inspired to learn new things?

Are people inspired to do business with your company?

Are employees inspired to live healthier?

A quick test to see if workplace happiness exists in your office is to ask yourself (or a few coworkers), do people feel inspired to take positive action? Whether that action is learning something new, brainstorming with the team, making a customer smile, or completing tasks ahead of schedule- if people are inspired by leadership and each other, then you’re on the right track.

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Do you want to inspire your team to do more but aren’t sure where to start? Check out how we can work together and how I can help!