Organizational Happiness
Organizational Happiness/Happiness in the Workplace
Happiness is defined as 1 a state of well-being and contentment/ a pleasurable or satisfying experience. In this paper I will discuss the importance of happiness in the work place and what factors can in fact improve profits, and general satisfaction within the employees and customers. The mission of this paper is to inspire people to transform their workplace to a happy environment in times of austerity. Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA once said 2 “Work should always be fun for all colleagues. We all only have one life. A third of life is work. Without desire and fun, work becomes hell." Whats going on? About one fifth of American workers suffer from dealing with bad jobs, low wages, almost no benefits, constant changing schedules and little opportunities for advancement. This is because most companies believe that paying employees more will not increase profits within the company. Since labor is a controllable expense and can count for 10% of revenues, most people see that labor is a costly aspect of the business (rather than a sales driver) and therefore focus on minimizing its costs. In retail for example, regularly there’s an evaluation of store managers on whether they meet monthly (or weekly) objectives. This happens because a percentage of sales goes to the it’s employees. And yet, these managers don’t have much control over sales. For example, the store managers are almost never expected to make decisions on merchandise mix, layout, price, or promotions. So when sales decrease, the immediate response is to reduce the staff.
However, even though the effects of reducing staff is immediately apparent because of its financial benefits, the less-desirable effects become more apparent in the long term. For example, companies that underinvest in the quantity of labor, by paying low wages, providing insufficient benefits, and inadequate training; notice that in the long term these companies are left
Happiness is defined as 1 a state of well-being and contentment/ a pleasurable or satisfying experience. In this paper I will discuss the importance of happiness in the work place and what factors can in fact improve profits, and general satisfaction within the employees and customers. The mission of this paper is to inspire people to transform their workplace to a happy environment in times of austerity. Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA once said 2 “Work should always be fun for all colleagues. We all only have one life. A third of life is work. Without desire and fun, work becomes hell." Whats going on? About one fifth of American workers suffer from dealing with bad jobs, low wages, almost no benefits, constant changing schedules and little opportunities for advancement. This is because most companies believe that paying employees more will not increase profits within the company. Since labor is a controllable expense and can count for 10% of revenues, most people see that labor is a costly aspect of the business (rather than a sales driver) and therefore focus on minimizing its costs. In retail for example, regularly there’s an evaluation of store managers on whether they meet monthly (or weekly) objectives. This happens because a percentage of sales goes to the it’s employees. And yet, these managers don’t have much control over sales. For example, the store managers are almost never expected to make decisions on merchandise mix, layout, price, or promotions. So when sales decrease, the immediate response is to reduce the staff.
However, even though the effects of reducing staff is immediately apparent because of its financial benefits, the less-desirable effects become more apparent in the long term. For example, companies that underinvest in the quantity of labor, by paying low wages, providing insufficient benefits, and inadequate training; notice that in the long term these companies are left
Bibliography: - Harvard Business Review, January- February 2012, 01/12/2012 - http://www.google.pt/url?url=http://www.happyworkplays.com/assets/uploads/1/ Schonewille_Freyermuth_-_Happy_Workplaces__CGT2009.pdf&rct=j&sa=U&ei=vA-6UPvOEs25hAfUt4CgDw&ved=0CBMQFjAA&q=Baker ,+Greenberg+and+Hemingway&usg=AFQjCNFPuH-lxSIFugQrdLioPCGz0VZZ1A 01/12/2012 - http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201007/how-workplace-happinesscan-boost-productivity 03/12/2012 - http://positivesharing.com/ 03/12/2012