Employee happiness is no longer cutting cakes on birthdays

Employee happiness in the workplace creates a positive atmosphere and this inevitably encourages them to improve their personal well-being. Highly engaged employees bring positive energy to the workplace as well as his/her local community and social circle. So, Nowadays, Many small and large businesses focus on the importance of creating employee happiness in the workplace. Nepal has secured the top spot in job creation in South Asia, with the employment rate hovering around 68 percent, says the latest World Bank report. This means 32 percent of the country’s working-age population —people aged 15 to 64— is either unemployed or voluntarily inactive—the lowest in South Asia

What defines employee satisfaction? A big salary check? Being appreciated at the workplace-besides the annual birthday celebration? Is it flexibility in working hours or an open, cool, and chic workplace? Or is it more than a combination of all this? Today, it is a well-known fact that happy and healthy employees can improve productivity and growth. While the important role of the workplace in promoting well-being and productivity has been validated by several reports, such as the Haworth White Paper, the organization has policies and programs to keep employees happy and healthy. We are facing difficult challenges when it comes to adaptation.

How has the relationship between employee satisfaction and productivity changed over the years? What changes have you experienced in the past two decades?

In recent years, human resources themselves, large and small, have shifted, shifting the focus from organizations to people. They no longer see people as employees but as long-term assets. The days when people believed that productivity meant working hard or long and that being hierarchical meant being more efficient are over. People began to think so differently that good companies began to change both in spirit and in letters from the perspective of both employee experience and policy.

“Organizations are beginning to think of employees as individual units, not just employees. It’s no longer a transactional relationship anymore, but a more holistic relationship.”

Companies believe that their employees are highly productive, and studies & some research has proven this. Dedicated employees think more innovatively, always stay one step ahead, and stretch out the extras to close, fail, or create a unique customer experience.

Therefore, the business case of happy and enthusiastic employees has become apparent to all business leaders. Companies have a more holistic view of employee satisfaction. It’s no longer cutting cakes on birthdays. It’s no longer a flood of events, but a very devoted effort to keep employees happy. You need to understand the nature of your employees and their motives. Then you can develop a 360-degree approach to employee satisfaction and morale.

“Companies have a more holistic view of employee satisfaction. It’s no longer a flood of events, but a very devoted effort to keep employees happy. Then you can develop a 360-degree approach to employee satisfaction and morale.”

What are some of the factors that can help improve employee satisfaction in the workplace?

Maintaining the involvement of most employees is undoubtedly a great culture, good support policies, an environment that keeps people connected and makes them feel like they are always learning, and ultimately all of this. It leads to the growth of employees. And if they feel that their contributions are valued in the form of cognition, or in the form of learning and growth opportunities they are receiving, they feel happy and engaged in their work.

All employees today want to come to the organization to contribute rather than work.

The organization must do all this together to keep its employees happy. It won’t work if you have a great policy, but your culture is terrible. Therefore, if you can design your program around all of the above, it’s an overall way to achieve employee satisfaction.

What are some of the key practices that can be adopted to develop a culture that promotes employee well-being? What are Godrej Properties changing to increase employee satisfaction?

It happens automatically because culture is unfortunately a very vague word and it’s very difficult for anyone to identify this and say that this is the kind of culture we want to design. It’s ambiguous. It takes a lot of time and effort. In essence, culture is a series of actions about how people behave.

For example, in Godrej Properties, the core value proposition consists of three things. One is tough love, one is perfect self, and the third is your canvas.

Performance will be given precedence over anything else-which is much more relevant to us as most of our employees are millennials, who look to thrive in an organization that promotes high performance.

1. Tough Love:

Tough love means that while we care about our employees, we give them a rewarding and difficult job. It quickly states that we are a very performance-oriented and achievement-oriented culture.

The performance takes precedence over everything else. This is much more important to us as most of our employees are millennials trying to grow in an organization that encourages high performance.

2. Perfect Self:

“Self-Whole” is whether you can work your whole self every day. Studies have repeatedly demonstrated the success of organizations where employees can become the people who actually work. Employees become discouraged and miserable when they pretend to be others, face a lot of prejudice at work, or are forced to take certain actions due to inferiority complex or superiority complex.

 We are working on it. Real estate and Godley have the highest gender diversity and inclusion at around 30%. We also run a number of prejudice recognition programs to make our organization more open and comprehensive. This program is called #Unlabel.

3. Your Canvas:

Your Canvas, explains that this is your canvas. Now you can paint as you like.

We let people choose their career paths. We are very flexible when employees move between roles or try to do other things.

This year, we’re running a program called Disrupt to Transform, and we asked employees to share their ideas on how to take Godrej Properties to the next level. We put money behind good ideas and make them happen-so there is a big reward. This creates energy and true joy among employees.

The last part of their culture is leadership- how open and friendly is it, is it very visible and influential leadership? If you want to talk to your leader, are they friendly? In which forum can I escalate a complaint?

