On a recent business flight to Los Angeles, I picked up a copy of The Harvard Business Review. The topic on the cover of the magazine intrigued me: "The Value of Happiness – How an Employee’s Well-Being Drives Profits."
 
I suspect that given the pressures of today’s business climate, the happiness of employees may not be on the forefront of leaders’ minds. Perhaps it should be. An employee’s engagement (involvement) may appear to be a frill in this tough economy, but it can make a huge difference in a company’s survival.
 
A recent  Gallup poll estimates the cost of America’s disengagement at a staggering $300 billion annually in lost productivity. Let’s face it — we have all witnessed employees who do not care about their jobs. As a result, they don’t show up consistently, are not productive and produce poor quality work.
 
There is an old school of thought that "pressure" from the manager mixed with an equal portion of "fear" will enhance performance. It may in the short-term, but it has been my experience that employees who feel appreciated, challenged, engaged, communicated with, listened to and respected perform at higher levels!
 
It’s a leader’s role to articulate the objectives, remove obstacles, provide support, encourage and clearly acknowledge accomplishments. I submit that work can be as meaningful as play! A positive work environment builds employee happiness.
 
We all spend more time at work than anywhere else. Work should honor the human spirit, not diminish it! It just makes economic sense. By lifting the workforce’s well being, they generate more creative solutions to problems putting forth extra effort and yes, hard work.
 
Employees who are happy and content are more loyal and less likely to quit. It is important to remember who gets the work done in your company – "the employees." According to The Harvard Business Review, "If you give your employees the chance to learn and grow, they’ll thrive and so will the organization. Employees are happiest when they are appropriately challenged — when they are trying to achieve goals that are difficult but not out of reach."
 
Remember that "challenge" and "threat" are not the same thing. Employees blossom when involved in a challenge.
 
Psychologists have studied rewards and punishments for years. It’s clear to me that rewards work better. Ponder this: how many creative solutions do you receive from unhappy employees? To be fair, a miserable person may be the source of a solution to an issue, but this is the exception, not the rule.
 
There’s no magic formula that guarantees employees’ happiness. However, according to Gretchen Spreitzer and Christine Porath’s article in the The Harvard Business Review, leaders can enhance employees’ happiness by:
 
• Providing employee decision-making discretion. Give them freedom to move fast and to solve issues on their own.
• Share information! Being in the know means a lot. Get up-to-the-minute feedback on all aspects of the business, for example customer satisfaction level or shipping performance.
• Foster a culture of respect, be civil, let employees know it’s OK to laugh at work.
• Constantly give employees feedback on their performance. Update individual and team performance against goals doing a job in an information vacuum is uninspiring and tedious, at best. Let’s face it; we all want to be measured fairly.
 
I believe that happiness is indeed contagious — like the flu. It is the leader’s role to embrace happiness. We are all aware that the U.S. Declaration of Independence clearly states that all men have a right to the "pursuit of happiness."
 
Happy individuals are more likely to have fulfilling, positive, superior work performance and robust health. People’s success in life, rather than being the cause for happiness, may in fact be the outcome of happiness.
 
It’s incumbent for leaders to nurture and create a work environment that enhances happiness.