As business owners, it can be difficult to decide which is more important: customer satisfaction or employee happiness. After all, it is the customer who has chosen you for your unique skills, experience, and business. It is the customer who will announce you by word of mouth. It is the customer who brings you repeat business. And it is the customer who ultimately pays their bills.
However, without happy employees, you will not have satisfied customers.
Happy employees create satisfied customers. In general, you know how to satisfy your customer because you know customer service. You yourself are a customer on a daily basis and you know what great customer service feels like. Because you are a customer and because you know which businesses serve you and meet your emotional needs as a customer, you can put yourself in your customer’s shoes. You understand the excellent customer service. But do you understand the happiness of the employees?
Did you know that Happiness at work increases your profitability by 33% (Gallup) and increases your sales by 37% (Shawn Achor)? According to Forbes, happiness at work reduces sick leave by 66%! Most business owners don’t realize that their team is unhappy, nor do they realize that they possess the power to create happiness for their employees.
Here are 6 telltale signs that your employees are Not happy.
- Increased tardiness. Disgruntled employees prefer to procrastinate to go to work. They are not happy with their work and prefer to stay in their happiness outside of work. Happy employees can’t wait to get to work. They like to be on time or even early.
- Increase in sick days.. Disgruntled employees seek to avoid what causes them discomfort, that is, working in a place that causes them emotional discomfort. If they could avoid working altogether, they would, if it weren’t for the need for a paycheck. Happy employees enjoy being part of a team. They understand and appreciate the importance of teamwork and realize that without them the team will lose. Happy employees will minimize sick days.
- Increase in gossip. Unhappy employees need to vent their unhappiness, and they will do so by trying to put others down. Happy employees don’t gossip because there is nothing to gossip about. If there is a problem, happy employees will address it.
- Increased short breaks because “I need a cigarette.” Disgruntled employees are stressed. Their attention span is short and they need frequent breaks to get back on track. Happy employees are fully engaged throughout the entire workday. They schedule personal time off and stick to it.
- Increase in jokes. Unhappy employees are not committed to their work and need to invent chaos to feel important or to fill the void with excitement and fun. Happy employees don’t depend on jokes to increase fun at work. Happy employees are challenged, motivated, and committed to their job responsibilities.
- Decreased productivity. Disgruntled employees are idle and awaiting instructions. Happy employees are always one step ahead. They know what their responsibility is, and since they are not micromanaged, they will be leaders in their own Reich.
Most practice owners know about customer satisfaction, but few understand the needs, fears, motivation, or fun factors necessary to keep their team happy. However, without happy employees, you are bound to have few, if any, satisfied customers.
Unhappiness is as contagious as a yawn! Instead, inspire smiles. Happy employees create happy customers.
Happiness is affected by individual goals, by attitude, by gratitude, and I think most importantly by different personality types. The idea of happiness of an exuberant, creative and fun person is very different from that of a calm, serious and structured employee. Learn about personality differences to effectively create happiness in your practice, but above all keep in mind that your team may not be as happy as you think. And without a happy team, you don’t have happy customers.
