Making sure employees have a good day at work ensures companies a competitive advantage.
The dark age ideas of work as drudgery and sweat equity no longer hold up. As we move into a new year and rebound from the trauma, uncertainty and intensity in the post-pandemic era, more companies are looking for ways to reduce stress and burnout, boost job engagement and productivity and to increase profitability. That might sound like an impossible combination, but it isn’t. Long-standing research shows that happiness at work reduces stress, raises your energy by 65%, boosts productivity by as much as 31% and builds a high-performing work environment and quality of life for employees. Studies also show that it’s possible for companies to kill two birds with one stone—that happy, stress-free employees directly correlate with higher company profits.
What Makes Employees Happy?
The answer to the question often depends on who you ask, but many factors play a starring role: an empathic boss, upper management’s caring attitude, a relaxed and productive atmosphere, financial benefits, job security, commitment to excellence and open and honest communication. Plus, a study at Blind uncovered a link between employee happiness and growth. Nearly 68% of the workforce was satisfied with the growth opportunities at their current employment and 51% of all employees claimed to be happy at their workplace.
According to Kyum Kim, Blind co-founder, “Overall, Blind found that employees who felt they had significant growth were also the happiest and, as self-reported employee growth declined, so did happiness. Nearly 80% of employees who reported they had significant personal growth also reported they were happy in their current role.“ The survey also identified the top 15 U.S. companies with the happiest employees in ranked order: Netflix, Bloomberg, ServiceNow, Google, Tesla, PayPal, Pinterest, Facebook, Lyft, LinkIn, Spotify,T-Mobile, VMware, Indeed.com and Cisco.
A study published in the Journal of Product Innovation Management, found that when companies make sure workers have a good day, it improves their performance and gives businesses a competitive advantage. A trio of researchers used an archival dataset of 11,245 daily surveys from 221 people asking about their work environment to identify five daily workplace experience profiles. They found five types of daily workplace experiences that influence an employee’s creative performance:
- Toxic days (8%): These workdays are low in stimulant factors such as freedom and organizational support but high in obstacle factors such as time pressures and conservative attitudes. These days are rife with conflict (not the good kind) and are uncommon, making up only about eight percent of the days.
- Disengaged days (10%): These workdays are low in both stimulant and obstacle factors. Employees are "checked out,” making up about 10% of the workdays.
- Typical days (34%): As the name sounds, typical days show "average" levels of stimulant and obstacle factors. As you might expect, this is the most commonly occurring type, making up about 34% of all workdays.
- Ideal days (30%): These are high in all stimulant factors, and the obstacle factors are low. Although these days still have moderate levels of time pressure, they are the opposite of toxic days and made up about 30% of all workdays.
- Crisis days (19%): These workdays are unique in being high in both stimulant and obstacle factors. There were a combination of toxic and ideal days, making up about 19% of all days. These days have "good" conflict, where employees are debating and wrestling with key problems in their work.
How To Harness ‘Good’ Workdays To Benefit Business
The researchers concluded that workers tend to have the same type of experience from one day to the next with the higher creative performance on ideal days, compared to all other workdays. Their performance is demonstrably hindered on toxic and disengaged days. The authors speculate that the presence of creative stimulants help motivate employees by creating a positive environment where they can be creative.
"It is important to understand and manage these daily workplace experiences to improve employee creative performance," according to Mayoor Mohan, associate professor of marketing and one of the three researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University. "As many contemporary organizations will attest, this is an area that is increasingly important for companies to develop a distinct competitive advantage. Coauthor, Alexander McKay, assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship, acknowledged that, “Inevitably, crisis days will occur, and that’s not a bad thing. However, ensuring these days turn back into ideal days—and not into toxic or disengaged days—is key.” The third coauthor, Christopher Reina associate professor of management and entrepreneurship, points out that, “Although people can, and do, experience different types of days concurrently, people often experience the same days back-to-back. If not careful, one could fall into a rut with their work.”
The research trio notes that this study accounts for the exceedingly complex, multifaceted and dynamic nature that typifies the workplace. They recommend that managers and employees be mindful of how their teams’ work environment contributes to employees’ daily experiences, which relates to their creative performance. They conclude that it’s crucial for companies to take stock of these findings and determine ways teams can steer coworkers away from toxic and disengaged days.
