It is true that happy employees are productive employees but the sad part is that most of the things that bring happiness to employees don’t actually contribute to productivity.
Apparently most employees love it when they work hard but don’t necessary work hard when they are loving it (read are happy). Even though many leaders think that happiness is important in the workplace mainly because it promotes productivity, experts say that this is not always the case. You can understand this through an example. It is a known fact that employees like it when the workplace is a little more fun. This is the reason why companies go ahead and add fun sections to the office such as a video game parlor and/or a gym. Of course these will make your employees really happy but is there a guarantee that these moves will increase the productivity of your employees? No.
The reason is simple. Research has found that employees are much happier (and more productive) when they are immersed in one particular task. When there are a number of distractions across the workplace, the mind tends to wander miserably. Wandering minds are never productive. Thus, it is important that you find ways for your employees to work with focus and not to have fun in the office through distractions.
Here are ways to keep them happy and productive:
Do Not Overload Them With Work
When there is too much work your employees will focus on the quantity of the work rather than the work itself. They will automatically feel daunted that they have so much to do and they won’t get it done.
On The Flipside, Do Not Give Them Extremely Less Work
Sometimes there may not be a lot of work. However, most of the time you should distribute the work such that no one has too much to do and no one has too little to do either. Very little work will bore your employees and their minds will invite plenty of useless thoughts.
Keep Your Workplace Distraction-free
This mainly includes noise. Your workplace should be very quiet and peaceful. Unnecessary noise will not help anyone.
Give Them Balance
Be flexible with your employees and give them the liberty to work from home at times so that they focus on their personal life as well.
These four steps will help you achieve both targets in one go.
Entrepreneurial Learning
Making your employees happy by adding distractions in the workplace will not help them become more productive. That is why you should focus on finding ways that enable them to stay in the ‘work zone’ so that they are happy as well as productive.
