Employers already know the correlations between happiness at work and employee productivity.  Not only is it well documented, it's become part of mainstream thought on management.  The reasons so many organizations are getting it wrong is the topic of another post.  What we focus on today, though, is the correlation between happiness at work and employee health.

Happiness in life leads to greater job satisfaction, according to the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology.  This study doesn't show as strong a positive correlation between job satisfaction and happiness in life.  Other research shows that employees who are really happy in their work are 180% happier in life overall and have 180% more energy.

Gallup's monthly Well-Being Index tracks trends in work environment, life evaluation, physical health, and several other criteria.  Americans' overall well-being has increased consistently from the depths of the economic recession, but job satisfaction levels are consistently, significantly lower than other criteria measured.

 
The work environment index has stayed steady around 48 since the beginning of the year, trailing behind most other indexes.

What's the importance of the impact of job satisfaction on overall well-being?  One of the main measures of well-being is physical health, and some shocking studies show that 30% of cases of heart disease were impacted by work environment, even after controlling for external factors like heredity.

Workplace stress may literally be killing your employees.

So what can you do about it?

Measure Twice, Cut Once

The first step to reducing stress and improving employee happiness at work is to measure what's going wrong.  Implement a means of gathering feedback that lets employees share thoughts, complaints, and suggestions in an anonymous way.  

Before inviting employee participation, management has to commit to honestly listening to feedback and implementing change where appropriate.  Once done, communication around the initiative is essential so employees know what they're participating in and why.

Begin at the Top

Want good low-level managers?  Start at the top.  There's a cascade effect among management indicating that excellent senior-level managers develop excellent middle- and low-level managers.  Executives set the culture, priorities, vision, and initiatives company-wide.  If executives place an emphasis on communication, honesty, and valuing employees over policies, direct managers know how to respond to daily stressors.

Increase Participation

Happy employees are ones who know where they stand in the company and feel valued.  They have the resources to do their jobs and they're allowed to work on things they're interested in.  Encourage employee participation in these ways:

• Communicate - communicate changes, initiatives, policies, and any other events that affect employees on a personal level.  Ask for feedback.  Listen.

• Develop strengths - take time to discover with employees where their strengths lie, and devise a strategy to engage those strengths.  Let employees do what they're good at, and they can become great.

• Treat employees like humans - Stop to recognize the moments in life that make us human.  Celebrate marriages, births, retirements, and holidays.  Provide support and flexibility when illness, death, or other tragedies strike.  Take care of your employees and they will take care of the company.

• Recognize success - quick, informal positive feedback on a job well done is one of the biggest ways to encourage employees and improve happiness.  Managers can send a short, private note to the employee or pull them aside after noticing good performance.  Then, they can publicly recognize the employee in a company meeting, by including senior managers on a congratulatory email, or by nominating the employee for an award.

How much stress do you have at work?  What simple things could your employer do to make your job better?  As a manager, how do you spot stressed-out employees and how are you empowered to help their situation?