Organizational Happiness, Do You Got It? How can you get it?

Organizational happiness depends on both leadership and the employees, they both benefit from each other and need each other. Leaderships needs, are prosperous growth from the experts doing the labor. The employees needs are the financial security and continuous growth as professionals (Ordu & Sari, 2022). In order to ensure organizational happiness there are three factors that come in to play, employees perceptions of job satisfaction, job attitudes and support for stress and well-being. How does the organization know if their employees have organizational happiness and feel supported with stress management and well-being. Conducting surveys can give leadership an insight into areas that may be working well and areas that may need to be analyzed in order to improve.

Survey Results!

This survey received 12 responses, the scale was across the board of being very satisfied to being very dissatisfied. The majority was very satisfied with communication of the organization but a couple employees felt dissatisfied down the scale. According to (Cakir & Yavuz, 2023) perceptions of job climate and culture can vary with different employees in the same organization. This could be based on where the employee is at in their own life and how well they perceive their job personally and different feelings they may have towards the organization.

Stress level and well-being were also across the scale from being very satisfied to very dissatisfied. Some employees stress and well-being could differ from time to time and project to project depending on their own personal well-being and personal conflicts at certain times (Cakir & Yavuz, 2023). As seen in this survey on stress and well-being, the same organization but different employees feel different support across the scale. Even when the majority feels they are supported for stress management and well-being, there still needs to be focus on the ones who do not feel supported. Cakir & Yavuz (2023) discuss the importance of organizational happiness and feeling satisfied on the job, because in turn the employees will be more productive on the job with greater output.

How do Organizations Improve Practices to Ensure Happiness for the Employees?

Perception will vary depending on the employee, but there are few indicators that can be utilized across the organization to support happiness and well-being.

When analyzing surveys like this one, employee perception is different. This is an indicator that something is missing in the organization. Some practices that can be put into motion could tip the scale one way where everyone feels heard, seen, and appreciated. According to (Ordu & Sari, 2022) there are four practices that organizations can ensure they follow to support organizational happiness and overall satisfaction.

Interactions/ Treated Fairly	Appreciation/ Valued by Leadership	Feel Safe/ Work Conditions	Rewards/ Incentives
Ensuring interactions with all employees are positive and if there needs to be tough conversations then everyone is treated fairly.	Employees work hard and need to feel valued by leadership. A "great job" goes a long way with employee satisfaction.	Good working conditions and positive atmosphere will ensure a welcoming and comfortable environment for employees to feel safe at work.	Employees like to be recognized or even incentivized for great job performance and output. These strategies can support a positive working environment.

Ordue & Sari (2022) discussed employees that feel they are treated fairly and have positive interactions with leadership, will feel heard and appreciated in the workplace. If tough conversations must happen with an employee, leadership needs to ensure that everyone is being treated with the same respect and same outcomes are happening if disciplinary actions take place. Employees feeling valued and appreciated by leadership will want to work harder and have a greater need to do well for the organization on job performance. Inspiring words of appreciation and a verbal affirmation inspires employees to do well at work. Ensuring safe and welcoming working conditions makes employees feel safe at work and will work comfortably on the job site. Everyone likes to be rewarded for great work, incentives are also a great way to align great work with great output. Rewarding great work with incentives or even rewards and bonuses supports organizational happiness and employees wanting to be at work. When needs are met, people are happy, thus when needs are met and employees are happy, organizational happiness will occur.

Successful Organizational Happiness!

Happiness in an organization can happen with awareness and consideration from leadership. Best practices being followed and noticing where happiness is falling short and implementing strategies that will allow all employees job satisfaction and feeling supported will make the organization happy.

References

Ordu, A. & Sari, T. (2022). The role of innovative work behavior in the relationship between organizational support and organizational happiness. Research in Educational Administration & Leadership, 7(4), 897-935.

Cakir, P. & Yavuz, Y. (2023). The relationship between organizational climate and organizational happiness. Journal of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, 7, 1-43.