An integrated model to achieve employee satisfaction
& happiness
Making employees happy is like
cooking excellent food. Have you ever
thought what goes into making good food and what makes certain food taste excellent
and distinct than others?
An expert chef knows how to put
together the right ingredients in right proportion/combination along with
passion to achieve the right taste and customer delight.
Similarly, an expert HR should be able to put together all
the factors in the right proportion and combination to achieve employee
happiness.
Let’s look at what all factors contribute to employee
happiness
Main Ingredients –
These are your Compensation and Benefits, Policies & processes, Job
Security Etc., Quality of your main ingredients will determine the quality of
your result. Pay higher than the industry standards, have the best of
compensation & benefits plan, adopt best practices while making the
policies and processes, Offer highest level of job security. These are certain basic factors that account towards
employee happiness.
Add to taste - While the above can make employees happy to a
certain extent, it will still leave gaps in level of happiness. Hence add some
salt and pepper to taste. These are your performance management system,
Training & Development, Career planning systems, Rewards &
recognitions, HR Automation systems, Recruitment management etc.,
Spice It up: Once you have the above in place, its now time to
spice it up. At this level you can customize to cater to different needs of
employees as every employee may have a different preference. These are Fun at work, creativity corner,
rest areas, entertainment corner, employee engagement activities, discounted
health club memberships (Gym, Yoga). This will accelerate and take your
employee happiness levels to a very next level. This is your tipping point.
Presentation layer:
Sometimes you may cook the best of food
however it may not sell if you don’t present it well. This is your office
environment, light it well, clean & organized, make it colorful and full of
life, create positivity in the air by having digital displays reflecting
positive quotes, hire employees who are happy by nature and can spread
happiness etc.,
Flames: Certain factors may not be visible in the end product; however,
you cannot cook food i.e., run an organization if they are not present. These
factors have a large impact on employee happiness. These are Honesty, Trust, Respect,
Transparency etc.,
Ask yourself this question -
would you be happy working in an organization that may pay really well and take
care of above mentioned but is does not practice honesty, is not transparent
and has hidden agendas, has a culture where leaders and employees don’t respect
each other, where management does not trust employees & organization is not
trusted by the market.
