Employee happiness is becoming a hot topic among CEOs and in boardrooms, and it’s about time. Happy, engaged employees are more productive and generate better outcomes for their companies. Companies today must accomplish more with fewer people, so the question of employee happiness is becoming more and more relevant. However, all of this emphasis on “happiness” can be misleading.
Rob Markey, co-author of The Ultimate Question 2.0: How Net Promoter Companies Thrive in a Customer-Driven World and contributor to the Harvard Business Review agrees that happiness isn’t the word we should be shooting for in terms of satisfying employees. “Happiness for its own sake is not the outcome to seek,” says Markey, “If you want happy employees, you can just pay them more. You can give them more time off. You can give them free lunch by celebrity chefs. [The] only route to employee happiness that also benefits shareholders is through a sense of fulfillment resulting from an important job well done.” Daniel Pink, author of Drive, notes that people perform best when they are given autonomy, opportunity for mastery and the belief that their task is meaningful. This thinking can help you understand the motivations of your employees and better equip them with the tools they need to excel in their jobs.
Below is a 10 minute video of Daniel Pink’s TED podcast, with “animation” created by RSAnimate, and gives some insights as to what motivates us in our jobs. Hint: it’s not money – and there are multiple studies to prove it!