Companies that put an emphasis on employee happiness are rewarded. Every company has a culture that either supports or detracts from their productivity and bottom line. Figuring out how to create a more supportive culture should be at the top of every company’s “to do” list.
Here are some of the best quotes and research that I have on the importance of work happiness.
- “There is an almost 52 percent gap in the one-year performance improvement in operating income between companies with highly engaged employees versus companies whose employees have low engagement scores. High engagement companies improved 19.2 percent while low engagement companies declined 32.7 percent in operating income over the study period.” – ISR Insights Research
- “Did you know a happy workplace can increase sales by 37% and decrease burnout by 125%?” – Delivering Happiness Research
- “You must put your people at the centre of your business and recognize that it is your responsibility, as the leader of your team, to continually develop them, inspire them, educate them and give them the tools to perform at the highest level. Economic timing should be irrelevant, but if there was ever a case for developing your staff, it would be in economic downtimes, when all companies must work harder to attract and retain customers, and where falling guilty of the cardinal sin of losing customers is economic suicide.” – Richard Parkes Cordock
- “If you get the culture right, most of the other stuff — including building a great brand — will fall into place on its own.” Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos
- Wharton professor Alex Edmans’ study confirms that happy workers positively impact financial success. His study examined the stock returns of companies from Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work for in America” between 1998 and 2005 and found they had higher financial returns – more than double those of the overall market.
- “A manager you cannot make everyone happy. You can try, you can listen, you can solve some problems, you can try some more. Good management requires training, counseling and patience, but there comes a point when you are robbing the business of precious time and energy.” – Jay Goltz
- By minimizing distractions (and keeping up their glucose,) Google employees get to do more of what they want, which is to create cool things, and that’s inherently rewarding.
- “Distractions are everywhere. And with the always-on technologies of today, they take a heavy toll on productivity. One study found that office distractions eat an average 2.1 hours a day. Another study, published in October 2005, found that employees spent an average of 11 minutes on a project before being distracted. After an interruption it takes them 25 minutes to return to the original task, if they do at all.” – David Rock of Your Brain at Work
- “Set clear and attainable goals that people believe in and you will be well on your way to creating a happy and productive employee.” – Karl Staib
- Gallup also observed that employees who report having a best friend at work were: 43% more likely to report having received praise or recognition for their work in the last seven days
- “If people are in a good mood on a given day, they’re more likely to have creative ideas that day, as well as the next day, even if we take into account their mood that next day. There seems to be a cognitive process that gets set up when people are feeling good that leads to more flexible, fluent, and original thinking, and there’s actually a carryover, an incubation effect, to the next day.” Teresa Amabile of Harvard Business School
- “Not only do creativity and productivity at the office make people happy, but happier people have been found to be more creative and productive. They are better “organizational citizens” (going above and beyond their job duties), better negotiators, and are less likely to take sick days, to quit, or to suffer burnout.” – Sonja Lyubomirsky
- “Americans will spend 9% more w/ companies that provide excellent service, and 85% of customers would be willing to pay a PREMIUM of up to 25% for high quality customer service.” – Brian Vellmure
- “Require that employee set their own goals, track results and report on progress. You’ll develop more engaged and happier people who will go the extra mile.” – Karl Staib
- “The best way to get the “creativity culture” started within an organization is by making it a corporate program. The Creativity Program should encompass a set of projects targeting specific changes aimed at retooling the culture. Projects related to community outreach/sponsorship, “lunch and learns,” book clubs, culture committee and other arts awareness initiatives must be included within the Creativity Program.” – James Kerr
Which quote is your favorite?