Your Employee's Happiness Matters (A Lot).

Which is why MetLife's 17th Annual Employee Benefit Trends Study, a workplace resource for employers and HR decision makers that is rooted in understanding and empathizing with real people, should convince executive leadership teams to focus their efforts on one important thing…

Your employee's happiness matters (a lot).

The 5 Drivers Of Happiness At Work Are...

MetLife's The 100 campaign is highlighting real stories and expressing the importance of seeing and treating employees as individuals.

A whopping 90 percent of workers surveyed said their loyalty is directly tied to their happiness. The happier your employees are, the less likely they are to leave. Seems obvious, but there's a catch. No two employees define happiness in the same way. So, how can a company focus its efforts so it can efficiently and cost-effectively make their employees happy? MetLife's survey offers 5 key drivers of happiness at work to consider, they are:

1. Employee trust in their company's leadership
2. Employers' commitment to employees and their success
3. A culture where employees are encouraged to share ideas and individual opinions
4. A workplace where co-workers feel like family or friends
5. Benefits customized to meet employee needs

Meet The 100

What's amazing about these drivers is how many of them don't require massive financial investment. A leadership team with strong communication skills that display transparency, empathy, and a genuine interest in the happiness of employees can deliver on the majority of the drivers above. Which leads to the question: Is your leadership team making employees happy?

Here Are 4 Signs Employees Are Happy At Work.

In my experience, when walking through a company for the first time, I can tell if employees are happy based on four things:

1. Employees are walking and talking in the hallways. When employees are comfortable chatting in public work spaces, it means they don't fear management passing by.
2. Employees smile and say "hi" to passersby, even newcomers (like me). People who are happy at work make more eye contact and want to share their happiness with others by making them feel as comfortable as they do.
3. Managers easily strike up conversations with employees as we move through the office. Managers who have good relationships with workers don't get a deer-in-headlights response when they ask an employee a question or strike up a conversation. Happy employees are relaxed and don't hesitate in responding. That shows they don't feel they have to carefully think through what they need to say.
4. Employees don't stop what they're doing i.e. small talking with co-workers, when management walks by. Employees who feel overly watched or judged will stop in their tracks. Their brains automatically put them on high alert and disrupt their workflow. But, employees who are happy don't feel that concern and are comfortable continuing to do what they are currently doing.