A Happy Workplace

Sometimes ago, a friend in one of the biggest law chambers at the Federal Capital Territory asked me why some sect of people behave in a particular way, and without even blinking, I said maybe so, so and so. He looked at me and his response was, “do you know we have spent more than a day seeking the answer you just gave?”

It didn’t feel like I did any extraordinary thing, but I know certain situations created in our environments can make even the most intelligent individual feel less of himself without necessarily noticing a drop in output. Solutions to questions in life are usually found in simple spaces. They may not be complicated as having to become Captain America to get things done.

Individuals often live their lives without their conscious and subconscious minds ever communicating, although, that is another matter to be explored some other time, your responses to events, most often reveal this. This is key to your productivity, and the reason this piece will most likely be an eye opener and a foundation for a turning point in your life.

We often measure productivity in currency. Employers of labour value the worth of productivity in the amount their employees add to the organization per time, not in the collective output of their input as you will shortly see. Salesmen, for instance, will never get a fully achieved during appraisals unless they meet their target. An organization is as good as the culture the management of the organization creates, or at best what they allow to be infused with the policies.

Pep Lijnders, the Liverpool Assistant Coach, in his book Pep Lijnders Intensity said, “a good system always gives freedom and the chance for interpretation. Liverpool deserves a process like this”.  Little wonder, Jurgen Klopp hardly gives up on his players, even in defeat, he will go around the pitch looking for his players to give them a hug.  

We are quick to talk about staff motivation and we believe that salary increase, promotion, and/or other fringe benefits are enough. Don’t get me wrong, our minds as employees begin to spin on what we can afford, places we can visit with our families when we get some form of increase. For instance, many who could not afford a honeymoon in The Cove Eleuthera or Grand Isle Resort & Residences in the Bahamas would not mind turning back the hands of the clock to achieve their lifelong desires. In addition to this, a little amount of these budgets can be spent on what will actually make the staff of an organization in a given environment happy.

A happy workplace is usually a productive, flexible, and resilient environment. It is said, according to research that a happy workforce is 12 percent more productive, and it is very dangerous to have a sad individual in a team where people feel guilty being joyful around them. The question is, what if this sad individual is the boss?

I have seen or heard about cases where people cannot laugh the moment some individual steps in. What you hear are often whispers and there is so much joy when he or she travels or is on leave.

However, a happy workplace can be difficult to quantify and manage. What makes a pleasant environment for one of us may cause difficulty or stress for another.

Employees who work in a happy workplace are more satisfied and healthier, and as a result, they are more present and more likely to stay in their job and companies with happy employees outperform their competitors by 20 percent.

Evidence That Positive Work Cultures Increase Productivity

Too many businesses stake their future on having a competitive, high-stress, no-holds-barred culture.

However, a sizable and expanding body of research on positive organizational psychology shows that, in addition to a negative impact on productivity over time, a good workplace will have tremendous advantages for both employers and employees as well as the bottom line.

Although it is widely accepted that stress and pressure encourage workers to work harder, faster, and with higher quality, ruthless organizations ignore the hidden costs imposed, with lack of loyalty making my top list.

According to research, occupational stress causes a nearly 50% rise in voluntary turnover. People resign, turn down promotions, or search for new employment. Additionally, there are high turnover costs related to hiring, training, decreased productivity, lost knowledge, and other factors.

Consequently, the following factors can influence workplace pleasure;

Relationships - A helpful and welcoming environment develops in a workplace where relationships are strong. Giving workers the chance to get to know one another outside of the framework of their work is a smart method to do this.

Progress - People are more likely to be happy if they believe they are making progress toward goals in which they have invested. Making growth evidently feasible and letting employees participate in determining their career goals will make this simple to accomplish.

Employees take responsibility for their own productivity and satisfaction when they feel that they have control over what they are accomplishing. They experience respect and worth.

To The Employee

Though we live in an environment where we are quick to transfer the states of our minds to our environment; people, things, policies, or our genders. This oftentimes dictates our emotional conditions from time to time.  I feel it is very wrong to completely transfer our expectations to our employers or the management of our organization.

Truly, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life” (Proverbs 13:12).

We can practice joy by deciding how we feel irrespective of the news we hear or receive.

Just a week before I wrote this piece, I got negative feedback from one of the stuff I was working on and immediately felt a heavy burden on me and I found myself really worried, then got up from my seat, walked around a little, gave a thought to the possibility of a change, pondered on God’s promises in the scriptures and then I decided to be happy.

It was a Friday and when I got home, I told my wife I wanted to sleep. Nothing happened all through the weekend but on Monday, I decided to make the same call and the story changed in my favor.

There will always be crisis or reasons to be anxious. We however do not have the right to mandate other people in our environment to join us in that shell of gloom. It is unfair to think your colleagues are not sensitive to your feelings because they are not sad when you are, this to me is manipulation.

A sad mind cannot be productive. Except you intentionally decide to see a ray of hope, you will constantly get locked up in dejection. There are too many happenings around that will make someone justify staying on that sorrow lane. Productivity does not follow sadness but efficiency follows the state of mind called Joy.  Pharrell Williams, in verse 3 of his hit song says Because I'm happy, let nothing bring me down.

Uh, bring me down
Can't nothing, bring me down
My level's too high to bring me down
Can't nothing, bring me down, I said
Bring me down, can't nothing
Bring me down
My level's too high to bring me down
Can't nothing, bring me down, I said

If there is nothing you can take out of this article, remember you are just too special to be a leaf in the wind.

My book, The Effect of God’s Favour on Your Life is available on https://selar.co/h1mg buy and get one for a friend.

My name is Uduak.