11 Points to be a happy employee

Can you recollect a day where you woke up at 5:00 am, got ready
quickly and waited to do something exciting? Was it your college
annual day function? Or a competitive exam? Or maybe a first date?
Maybe it was your wedding day. Is it Monday morning to work? If the
answer is the last, surely you are a happy employee.



Though the above occasions may not have a lot in common, excitement
and motivation can be attributed to almost all of them. However, at
the workplace, it is almost impossible to find both or any one of
these attributes daily. But, being happy or unhappy is always in our
hands. That's the choice we make and we are the creators of the
outcome by our actions. Let's look at what might make an employee
unhappy.


Unfair rewards and recognition

Office politics

Un-cooperative team

Unreasonable boss

Insufficient compensation

Constant threat to job security

Lack of responsibility in the current job

No clear career path

Seating location

Lack of basic facilities at workplace


And the list goes on and on. Some of these things may not really
propel an employee to quit, but it might lead to negative energy which
leads to low productivity. When an employee is under-productive he or
she will be the first target when companies look for opportunities to
give pink slips.


As mentioned earlier, being happy is always in your hands. A happy
employee is more productive and gives more than an unhappy employee.
So let's look at some ways to up the happiness factor.



1. Plan your week on Sunday night

Look at your work calendar and plan your week on Sunday night or
Monday morning. This would include important meetings, deliverables, a
brief summary of things that are pending from last week and any tasks
to be achieved during the week. Though this might look like a time
management tip, at the end of the week, on Friday night when you
re-visit what you have achieved over the last five days, the
satisfaction is immense.


2. Undertake activities that you are passionate about even though it
might not be in your job profile
Start an initiative that you would love to do irrespective of whether
it is required for you to do or not.


Send a daily newsletter to your team on the topics that most of them
will be interested.

Do a presentation on the topic that you are passionate about.

Organise a small sports event for your team.

Call everyone in your team for a team coffee, breakfast or lunch break

Appreciate colleagues in your team or in a cross-functional team who
did a great job

Write a poem on your team's achievements

Arrange a potluck lunch


3. Do not indulge in the blame game

If something goes wrong do not blame others blindly. If you commit a
mistake, do not hesitate to accept it. As Gauthama Buddha said, there
are three things we can't hide for long: the sun, earth and the truth.
Accepting your mistake gracefully will only make you look like a true
professional and also give you the satisfaction of not cheating.


4. Communicate more often in person

Utilise all the opportunities where you can speak to an individual in
person rather than e-mail or phone. But be aware of the other person's
time and availability. Listening to a positive answer from a person
will give you more happiness than if it is done over the phone or via
e-mail.


5. Know what is happening at your workplace

Will this make a person happy? Truly, yes! Imagine a cricket team that
doesn't know how many runs to score to win a match? More than losing
the game, the player will never be interested or motivated to play
well.


Attend all meetings that are addressed by the CEO to your immediate
manager to know what is going to happen around you. It could be the
company's growth plan or your department's next big project. Jack
Welch mentions in his book Winning "every employee, not just the
senior people, should know how a company is doing."


You will also get an extra edge if you are in a position to answer
queries raised by your peers or juniors. This is not just for the good
reasons, but bad reasons as well. You do not want to be the last
employee to know if your company is laying off employees (in the worst
case, if you are the one who is on that list).


6. Participate in organisation-level activities

This could be as simple as spending one weekend for a corporate social
responsibility activity or attending a recruitment drive to help your
HR team or arranging a technical/sports event at the organisational
level. Most of these events will be successful as people do come on
their own to contribute.


7. Have a hobby that keeps you busy and happy

Many people say their hobby is watching TV or listening to music or
reading the newspaper. These aren't hobbies, they are just ways of
passing the time. Some hobbies are evergreen and will keep you
evergreen as well: dancing, painting, writing short stories, poems,
blogs and sharing your experiences.


8. Take up a sport

While choosing a sport make sure that there is physical activity.
There is the danger of becoming addicted to sports where there is less
physical activity (like computer games, chess, cards etc). Physical
activity keeps a person healthy and happy. If you pick up one sport
well, you can represent your organisation in corporate sports event
too.


9. Keep yourself away from office politics

Politics, as a practice, whatever its profession, has always been the
systematic organization of hatreds. -- Henry Brooks Adams
Politics is everywhere and the office is no exception. Playing
politics might be beneficial but only for the short term. So the best
thing to do is play fair.


10. Wish and smile

More often than not, there are fair chances that the other person will
smile back. This could be your security guard at the gate, your
receptionist, your office boy, your CEO or your manager -- never
forget to wish them and smile.


11. Volunteer for some activity


"The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is
capable of receiving." � Albert Einstein


Do at least one activity without expecting anything in return. There
is no set frequency for this. This could be once in a day or once in a
week or thrice in a week. It could be as simple as making tea at the
office for your colleague, helping a colleague who is working in
another department by using your skills, dropping your colleague at
his door step in your car, going to your manager or colleague to ask
if there is any help you can extend, contributing to technical or
knowledge management communities in your organisation etc