Frank’s holiday decorations make an appearance before the first snowflake has fallen each year. He doesn’t even wait for Thanksgiving to let the festivities begin; after Halloween, it’s all fair game. A string of alternating red and green lights lining his office’s entrance flash, sporadically illuminating the door, and the paper snowflakes he cut out hang perfectly over carol-singing stuffed animals, which stand guarding the edge of his desk.
Maybe Frank goes a little overboard, but he clearly takes responsibility for creating his own happy work environment, and it wouldn’t hurt you to do the same. HR Solutions, Inc.’s national normative database shows that only 38 percent of surveyed employees respond favorably to being satisfied with their workspace. Dissatisfaction with a workspace leads to unhappiness within a workplace, which can result in a host of negative impacts, such as lack of productivity.
Happiness: Productive, Attractive, Profitable
Simply put, happiness is beneficial. Increased levels of endorphins, oxygen and blood flow to the brain all occur as a result of the cheerful mood, allowing the happy to think more clearly, while boosting both creativity and productivity. In addition, happy employees create fun business atmospheres, which customers will find more attractive. This appealing attractiveness will transform a customer into a “client” as it inspires a likely return, along with recommendations and raised profits.
In fact, HR Solutions’ normative data research has found a positive correlation between work space satisfaction and morale, which, when considered together with the evidence linking engagement and financial outcomes, begs the question: Why not encourage approaches aimed at increasing employee happiness and morale since it is mutually beneficial?
Dress Things up
While homemade paper snowflakes serve as far from a necessity in the office, adding something small to dress up a work environment, or even appreciating other’s contributions to their own workspace, will help encourage that endorphin level to grow. So, bring in a picture of a fun family moment, buy a few candy canes for your pen bowl and stop to laugh when Frank finds a short in his lights. You’ll allow yourself to be more productive, enable your attractive company to become additionally profitable and maybe, next time norms are reported for those satisfied with their workspace, we’ll have brought that 38% up a bit.
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HR Solutions’ Normative Database is comprised of over 2.2 million respondents from 2,100 organizations across various industries, all surveyed by HR Solutions, Inc.
About HR Solutions, Inc.: Noted for its comprehensive research and actionable data, HR Solutions, Inc. is an international Human Capital Management Consulting firm located in Chicago, IL, specializing in Employee Engagement and Exit Survey design, implementation and results. For more information, please visit www.hrsolutionsinc.com, or call 312-863-6104.
