Why is happiness important for an Organization?
In corporate life, most of us believe that once the position is filled, the job is done.
It is assumed that the individual would perform the given duties to the best of their abilities. Most of us still believe in the industrialized form of people management, where people are seen as elements of production and not human beings. This thought and process stemmed from the fact that industrialization and mass production at the beginning of the century started the whole chain of activities to align people to meet the industrial demand of that time.
“ Employees look for a career as their first option.Salary is not the top criterion “
The education system was designed to suit such industrialization where human emotions and happiness had no place. Human beings were mere elements in the production line supposed to perform the work irrespective of whatever is the situation. A lot of such humans were subsequently replaced by machines, which automated the same work.
After more than hundred years after this revolution started, we have come back to a state where a lot of perception has changed. IT companies have realized the need to have greater people engagement while a lot of manufacturing companies have either completely automated, have large labor unrest issues or have adopted better people management methods to grow.
While all these changes have been happening primarily to keep the human element of the organization happier and more productive, our education system still lags behind and has not fully evolved. Human resources team in most of the Indian organizations still focus only on salary management and hiring.
People engagement is still very new to this part of the geography.
To most of us, unusual ways to entice employees in Silicon Valley looks comic and totally out of the way, the message however comes out clear, employee engagement and happiness is the way to go in future
If we want our organizations to remain profitable and on growth path. The free spa, yoga sessions, sports ticket, free cycles to ride home and exotic free meals of Silicon valley may get a local flavor in India with time to chill out with colleagues in office cafeteria, a small gym, cricket on TV and a samosa.
The focus everywhere is better employee engagement.
The question however remains that do the free facilities alone help better employee engagement and happiness? I would say, NO.
There is a lot more to it and companies’ worldwide must transform quickly for a stress free work environment and a true focus on a happier work place. While it is almost impossible to make everyone happy given the tough business scenario and a ecosystem with different employee practices, I have experienced a lot of success by adopting methods which are different than what is the general belief.
The key to this is the basic understanding to what an employee actually wants. While I will detail out mo re in my subsequent blogs, I would list out some of the key facts.
a. Employees look for a career as their first option.Salary is not the top criterion.
b. A transparent and trustworthy management team helps in creating better confidence and reduces stress with employees.
c. Every employee looks forward to working hard and keeping themselves busy. Too much free time triggers anxiety and attrition.
d. While the legacy of hierarchy still rules in most of the traditional companies, those who adopt flatter organizational structures have better trust levels. The flatter organization however is not about eliminating the levels and growth options in the company, but about create a job-based team and not a Boss based team.
e. Money plays an important role till the time; the needs and wants of the employee are reasonably achieved. Beyond that, it is the opportunity, which takes over. I can guarantee that those organizations, which will adopt better employee happiness methods, will have huge dividends coming their way.
Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
