Signs that your employee’s or workers are happy at work are pretty easy to spot. Signs that they are miserable at work, are also easy enough to take note of. I know that everyone thinks; Why the hell should I care about if they are happy? I pay them, so they should just be grateful, that they have a job.
To answer this… It actually makes more sense to have a Happy employee. They try harder at their work, they work more than necessary, they will remain loyal and won’t post blog articles about why they should care about employees, the list goes on.
To make an employee happy, you need to respect and listen to them. They are human beings and have their own thoughts and feelings. They have their own method of accomplishing tasks. They have their own needs, that are important to them. I am not saying that you need to become a door mat and get walked over, but you need to listen and show that what they are saying is important.
I work in a large organisation and know that no one listens. Which is really frustrating when I am developing systems, to help make their lives easier and train them how to use them. I train people through 3 methods, as everyone has their own way of learning new information;
1. Manual – how to guide, with every piece of information in it.
2. Visual presentation – basically a monkey see, monkey do example and recording of the presentation.
3. Problem Solving – I’ll ask them to complete a task from what I have presented. If they have questions, they can ask me and it gets them familiar with the programs/software.
It’s a good way to teach, as it incorporates three different teaching methods. Plus, if they don’t listen and then send me questions that I have answered, I can just refer them back to the manual.
The main thing that happens in my organisation is the fact that not only does no one listen, they also take credit for all the huge projects that you have accomplished for them. Doesn’t matter that you spent five sleepless nights working on the project, to get it completed by the unrealistic end date that the uneducated boss fails to grasp any complexities for… They then happily tell everyone, that they did It! Don’t even, thank you.
You know what this does to an employee? We realise that we’re not getting credit and we start feeling really unmotivated to get anything done. Instead of going above and beyond, we just say It’s not possible. We might miss a few days of work, and only working the minimum hours for the workday. We get sick more often, respond to questions in a monotone and stop caring about our co-workers and not helping them with their questions. If you are a dick to your employee, then accept that they are going to be unenthusiastic about work.
If you are nice to an employee, the opposite applies. I worked in a fantastic job, in Tasmania and was so motivated and loved all staff members, my bosses and would always help anyone with their work. My only Problem, was that my boss cut off my external access when I was sent home sick. Just because he wanted me to get better quicker. Honestly, that was my only Problem… my boss cared too much about me, to allow me to work while I was ill! They were truly grateful, for any extra hours that I worked, thanked me constantly and listened when I talked to them.
All good things must come to an end. I was only a temp and due to the economy going south, they couldn’t convince HR that my position was needed, after a 3 year contract. My heart was really broken. I didn’t want any of them to know how upset I was as, I couldn’t even think about hurting them. But I truly did love everyone there. They were all like a family to me. Even the security guards, who I talked to every day. I used to greet every worker on the floor, by name and have a chat about their week etc. Learnt some sign language to talk to the deaf bloke in the office. I really loved them all. Possibly one of the hardest things I had to Do, was say goodbye to that job.
I moved States for my new job. I had numerous interviews and got offers from a lot of them. Ended up doing the stupid thing and choosing money, over happiness. But it was a new start, a new beginning. I was excited.
It was a huge mistake…
Only took me two months to realise that my boss was a complete sociopath and he bullied, intimidated, sexually harassed and degraded every employee under his care. If HR couldn’t see that his scores in a workplace happiness survey were the lowest, he had over 5 HR complaints put against him from various staff members (all due to the points above) and he had the highest staff turnover in the entire organisation. The only thing they did, was to move me to a new team, when I raised the issue with them. It’s solved the problem for me, but not for the other poor souls that work for him. This is why I have lost any motivation or happiness in my work.
I hate that he caused me to hate my job. Especially when I used to feel joy in it. But any organisation that hurts one of its employees in this way, it makes them trash. They will get no extra effort from me, or even a smile. I will do my job for the hours that I am legally required to work, then I’m done. If they require me to learn something new, to help them with a project, then they can pay for it. I don’t owe them anything. They owe me a safe workplace. They have failed to do this.
Can you see how important it is to have happy and cared for employees? Can you see what you lose from treating them badly? Can you understand that making an employee hate their jobs is a bad thing?
Thanks for reading.
Maxine the Magnificent 