5 tips for happy employees

If you want to boost morale, increase productivity, and reduce turnover, you need to focus on the happiness of your employees. Small changes in your workplace environment and company culture can make a significant difference.

In this article, we'll provide five tips for enhancing employee happiness and creating a more engaged and loyal workforce.

In this blog post, you'll learn the following:

• How recognizing and rewarding hard work can improve employee satisfaction.
• Why it's a win-win situation when you offer your employees opportunities for growth.
• How employee benefits can increase employee retention and add to a happy workplace.

What drives employee happiness?

Despite offering competitive salaries, many organizations overlook a crucial aspect that drives employee loyalty and business success: workplace happiness. Research by Zipdo found that job satisfaction boosts the likelihood of long-term commitment to an organization by 50%.

If you want this positive impact on your organization, here are five ways you can keep your employees happy at work.

1. Foster open communication

The first step to having happy employees is open communication. To build a sense of trust and connect on a more personal level, you should encourage transparent and open dialogue between employees and management.

You can do this through:

• Regular check-ins
• Feedback sessions
• Having an open-door policy

By putting these efforts into practice, you can help your employees feel heard and valued. Open communication also goes hand in hand with creating a supportive and inclusive workplace culture. To take your positive work environment to the next level, try hosting team-building activities and social events. You can also promote initiatives that prioritize employees' well-being.

2. Provide regular recognition and rewards

Don't let your employees’ hard work go unnoticed. Implement rewards and recognition programs that celebrate their achievements and contributions to the organization.

You can acknowledge hard work through:

• Formal award
• Shout-outs during team meetings
• Simple thank-you notes
• Gift cards

All of these can boost employee morale and motivation. It’s a surefire way to have happy employees who feel like their work has a direct impact.

3. Promote a healthy work-life balance

Another way to keep your employees happy is to give them time to tend to their personal lives. According to Joblist², 63% of employees are looking for a better work-life balance. In fact, Joblist research found that most employees believe it’s more important than a higher salary.

You can encourage your entire team to maintain a healthy balance between work and personal life by:

• Offering flexible work hours
• Providing remote work options
• Giving sufficient vacation days or PTO

This helps reduce burnout, boosts employee engagement, and increases overall job satisfaction.

4. Invest in their professional development

If you want to avoid having unhappy employees, you need to prevent them from feeling stuck or bored in their roles. This is why it's important to provide growth opportunities for employees to learn through training programs, workshops, and online courses. Supporting their career advancement and personal development not only enhances their skills but also demonstrates that your company values their professional growth.

5. Offer competitive employee benefits

Finally, if you want to keep your people happy, offer them the employee benefits they want. For example, health benefits consistently rank as the most-desired employee benefit. However, health benefits can also be the most costly to provide. But that's only the case if you're looking at traditional group health insurance.

Health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) are cost-effective solutions for health benefits. With an HRA, you offer your employees a tax-free allowance for them to spend on individual health insurance plan premiums and more than 200 other eligible medical expenses. This allows you to reimburse them for health coverage instead of buying it for them directly.

The most common types of HRAs include:

• Qualified small employer HRA (QSEHRA)
• Individual coverage HRA (ICHRA)
• Group coverage HRA (GCHRA), also known as an integrated HRA

Remember, showing employees you care means going beyond the bare minimum. Along with offering health benefits, you should consider adding other desirable employee perks and benefits to your overall compensation package.

Our 2024 Employee Benefits Survey also found that employees also want:

• Dental insurance
• Paid time off (PTO)
• Retirement benefits
• Vision insurance
• Mental health/wellness benefits

Conclusion

Companies are constantly vying for top talent, which makes creating a positive culture more important than ever. Studies show that when you keep your employees happy, they're more motivated and committed to their work. This ultimately benefits your entire organization.

If you want a happy and healthy work environment for your employees, you need to offer them health benefits. PeopleKeep can help you offer an affordable HRA in minutes. Schedule a call with one of our HRA specialists to get started.

This post was originally published on October 9, 2014. It was last updated on September 18, 2024.

1. Zipdo
2. Joblist