The RPO Voice: Insights for the RPO Marketplace

Workplace Happiness and Employee Motivation

Written by Carrie Kolar | Thu, Dec 03,2015 @ AM

Happy employees are productive, engaged, and an asset to your company. Conversely, when employees are unhappy they are less engaged, less productive, and more likely to find another job. In this week’s RPOA Roundup, we present best practices and new ideas on how to maintain workplace happiness and employee motivation.

How do You Keep Your Best Employees from Quitting? – RPOA - @RPOAssociation

Once you’ve acquired the best person for a position, you need to make sure that you keep them. This article introduces the concept of succession plans, or grooming and promoting existing employees to fill higher-up positions in the company. It details both the work and the payoff involved in developing succession plans for your business, and emphasizes that though developing internal succession plans can take a great deal of effort to implement, the return in employee engagement and retention is well worth it.

It’s A Million-Dollar Question: Can People Ever Really Be Happy At Work? – TLNT - @TLNT_com

Happiness is an ephemeral concept, and can mean many different things to different people. Workplace happiness operates the exact same way, as what makes one person happy at work can be the complete opposite from what makes a second person happy at work. This article investigates what happiness means, and the different ways that people can find happiness in what they do. It discusses the different kinds of happiness that comes from overcome challenges, interpersonal relationships, and having a passion for your work. It also suggests that to be happy at work, you need to determine what you’re passionate about, what you’re good at, and find work where the two intersect.

4 Things to Know About Employee Happiness (And Why It’s Important) – TLNT - @TLNT_com

Success doesn’t make employees happy; instead, happiness makes them more successful. This article examines statistics around employee happiness, and suggests ways to reverse negative trends. Some of these statistics include that 61% of employees have thought about searching for a new job within the last year and that a quarter of employees who got a raise said that it did not improve their motivation, happiness, or sense of being appreciated in their workplace. Suggestions to mitigate the second statistic include creating an ownership mentality in work, giving employees clarity, purpose, and a voice, providing learning and growth opportunities, and showing appreciation for good work.

How to Limit Your Employees Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Days – TLNT - @TLNT_com

Bad days are a fact of life in the workplace, but they can seriously hurt productivity and employee wellbeing. This article, based on a survey conducted by the Danish firm Woohoo, Inc., of employees all over the world about their experiences with bad days at work, identifies the causes of bad work days and investigates ways that companies can mitigate the bad-day effect on their business. It starts off by defining what a bad day at work looks like, then lists the bad-day causes found by the survey and investigates the underlying issues and relationships between the causes. Finally, it offers some solutions to preventing ongoing bad days.

The 5 Things You’re Doing That Is Actually Killing Employee Motivation – Yoh - @YohCorporate

Motivated employees will work harder, work better, and stay in their positions longer than their unmotivated counterparts. Keeping your employees motivated is key to performance and retention, but according to this article, you may be killing your employee motivation in ways that you’re not even aware of. The article lists five motivational mistakes that employers make, and suggests ways that the mistakes can be corrected. The mistakes include not promoting from within, not creating a unique culture, not playing to employee strengths, not respecting employees, and not recognizing employees for their accomplishments.