Happiness has turned into an issue of vital interest to organizations. Not only because happy people have a positive impact among those around them but also because it is a key aspect to increase labour productivity.
As stated by the journalist Raúl Salgado in the blog Contunegocio.es of Movistar, employees who feel happy in their work places might be up to a 30% more productive and their health can improve even a 20% more if such happiness increases. This would be explained by the fact that they count on more resources to provide creative solutions, to resist frustrations and to favour team work according to the information of Fundación María Jesús Álava set out in this same publication. Added to this, they show lower rates of absenteeism and conflict and a greater commitment with the company.
This is how employees’ happiness is an aspect as important nowadays as the capacity to solve problems or creativity. Leaders would have a key role to this end: They have to provide to their employees the appropriate conditions to feel comfortable in their offices and also to give an example of behaviour so that managers turn into a model to follow.
Some experts explain that even an environment with which the employee does not feel comfortable may lead to his resignation. “The only secret is that you really worry about people”, asserts the Marketing and Communication Director of Adecco, Margarita Álvarez, in an interview with El Mundo. In this interview, she also declares that as a company, despite they have to avoid entering in the employees’ personal space, it has to know well its employees and create an environment in which they can develop according to their needs.
Meanwhile, the Marketing and Communication Director of Toshiba TEC España, Miguel Sarwat, declares in his article “Do you know how productive is to have fun working?” that productivity can increase a 20% in average after having fun during working hours. These moments would be related to things as simple as enjoying a good coffee or the laughs of their colleagues.
Sarwat summarizes the benefits of having fun in the work place:
- It combats stress and frees tensions.
- It increases the generation of creative ideas after the release of endorphins.
- It creates greater motivation and complicity among the members of a team.
- It boosts more fluent communication.
- It helps to better sell the product to a certain client.
The importance of appropriate spaces
Creating appropriate spaces in companies is an essential role in this issue. Informal spaces, chill-out areas, environments to practice sports and even rooms to take naps are trends gaining strength. According to a study developed by Top Employers España, 70% of certified organizations rely on installations suitable for the wellbeing of the employees, 17% more than one year ago.
The country manager of such institution, Salvador Ibáñez, explains in an article published by the Foro Recursos Humanos.com that this figure represents a huge leap for a period of one year which evidences that installations conceived for the comfort of people are a priority for companies. “These types of installations make possible moments to chill-out and relax on a daily basis and contribute to happier and healthier employees increasing productivity and strengthening their commitment” he declares.
A healthy, comfortable and well-designed furniture with which employees feel comfortable, also contributes to greater well-being and happiness. In fact, one of the main reasons of the lack of satisfaction in the work place is the furniture not meeting these requirements and causing a high percentage of office-work related ailments: headaches and back aches.
