Why happy employees=hefty profits (and more) by The Life Adventure

21st century wisdom for people with busy lives

Why happy employees = hefty profits (and more)

21st century wisdom for people with busy lives

Balancing our work & home lives is proving increasingly difficult, with 54% of the UK saying that stress & anxiety levels are increasing both at home & at work. Crumbs. Copyright LearnShedLive 2015

21st century wisdom for people with busy lives

You can walk into a company and usually tell within seconds whether or not its employees are well treated and happy or stressed and unappreciated on a basic level. In an environment where they are well cared for, the level of employee engagement, warmth and sense of a shared purpose is palpable.

21st century wisdom for people with busy lives

But what does that actually mean for your bottom line?

21st century wisdom for people with busy lives

By 2025 75% of the workforce will be made up of millenials & 54% of them are stressed, more than in any previous generation. 25% of people view their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives. In their lives.

21st century wisdom for people with busy lives

Stress and other mental health conditions are now among the main causes of employee absence, according to the CIPD absence management survey. The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) estimates that stress costs business £3.8 billion a year.

21st century wisdom for people with busy lives

Quite scary statistics, but you probably still need some real hard evidence that it’s worth spending your L&D budget on keeping your staff happy & healthy. That’s ok, because there’s plenty of it.

The evidence shows that happy employees lead directly to better performance and higher profits. 21st century wisdom for people with busy lives

Last year revenues increased by an average of

22.2% for the 2014 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For. And in the US where they’ve really been measuring this, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics, these same companies added new employees at rate that was

Five times higher than the national average. Copyright LearnShedLive 2015

21st century wisdom for people with busy lives

A recent study by economists at the University of Warwick found that happiness in the workplace led to a 12% spike in productivity, while unhappy workers proved 10% less productive Copyright LearnShedLive 2015

21st century wisdom for people with busy lives

In other words, it pays to invest in your people. It also happens to be the right thing to do.

21st century wisdom for people with busy lives

Has invested in employee wellbeing and improved staff happiness by

37% Copyright LearnShedLive 2015

21st century wisdom for people with busy lives

Here’s a list of 5 tools to create a culture and workplace that is growing, dynamic, fun, wildly productive and highly profitable.

21st century wisdom for people with busy lives

01) Pay fairly. At the end of the day, it’s about the pay. Yes, many employees love their work, love their jobs, love their colleagues, but the bottom line is they are there to earn a living. Smart leaders pay people well. This is non-negotiable. ________________________________________________________________

02) Deliver awesome benefits. Whether it’s a good health plan, ways of educating them on wellbeing, childcare, transportation, a gym or free lunch on Fridays, benefits make people’s lives easier and better. They feel appreciated and cared for, which leads to increased loyalty and a willing to go the extra mile. ________________________________________________________________

03) Keep an open leadership door — and an open

mind. Numerous studies have down that when management is approachable and responsive, employee engagement soars. People spend a big chunk of their lives at work, and when they feel voiceless their frustration grows. Actively solicit feedback via social media and old-fashioned management by walking around. ________________________________________________________________

04) Share the profits. When employees share in the good times,

their investment in the company grows and they will be far more likely to work hard — and to dig deep during the not-so-good times. When the international literary sensation Fifty Shades of Grey lifted publisher Simon & Schuster to record profits, the company gave every employee a nice big bonus. This is just plain smart leadership. ________________________________________________________________

05) Make your workplace fun. Not cheesy balloon-a-thons. This is about encouraging people to bring their personalities, quirks and passions to work. This leads to an increasingly seamless work/life mesh, a sense that people can really be themselves at work. Games, laughter, fun are great stress relievers, they renew and refresh us, and build very real bonds between employees. ________________________________________________________________ Copyright LearnShedLive 2015

21st century wisdom for people with busy lives

And a few more ideas we can adopt individually:

06) Be mindful of the present. We can develop a tendency to pay more attention to negative past events. As a result, we might overlook the opportunities to feel positive in the present moment. _________________________________________________________________

07) Celebrate small successes. Try not to ignore or downplay the smaller steps that lead to larger accomplishments (as these larger events may be few and far between). Pause and reflect on these moments, no matter how small. _________________________________________________________________

