Happiness at Work Summary

Over the last number of newsletters I have shared my insights on happiness at work. This week I am tying the three elements together.

Having experienced both happy and unhappy working environments first hand, I became hugely interested in why I was so unhappy in some places and not in others. I also got to thinking how I as an individual could have managed my career better, but also what the organisation could have done differently to retain me.?

This led me to conduct research into the concept of fit and what it means to fit in at work. To me, this is the crux of happiness at work.?

The core elements of happiness at work

There are three core elements to happiness at work, based on my research. Those elements are: values alignment; needs satisfaction; and strengths focus. Today I am focusing on tying it all together.

You can listen to my podcast covering this important topic here.

The importance of happiness at work

I started by sharing the benefits of happiness at work:

• 33% higher profitability (Gallup)
• 43% more productivity (Hay Group)
• 37% higher sales (Shawn Achor)
• 300% more innovation (HBR)
• 51% lower turnover (Gallup)
• 125% less burnout (HBR)

Values alignment at work

Hiring people who “fit” with the organisational values is fundamental to creating longer tenures - people who fit will stay in your organisation for longer.

Organisations have values, whether they are clearly defined or not. What you tolerate, what you reward and recognise - these are indications to your staff about what you stand for and what is important to you.

Sometimes companies’ values don’t match up with their behaviours. This can lead to a lack of trust, because what you say and what you do don’t actually match up. I have seen this so many times in my own experience and also working with clients.

Values have a huge impact on the culture of an organisation, and they may change and evolve over time.

You can use values to your advantage as a way to show employees what makes you different as an organisation, thus giving them a reason to stay.?

In this age of the candidates’ market and the ‘Great Resignation’ (whatever you want to call it), being able to articulate why someone should stay in your organisation and not move elsewhere, even for more money, will work to your advantage.

Starting now, you can:

• Recognise people for the outcomes they produce as well as demonstrating the values espoused by the organisation (as opposed to a “winning at all costs” approach)
• Hire people based on their values, they can learn new skills. I have also seen this mentioned as “hire for attitude, train for skill”. There are obviously a few exceptions to this where people need to have specific skills in order to be successful in a role
• Be transparent in your decision-making, and ensure it is reflective of your core values (we made the decision to X because of Y)
• Hold people accountable for espousing the values, and call people out when they go against them (“this type of behaviour is not tolerated here”)

It’s also important to consider diverse thinking when it comes to recruitment - hiring people who are all alike will result in lower levels of innovation and will stymie organisational growth.

Needs satisfaction at work

Identifying and satisfying people’s individual needs at work is one of the core ways to drive engagement and retention.

The three basic needs are autonomy (choice and control), relatedness (impact and relationships) and competence (capability and feedback). But we all have individual needs as well. These can be both intrinsic (self-expression, higher purpose) or extrinsic (recognition and rewards).

Satisfying people’s needs at work makes them feel more connected to the organisation and that their values are more aligned.

• Train managers and leaders to have these conversations with employees?
• Invest time in understanding the individual needs of employees?
• Educate employees on the importance of understanding their needs at work
• Encourage employees to verbalise where they feel frustrated at work, and really listen to what they say
• Show employees that their frustrations have been heard, even if you can’t directly address them

Needs satisfaction is also a great way to motivate yourself and others.

Strengths focus at work

People stay for longer in organisations where they get to use their strengths every day.

In a recent poll on LinkedIn, I found that more than 80% of people said they weren’t reaching their full potential at work. How about you? Do you feel like you have more to give, but just don’t have the opportunity? Would you like to try something new? Or simply spend less time doing the things you are not that good at (and probably take you longer)?

While our ‘ability’ to meet the ‘demands’ of our role is the least important factor contributing to our overall sense of fit, I can see the importance of working to our strengths in everything we do.

When I worked in corporate, this is not something we ever spoke about - who is good at what? Who should work alongside whom in order to be better able to support each other with blindspots?

Since starting my own business, I am realising that I haven’t even begun to tap into my potential, and I am discovering strengths I never knew I had. Often it is our assumption when we are good at something, or it comes easily to us, that everyone else is just like us and they are good at it too. This is not the case. Think about what you are better at/ faster at compared to other people? What are you best at compared to all the other things you are good at?

If you don’t know what your strengths are, I urge you to go back to the previous newsletter to use the resources outlined there to discover them! Click here

• Find out what your strengths are (if you don’t already know)
• Talk openly about your own strengths and the strengths of others (they may not know it is a strength!)
• Find ways to use your strengths at work
• Reflect at the end of the day/ week to see where you have used your strengths

Think about it - when you work to your strengths, work is more fun, it’s easier and it takes much less time.

Now it’s your turn!

Let me know what you think about what I have shared! Can you implement it in your day to day work? Has it made you think a little bit differently about how we approach work? Did you learn something about happiness at work?

What to look forward to

In the next edition of this newsletter, I will talk about unhappiness at work, and what we can do to address it. Available in 2 weeks!

On the Happier at Work programme, we focus on 3 pillars: values alignment; needs satisfaction; strengths focus. We also address the importance of psychological safety at work, and combatting issues that make people unhappy at work. Another important aspect of the programme is looking at the future of work, improving productivity, the role of personality, the role of leadership, and everyday happiness hacks to implement straight away.

You can take this quiz to find out how happy your workplace is currently, and learn more about creating and maintaining happier working environments.

Happier at Work partners with business leaders to support them to create and maintain happier working environments by focusing on the pillars of: engagement and belonging; the future of work; performance and productivity; and leadership equity. We offer speaking, training and workshops; happiness audits; research; and corporate programmes.

Aoife O’Brien is the founder of Happier at Work, a business with the mission to support organisations in retaining top talent. She is passionate about ‘fit’ and specifically how creating the right environment can help individuals to reach their full potential and support organisations to thrive. She is a self-professed data nerd, with a 20+ year career in market research in the fast-moving consumer goods industry working with clients like Coca Cola, Unilever and Heinz to solve marketing problems using data analytics. Aoife has been featured by several media platforms and public speaking events talking about imposter syndrome, fit, employee engagement, and productivity. She has lived and worked in Dublin, London, Perth, and Sydney and has a MSc in Work and Organisational Behaviour, a Diploma in Executive and Life Coaching and a Certificate in Career Coaching.?

The Happier at Work podcast, features a combination of interview-based episodes as well as solo podcasting, and has more than 55k listens in more than 50 countries. It was recently nominated for 2 awards. You can sign up to the Happier at Work LinkedIn Newsletter to receive the podcast straight in your LinkedIn notifications when it goes live every Friday!