How happy workers can boost productivity for companies

Did you dread heading back into the office after the Bank Holiday, or did you bounce back to work? Whichever it was, it will have been influenced by your organisation’s culture.
Elusive to measure and even harder to achieve successfully, company culture encapsulates the shared norms, values and behaviour of a business, which define the work environment and how employees interact. A positive culture boosts both productivity and profitability while slowing the attrition rate, but a bad one can see an organisation branded as “toxic”.
Almost half of UK workers rate company culture as a top factor when searching for a new job, so getting it right is a multibillion pound industry. However, with the Chartered Management Institute acknowledging that 82 per cent of managers lack formal training and practices like micromanaging rife, poor company cultural performance is a clear factor in the nation’s ongoing productivity crisis.
So, what can be done to improve UK organisational culture and improve economic output?
While many firms focus on customer happiness, Lord (Mark) Price believes the key is creating happier employees. As the former MD of Waitrose and deputy chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, he spent 34 years working in an employee-first organisation.
Now the founder of WorkL, which consults on organisational happiness, he explains: “Happiness and wellbeing are important for all organisations as they undeniably lead to financial success for everyone. Every country in the G7 that Britain is behind in terms of productivity is ahead in terms of the happiness of their employees.”
The problem is even more pressing with the entry of Gen Z into the workplace: studies show that within six years, one third of the workforce will consider happiness a defining criterion for accepting a job.
Price believes in empowering staff and recognising their contributions, both through fair salaries and regular acknowledgement of their endeavours, to unlock “extra discretionary effort” (EDE).
“The success of any business comes down to human capital and there is unrivalled power in EDE,” he explains.
Price has coined the phrase “happy economics” to explain the phenomenon, but how can businesses begin to build a culture focused on happier employees?
While most organisations measure employee culture though engagement survey scores, this traditional method may actually be stalling positive change. Charlie Coode, founder of culture measurement platform Culture15, said: “It focuses on whether an individual is feeling engaged, not whether the company has the right behaviours. Companies have become reluctant to do anything that may negatively impact engagement scores, even if the change is needed for the health of the company.”
Price agrees, adding: “I can’t imagine a waiter asking ‘were you engaged with your meal?’ Happy is universally used as a starting point for conversations elsewhere.”
Gillian Warms, of Warms Consulting, is one of the few female leaders in the culture change space and champions a holistic view to embrace management too.
Warms explains: “Cultivating a healthy workplace culture requires intentional effort. It’s not enough to have your culture listed as a poster on the wall. Leaders are the greatest role models and if their actions don’t align with the values then it breeds mistrust and poor behaviour being role-modelled instead.”
As Price concludes: “Things never ‘just happen’ in business. There has to be a conscious decision to make it happen, including leading a happy team.”
You can create a happier workplace in six steps, according to Lord Price. His new book, Happy Economics: Why the Happiest Workplaces are the Most Successful is published by Kogan Page on Tuesday.
Reward and recognition: Pay has to meet expectations but genuine recognition given regularly for a job well done is a more consistent driver of performance.
Empowerment: Trust your teams to find the best solutions without your constant input. Focus on coaching them to leverage their individual expertise but be there for support if needed.
Wellbeing: Emotional, physical, and financial wellbeing are all vital. There are any number of initiatives you can put in place but underlying everything has to be a belief from employees that you genuinely care about them.
Sense of pride: People need to understand how their role is important to achieving the organisation’s objective. Employees who are proud of their workplace are the best publicity for your organisation.
Information sharing: Concealing information makes employees feel sidelined and suspicious. Employees need a genuine overview of what is going on in their area and elsewhere.
Job satisfaction: Two things drive job satisfaction beyond enjoying what you do; your relationship with your line manager and whether you are being developed.
The Brighton-based financial mutual OneFamily engaged WorkL to help grow the business and steer staff through a modernisation programme. Alison Knocker, OneFamily chief people officer, said: “This isn’t just a tick-box exercise, this is an ongoing process that will take time to show its benefits but is extremely valuable. In showing that we value our colleagues, we are engaging with their hearts and minds, to deserve their loyalty and commitment, which is something that you must earn. To do that you need a happy team who all share the same values and objectives, which ultimately means that they work better together.
“Building an environment where our team can realise their potential, where we look after their wellbeing and provide high-quality training to enable their success, inevitably means a happy workplace. And once our people are happy then our customers will be happy too, which has to be good for business.”
Almost one third of British workers regret their chosen career path, with people aged 45-54 being the least satisfied with their current roles. A study from Saatchi & Saatchi shows that almost half feel they did not receive proper preparation for their future careers during school, while 62 per cent believe their current jobs are not what they aspired to be doing. Sarah Jenkins, Saatchi & Saatchi chief operating officer, said: “Over stretched and under-funded schools can only do so much.”
Generation Z is boosting levels of business travel, with four in five young professionals seeing it as an opportunity to enhance promotion prospects at their current firm and to increase their attractiveness to new employers. An American Express survey found 59 per cent will be travelling more for work in the next 12 months, the highest of any generation surveyed. Lee Sullivan, vice-president at American Express, said: “Gen Z are leading the way in reshaping how businesses approach travel.”
UK staff are the world’s least motivated, according to the new Korn Ferry Workforce Global Insights Report. The survey of 10,000 employees shows only 60 per cent of British professionals are motivated to work above and beyond their roles, compared with 71 per cent of employees globally. By contrast, three quarters of US staff are highly motivated while India has the most motivated workforce at 84 per cent. Korn Ferry’s Daren Kemp said: “More needs to be done if the UK is to remain competitive.”
Credit stealers, chronic complainers and “personal space intruders” are among the most annoying colleagues. A study from the CV site Kickresume reveals 85 per cent of employees feel they have at least one annoying colleague, with credit-stealing seen as the most unacceptable trait. Worryingly, 58 per cent claim their colleagues’ negative behaviour affects their own productivity. However, only 12 per cent of workers surveyed had taken action such as reporting behaviours to HR.
The Open University is seeking to appoint a new vice-chancellor. Founded in 1969 with the mission to “promote educational opportunity and social justice”, the Open University is the largest academic institution in the UK by student numbers.
The new vice-chancellor will join at a pivotal point of change for society and as such, candidates have a unique opportunity to reshape how the OU delivers its mission and changes lives.
Applicants must be outstanding leaders with a deep understanding of the impact of new technologies in shaping our world and also their impact in the delivery of learning, teaching, skills and research. The role requires a creative, modern, values-based leader, who will lead with empathy to inspire colleagues to realise their ambitions and deliver strategy.
Candidates should demonstrate wide experience of leading strategic change in a large, complex, values-driven organisation, combined with understanding of the rapidly evolving digital and technological landscape, which will enable the university to renew and develop its educational model and continue to deliver transformative outcomes for students worldwide.
Apply by September 22 at appointments.thetimes.com