Why Employee Happiness Matters

Most businesses place a big emphasis on maintaining happy customers… and rightfully so. But what if having happy employees is just as important?

The argument for employee happiness goes something like this: The only way you can provide a really rich and satisfying customer experience is through team members who genuinely like what they do and see the value in helping to achieve broader organizational goals. An employee who is disgruntled is seldom going to go the extra mile to serve their customers joyfully and enthusiastically.

In other words, promoting employee happiness can lead to customer happiness. And that’s just for starters.

The Benefits of a Happy Employee Base

Consider a few additional reasons to prioritize the happiness of your team members.

Enthusiasm is contagious. One reason to focus on happy customers is that doing so can help you convert your customers into brand advocates. When your team members use enthusiastic and emotive language to describe the organization they work for, it’s much easier for their love and passion to seep into the way customers describe the organization, particularly to their own family and friends.

Valued employees = valued customers. If your employees are genuinely happy in their day-to-day work, that’s a pretty clear indicator that they feel valued. And only employees who feel valued can help customers feel valued.

The way you treat employees affects how employees treat customers. This is sort of a variant of the Golden Rule: Do unto your employees how you would have them do unto customers and clients. The way you treat the people who work for you provides them with a model for how they should treat the folks they interact with day in and day out.

Happiness helps you sell your brand values. Another angle to consider: If you can’t sell your own people on the value or the greatness of your brand, you shouldn’t expect to sell it outside, either. Learning how to translate your organizational vision into real satisfaction starts with your employees, then extends out to your customer base.

Happiness and engagement go hand in hand. Employee happiness is not quite the same thing as employee engagement, but the two certainly go hand-in-hand. The employee who feels genuinely happy about their work is more likely to be detail-oriented, to invest in excellence, and to do everything with a good attitude.

Be Intentional in Cultivating Happy Employees

It’s not uncommon for businesses to say that customer happiness is their #1 priority. While having happy customers is obviously desirable, this may be an example of putting the cart before the horse. Working to ensure your team members are happy may be paramount. And that’s an area where HR can show tremendous leadership and initiative.

Questions about the role HR can play in cultivating employee happiness? We’d love to chat with you further. Reach out to FullHR any time!