08) Play to our strengths. Finding a career, or a role that

emphasizes what we are good at can greatly increase feelings of positivity. We can often make adjustments to our work lives to accommodate this end - so ponder ideas to accomplish this. _________________________________________________________________

09) Recognise performance. If you manage others - try not to

miss opportunities to reward excellence. Develop a habit of reaching out to validate accomplishments on a regular basis. _________________________________________________________________

(10) Show gratitude. Don't be stingy with "thanks-yous" and

compliments in the workplace. Let others know you appreciate their contribution to your work life - and build on this positive energy whenever possible. Remember that few things are more meaningful than gratitude. __________________________________________________________________ Copyright LearnShedLive 2015

21st century wisdom for people with busy lives

According to the CIPD employee wellbeing involves: • Maintaining a healthy body by making healthy choices about diet, exercise and leisure • Developing an attitude of mind that enables the employee to have self-confidence, self-respect and be emotionally resilient • Having a sense of purpose, feelings of fulfilment and meaning possessing an active mind that is alert, open to new experiences, curious and creative • Having a network of relationships that are supportive and nurturing

21st century wisdom for people with busy lives

Like all simple truths, it bears repeating because it is so important. Talent simply won’t hang around in a cold, mechanical, stifling, repressive culture. Developing happy employees are what 21st century management is all about. And guess what? It makes leadership a lot more fun, too!

About

LearnShedLive

21st century wisdom for people with busy lives

LearnShedLive is founded on a lofty objective: to help businesses increase productivity, creativity and profit by making the health and wellbeing of their staff their number 1 priority. What no one really talks about is the direct correlation between happy and healthy employees and business success. So LearnShedLive aims to bridge that gap by providing high quality, carefully created, on-demand and live video workshops that staff can access online both at work and at home. Choose from topics such as managing change, developing resilience, sleeping more soundly, tools to cope with stress, breakthrough techniques and what emotional intelligence really means to you in the workplace. We’re focusing on life techniques that no one ever teaches us, ones we’re left to figure out the hard way, which impacts on our work and home life. Our workshops will help your staff feel more emotionally supported, give them tools and techniques on how to live their lives more fully, how to be more fully present and how to operate at their best. All this has a very positive effect on an organisation’s bottom line. Many ideas start with a problem. LearnShedLive’s was discovered during our own journeys to health and wellbeing. In trying to figure out what our problems were, we each noticed how fragmented and difficult it was to get help and guidance on emotional wellbeing topics. We also found that doctors just wanted to give a label to a problem and hand out a pill, yet we felt there was more to emotional wellbeing than that. We spent years searching out leading experts who could help, but knew that not everyone would have the time, knowledge or resources to do this. And so we founded LearnShedLive to offer knowledge & practical take-aways from the world’s foremost thinkers in what is an entirely new format for this subject area; high quality, engaging videos, allowing people to browse and learn on their terms, which gives people the freedom and empowerment, keeping them far more engaged. We work with dynamic forward-thinking organisations who recognise that the health, wellbeing and happiness of their staff is what is going to give them the edge over their competition in the 21st century. They may have won awards for their service to their staff and are looking for new ways to incentivise, impress and motivate their staff. They know they need to address the issue of staff wellness and are looking for something different to the current offerings. They are looking for ways to improve sickness, absenteeism, morale and ultimately the bottom line. Is that you? If so, give us a call because we can help. Copyright LearnShedLive 2015

21st century wisdom for people with busy lives

References Positive Psychology and Happiness at Work Dr Marla Gottschalk https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20130222155338-128811924-positive-psychologyand-the-workplace CIPD – What’s happening with wellbeing at work? http://www.cipd.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/DCCE94D7781A-485A-A702-6DAAB5EA7B27/0/whthapwbwrk.pdf Why the workplace needs positive psychology - Orin C. Davis, Ph.D.1 Quality of Life Laboratory http://www.qllab.org/Publications/PosPsychWorkingPaper_OrinCDavis.pdf Happy employees = hefty profits – Meghan M. Biro, Forbes http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghanbiro/2014/01/19/happy-employees-hefty-profits/ Office for National Statistics – Full report: sickness absence in the labour market, Feb 2014 http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171776_353899.pdf