In this regard, the Executive Committee conducts open master classes that last from 4 hours to 1 day for employees in specific areas of their specialty. This gives employees a great opportunity to connect directly with management.

What is the impact of all these policies above about on Godrej Properties employee satisfaction? Do you think organizations need to change their strategies and ways of working to reach their long-term sustainability goals?

Cultural influences are very long-term. It started as a nearly strategic initiative, so we ran programs called WinforEmployee and WinforBusiness. They have clearly clarified that agenda-everything they do this year is human-centric. A year and a half later, they found that they were market leaders in four markets with all parameters, and the top line improved.

Therefore, there is a clear relationship between organizational sustainability goals and employee satisfaction. Organizations can bring short-term growth in the meantime, but long-term sustainable growth is only possible if there is a clear focus on employee satisfaction.

Fostering happiness in the workplace requires not only positive acceptance, involvement, and participation but also a natural sense of accomplishment.

How can an organization contribute to a sense of accomplishment as more millennials join the workforce?

Millennials [the generation names are based on when members of that generation become adults (18-21)] have three to four very specific needs and requirements. Added the value is high because the viewpoints are very different. The ability to see things with fresh eyes is amazing. They definitely want an open culture and want to participate in strategic and meaningful projects.

The need to contribute to the company on a large scale is very strong. You need a balance between work and life. To accommodate them, they have work-life policies such as working from home two days a week and flexible time to balance work and personal life. This, along with the above value proposition, enhances the sense of accomplishment.

In Nepal, Sasto Deal comes up with ‘Menstrual Leave Policy

The policy lets the women staffs call in sick if they are unwell during their period. They can work from home if they wish to or take a day off. However, the leave will not be counted as sick leave.

‘The main reason why we had come up with the leave is that during the female monthly cycle staffs are more comfortable working from home and it will be a win-win situation for both the employees and the company,’ said Poonam Pandey Regmi, HR Manager at Sasto Deals.

Others Methods are:

Providing Wellness Programs and Challenges

The importance of wellness programs should be focused on bringing positivity and a healthy lifestyle to all employees. With the help of the right education, motivation, skills/tools, and a bit of support, every organization can implement a meaningful wellness program. Some of the benefits include yearly health checkups, unlimited doctor consultation, and access to a one-on-one personalized stress therapy program. It also helps in providing a platform where employees can run various challenges, such as pushup challenges, Healthy meal challenges, Steps challenges, and many more.

Inclusive and Fair Policy

Employees who get fair treatment in their workplace trust their employers and enjoy their work with more dedication. When employees feel that they are treated fairly, the relationship becomes strong, trust increases, and they enjoy their work. The company should spend a great amount of time emphasizing creating a highly inclusive culture and developing fair and flexible policies for our employee-centric approach.

Being Valued

Apart from salary and perks, the most important aspect of job satisfaction is to be valued at work. It helps in creating strong workplace culture. When employees are doing good in an organization, it is important to acknowledge their work impartially to make sure their efforts are celebrated appropriately. One can implement recognition programs that can help in implementing a culture that knows how to value its employees appropriately.

Work-Life Balance

Work-Life Balance is beneficial for employees as well as for the organization. If there is a good balance between work and personal life, it leads to improved mental health. A healthy work-life balance is not only important for health and relationships, but it can also improve employees’ productivity, and ultimately performance. We expect our employees to be as productive as possible and give their best during the 8 hours that they commit every day to our company. Beyond those 8 hours, they should practice disconnecting completely from their work and enjoy time for other commitments.

POLL QUESTION FOR EMPLOYEES

If an employee agrees to a birthday recognition, employers may want to consider these ideas generated by Peterson’s LinkedIn question:

• Electronic birthday cards, especially at large organizations.
• Surprise decorations at the employee’s desk.
• Lunch with a manager.
• Gift cards to popular stores or restaurants.
• Cash gifts based on years of service.
• Allowing the celebrant to take a “personal holiday” on their birthday.
• A company contribution to a charity of the celebrant’s choice.
• Monthly celebrations, perhaps with a cake, that acknowledge all workers born in that month.

Some inventive comments in the LinkedIn discussion included the CEO who calls each employee and personally sings “Happy Birthday” and the manager who has co-workers write in a birthday card something they appreciate about the recipient.

Importance of Happiness at work

Happiness is a very subjective topic. What makes you happy does not necessarily make others feel content and satisfied too. For example, for some employee happiness in the workplace is monetary benefits, whereas for others recognition of hard work is a pleasure. Basically, what’s important is being happy at work no matter what the standards of happiness are

• Happiness Encourages Employees to Work Harder
• Happiness Increases Productivity
• Happiness helps to succeed in all areas of life
• Happy employees have better physical and mental health
• Happy employees are more altruistic
• Happy employees are kinder
• Happiness opens a mind and gives more energy
• Happy employees have better human relationships
• Happiness helps in increasing life longevity
• Happy employees are more resilient

We hope that every organization can think and implement measures for their employee’s happiness.

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