07 Jun 3 ways companies can build joy in the workplace
As the Chief Happiness Officer at The Happiness Institute I may well be a bit bias! But based on my reading of the research and years of experience I’d say that any organisation or leader that doesn’t prioritise happiness at work is negligent. Why? Because positive emotions like happiness at work foster and develop resilience and collaboration, improve wellbeing and work performance, and ultimately add to the ability of any team to attract and keep the best people.
So how can companies create more joy at work?
Well, it’s important to consider what’s appropriate in different contexts and, as such, to individualise, but here are there great tips to try …
via the World Economic Forum by Alex Liu
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on working lives has prompted a “great reflection” among many employees.
- The joy gap — the difference between the employee’s expectations for experiencing joy versus their actual experience of joy at work — is increasing.
- To build feelings of joy at work among employees, leaders must focus on purpose, people and praise.
Earlier this year, The Conference Board released the results of its 2022 CEO survey, in which it asks leaders to identify the biggest business challenges for the year ahead. The results revealed that fewer than 40% of CEOs believe they are well prepared to handle a major crisis related to challenges such as inflation, recession, cybersecurity, supply chain disruptions, or climate change — much less all at the same time. This sentiment shines the spotlight on the pressing need to enhance the resilience of organisations, and the people at the heart of them. But are we already too overwhelmed?
In recent years, we have all experienced the disruption and upheaval stirred up by COVID-19 firsthand. But it has also prompted many of us to take a step back and re-evaluate our working lives at the most basic level. Rather than the great resignation, this is actually the great reflection. What do we really get out of our jobs? What are the things that genuinely give us joy in the workplace?
Even before the ravages of COVID-19, workplace joy and justice were a reservoir of untapped people energy. And if we spend more than a third of our lives at work — the same amount we spend asleep — isn’t insisting on joy in the workplace and the communities they touch, a non-negotiable?
The joy gap is real — and it’s growing
These kinds of externally driven issues may have provided a timely catalyst for change in organisations, but research into best practices for building joy at work have shown that a tangible corporate shift has been underway for some time now. The impetus for that shift is largely coming from employees and stakeholders themselves.
Back in 2018, well before the pandemic erupted onto the global agenda, Kearney conducted a survey to delve more deeply into the issue of joy at work. It explored the workplace experiences of more than 500 executives and employees from the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific. The responses revealed that nearly 90% expect to experience a substantial degree of joy at work, but only 37% actually experience it. This points to a glaring “joy gap” in the workplace…
… keep reading the full & original article HERE