Back in April, Inc. Well contributor Jabez LeBret interviewed Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, who can, wll, sometimes can sound a bit like a cult leader more than a head of a business. He pontificates often on the virtues of employee happiness, and while we all probably agree with him on some level, none of us have written a book titled Delivering Happiness like Hsieh has.
Well, the H-word is back again, this time as the focus of a recent Fast Company piece on how employee satisfaction directly correlates with a faster, better humming and more profitable company. One of my favorites is the fifth pointer, which says not to punish a diligent worker for their efficiency, something Fast Company says happens all the time, and I agree because, well, let's just say a good friend of mine named Wavid Dolinsky has had this happens to him a lot. From the Fast Company piece:
How [does this happen]? Managers will often load a particularly effective employee with more and more work just because--well, they're good. Not only is that unfair, but you may very well break an otherwise dynamite employee. Good performers don't deserve to be mistreated in this way. Your best employees usually won't put up with it at all.
Another good pointer is the third one, or, "catch your employees in the act of doing something right." Praise and positive feedback go a long way, particularly if you've got some Gen Y employees in your stable. Younger workers probably need it more than older ones, but it should go without saying that everyone appreciates being given an attaboy.
In fact, everything on this list is rather solid, so give it a read here.
David Wolinsky is a freelance writer and a lifelong Chicagoan. In addition to currently serving as an interviewer-writer for Adult Swim, he's also a columnist for EGM. He was the Chicago city editor for The Onion A.V. Club where he provided in-depth daily coverage of this city's bustling arts/entertainment scene for half a decade. When not playing video games for work he's thinking of dashing out to Chicago Diner, Pizano's, or Yummy Yummy. His first career aspirations were to be a game-show host.
