Oct 3, 2021
The most common objections to happiness at work and why they are wrong. Part 2.
Greetings everyone!
Do you know about the concept that happy people do a better job? They are more productive, more committed, more involved to business challenges, more solution-oriented, more creative, healthier, and, as a result, they are more valuable as employees for any business.
I would like to support people all over the world with their work-related issues. To let them know that they are not alone with their feelings, and that their own feelings matter not only in private life, but at the workplace too.
I would like to support socially responsible companies. To inspire their leaders to drive changes and improvements to make business more successful and sustainable through increasing employee happiness.
Objection #4. People don’t know what will make them happy.
This is completely true. Actually, there is a big chance that you also as a person don’t know for sure what makes you happy.
All psychologists fight with each other to protect their theories, but from my point of view their theories have only one point in common — nobody is 100 percent sure.
Does it stop us from searching for our own happiness? Not at all.
We do things that we want, with hope that it will make us happier. Sometimes it works, sometimes not, sometimes it works only for a short period of time. It is a process that we all do during our life.
It is always experimenting, verification, implementation. It is a process that never ends. And even if you are not sure what makes you really happy — you will not stop trying. Isn’t it?
So, you have to do the same with your employees.
Try, verify, implement. Repeat.
And have a fun.
Objection #5. People are different, they love different things, so we can’t make everybody happy at work.
Yes, you are completely right. But it means only one thing — you have to treat everybody differently.
Many companies put a lot of efforts into finding personal and efficient approaches to the customers. Loyalty programs. Personalized offers. Personalized advertising. Very attractive benefits and discounts based on personal purchase history. A customer care department aimed to fulfill all customers’ needs. Big data that analyse customers’ behavior, predict and make hypotheses about their interests, needs and wishes.
Your company spends a lot of money to reach out in different personalized ways to external people who are your customers. You don’t even know your customers personally, but you do your best to reach them out in the best possible and efficient way to make them satisfied with your products and services.
Literally you do everything for your customers. To make them happy, to motivate them to come back to make another purchase. To bring you their money.
But you don’t do the same for your internal people — for your employees, for the people who actually do your business and care about your customers.
It is not a secret — everybody has different needs.
Do you really believe that it is not possible to be flexible and more solution oriented to fulfill your employees’ personal needs? To make them happier and more satisfied with you as an employer? Do you tell everyone in your company — it is impossible because the Moon is in the wrong phase or because the wind blows to the west, and not to the south?
You have to admit that you simply don’t want to spend more time, more money and resources to increase employee’s satisfaction. That is only one honest reason why you say that it is not possible.
You can use different words, you can tell many different reasons why it is not possible. But I personally will not accept your arguments. Any. Why? Because I know that everything is possible. It only depends on our willingness to act, to spend time and to invest.
One simple example. You offer restaurants to visit for free one time per week. But you limit everyone due to only a few providers that you decided for yourself and were defined from the beginning. You have 50 employees who live in different parts of the city and are interested in different sorts of food. Only 20 persons can define your offers as attractive and use them. What about the other 30 persons, who live in other areas, where they can’t use these providers, or because they simply don’t like them, or their food.
I personally do believe that such limitations have a hidden purpose. You can broadcast — take a look, guys, we have so cool offers for you, use them! Sure. You know that only 20 people will use it, and all the rest people won’t. A lot of money was saved. Profit! But only for your company’s account and for your personal wallet. Not for your employees. And not for your company’s sustainability.
You still have 30 people in your company who think that company is not loyal and not flexible to them.
I have seen many different cases, where company could be more flexible and loyal, but there are no people, aimed to be focused on employees needs.
This is a real reason why you don’t want to be flexible. Flexibility costs money and resources.
Change this behavior, invest in your employees and you will benefit your own business incredibly!
Objection #6. If you are happy at work and lose your job you will be sad.
You can use the same definition for all other aspects of your life.
For example, don’t get married with a perfect partner, because if you get divorced you’ll be very, very sad. Instead of this you have to take an average partner who is actually not interested to care much about you and doesn’t care about your happiness, health and don’t share your life interests. When you’re divorced you won’t be sad because your partner was an asshole.
Don’t buy high quality and beautiful clothes.
When you have to put these clothes to trash due to changed fashion and trends, or because they simply get broken or become old, you will be very sad and disappointed. Instead of this you have to buy very cheap clothes that you actually don’t like, but in the future it will be easier to say “ciao” for your old wardrobe.
Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?
Happiness and satisfaction are a guarantee to be very careful with your expensive and high quality clothes, with your beautiful relationships and happy marriage. It is a guarantee to be very involved in all processes that happen at work, to be solution oriented, to prevent and resolve any conflicts and pass any challenges successfully together.
Happiness is a value for every person. And usually people care about their values.
And even if the time to say “ciao” comes, the same way as with a great partnership, you will be very grateful for the time you were together, and you will stay best friends for the rest of your life.
The people who had a great and happy marriage would never say something bad about their former partner. Even if they have what to say.
The same way works for the companies. After divorce you will get good feedback and recommendations from old employees to your potentially new ones.
At times where literally everyone has an ability to speak publicly in their private social networks and public professional communities about their experiences as an employee, it is only up to you, which key messages the people, who work for you, will broadcast and how they will impact on your business.
I can bet that your company still thinks that their feedback and recommendation letter about employees’ work is very important and it is something that has a big impact on employees future career, and you can use it as leverage. Right, for some professions it is necessary. But for top professionals, and for professionals who work for the dynamically changed and continuously growing high demand markets that continuously need professionals, your recommendation letter has zero value.
Instead of this, the feedback from your former employees has a much bigger value and much bigger impact on your business nowadays.
It only depends on you what kind of feedback your company will get from your former employees. Have they been happy with you or not? What did you teach them during time together?
What experience did they get from you and will use on the next work place? And I talk not about professional skills, I talk mostly about people’s personal sides you cultivate in your team. Happiness and love or disrespect and egoism?
