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Employee happiness and business success are linked

economist.com

91–100 of 228 posts

Re: Employee happiness and business success are linked

#91

I worked for a company where management tried hard to keep employees happy when it came to benefits and yet, for the most part, they/we were a miserable bunch. It seemed that it was never enough. I'm not saying that the benefits were extravagant but they were very good. I agree that a happy employee helps a company be better but you can't buy their happiness thru benefits. The way to do it complicated and it starts b…

Happiness isn’t just a factor of compensation, it’s also if people enjoy what they are working on, how they work, and the people around them.

Re: Employee happiness and business success are linked

#92

My startup is working on identifying and maximizing happiness for this reason [1]. Largely the reason we believe this is the case, is because people tend to stay where they are happy. “Tribal knowledge” is the single most important thing an employee can bring to the table. It’s also only obtained through time at a given (or related company). At the same time, hiring and training a new employee is the single most expe…

Take a look at the SMR/Glassdoor Culture 500 if you're interested in measuring company culture. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/culture500

Re: Employee happiness and business success are linked

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Another hypothesis that equally well explains the data As noted in other comments, this DID check for causation and found employee happiness led the benefits, not the other way around.

You can't check for causation unless you manipulate a subsample of the companies randomly. Article: "However, the authors cite studies of changes within individual firms and organisations which seem to show that improvements in employee morale precede gains in productivity, rather than the other way round." A theory could be that employers see the improvement in productivity before they are measureble by the methods…

Right. Sometimes you can eliminate obvious correlates, but it's quite difficult to eliminate all of them.

Re: Employee happiness and business success are linked

#94
I use a book called "first break all the rules"

It is also based on gallup data. They determined that employee happiness was not correlated to company success. They did find that the following questions in order were highly correlated to company success.

1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?

2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?

3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?

4. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?

5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?

6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?

7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?

8. Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel my job is important?

9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?

10. Do I have a best friend at work?

11. In the last six months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress?

12. This last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?

Re: Employee happiness and business success are linked

#95
post #46
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why, this makes sense. In every industry, there are employees whose influence on the company success is outsized, and who are hard to hire or train. In software industry, they are experienced engineers and product managers. In a fashionable restaurant, they are experienced cooks. In an airforce, they are experienced pilots and repairmen. Etc. When these people are happy with their work, they achieve great results. Wh…

Most of the happiless business seems susceptible of robotization.

Robots aren't going to give you feedback on how to improve the customer experience, or implement kaizen workflow improvements.

Re: Employee happiness and business success are linked

#96

I use a book called "first break all the rules" It is also based on gallup data. They determined that employee happiness was not correlated to company success. They did find that the following questions in order were highly correlated to company success. 1. Do I know what is expected of me at work? 2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right? 3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I…

it seems to me that most of those questions should influence positively employee happiness.

Re: Employee happiness and business success are linked

#97

I use a book called "first break all the rules" It is also based on gallup data. They determined that employee happiness was not correlated to company success. They did find that the following questions in order were highly correlated to company success. 1. Do I know what is expected of me at work? 2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right? 3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I…

Can confirm. Love my job, answered pretty much yes on all of these. Company's doing pretty damn well.

Re: Employee happiness and business success are linked

#98
post #96

I use a book called "first break all the rules" It is also based on gallup data. They determined that employee happiness was not correlated to company success. They did find that the following questions in order were highly correlated to company success. 1. Do I know what is expected of me at work? 2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right? 3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I…

it seems to me that most of those questions should influence positively employee happiness.

It does seem like it would correlate, but one might also think free food would contribute to it, too. These points help focus on precisely what kinds of things to perhaps focus on to contribute to happiness in certain ways.

I’ve read the book, and it’s a good one.

Re: Employee happiness and business success are linked

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can’t tell if that’s sarcasm or not... That story was basically a plant from Amazon and Quillette is absolutely not a high quality news source.

> That story was basically a plant from Amazon Evidence? > Quillette is absolutely not a high quality news source Really? I find their articles to be written well. They are respectful and balanced in their tone, and provide a lot of evidence for their points. Are you sure you don't just disagree with their centrist perspective? You've not actually offered any critique of this article.

Quillette does not feature a centrist perspective.

See Media Bias Fact Check’s overview, in which they’re considered “Right” and to feature pseudoscience and poor reporting [1]. Also see the Wikipedia page on Media Bias Fact Check for citations to show that they’re reputable [2].

See also AllSides' overview, in which they’re considered to “lean right” [3].

[1] https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/quillette/

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Bias/Fact_Check

[3] https://www.allsides.com/news-source/quillette-media-bias

Re: Employee happiness and business success are linked

#100
post #96

I use a book called "first break all the rules" It is also based on gallup data. They determined that employee happiness was not correlated to company success. They did find that the following questions in order were highly correlated to company success. 1. Do I know what is expected of me at work? 2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right? 3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I…

it seems to me that most of those questions should influence positively employee happiness.

That's the point: those questions influence both employe happiness and company success. But employee happiness does not _directly_ influence company success.
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