The Four Core Needs of Happy Employees

Every HR leader’s dream is to have highly engaged and productive employees that are happy with their jobs and their company. It’s not hard to see why. Happy employees who feel valued and supported are more productive. With today’s mostly remote workforce, how do we keep employees happy and engaged so they can do their best work? Before the pandemic, it was relatively easier to track employee happiness and engagement in a mostly face-to-face work environment. Since the pandemic started, many companies employing knowledge workers have shifted to working remotely and will continue this trend into 2021 and potentially beyond, creating a new challenge for HR leaders to rethink employee engagement.

Although the world has changed dramatically this year, people’s most fundamental basic needs have not changed. To better understand how to keep employees happy in a remote environment, we have to look at what makes employees happy in the first place. Research by The Energy Project, a consulting firm using a science-based approach to foster healthy workplaces, found that happy employees have some or all of the following core needs met: 

1. Renewal

Happy employees are not robots and need healthy boundaries on hours worked and ample time for breaks. Employees working beyond 40 hours per week report feeling worse and less engaged than those who work 40 or fewer hours per week. Employees who regularly take breaks reported a 30% higher level of focus than those who take no or just one break during the day. However, it’s not all about the individual employee--culture plays a significant role. Employees who feel encouraged by their managers to take breaks increased their likelihood of staying with the company by nearly 100%. HR leaders with a remote workforce can adapt this finding by encouraging healthy boundaries between work and life. 

2. Value

Feeling that their manager, team, and company value their work increases an employee’s happiness more than anything else a leader can do. The Energy Project’s research shows that employees whose managers valued their work were 1.3 times more likely to stay with their organization and were 67% more engaged than peers who did not feel valued. HR leaders inspired by this finding might find ways to foster a culture of appreciation and show that leaders value employees’ work. Simple gestures such as verbally saying thank you in meetings and regularly highlighting employees’ contribution to a project can be good places to start. In the long run, show that you truly value your employees by investing in their overall well-being with benefits that matter such as childcare, a financial wellness solution, or mental health resources. 

3. Focus

Multitasking is overrated. We often feel we have no choice when our job responsibilities pull us in many directions all at once. What if multitasking stands in the way of our happiness? The Energy Project’s research shows that survey respondents who are able to focus on one task at a time at work are 50% more engaged than those who are unable to. Autonomy or clarity over their priorities is critical. Survey respondents who reported being able to prioritize their tasks effectively were 1.6 times better able to focus on one thing at a time. In a remote work environment, leaders can adopt this finding by being intentional about the priorities they set for their company and their team.

4. Purpose

Having meaning and significance to one’s work has the biggest impact on an employee’s happiness. It’s not surprising that the happiest employees tend to be the ones who find purpose in their work. The benefit for employers is significant--these employees reported 1.7 times higher job satisfaction and were 1.4 times more engaged at work. This finding is also the hardest for leaders to action because a sense of purpose is very personal to each employee. Focusing on how an employee’s work directly impacts others, such as clients, vendors, customers, or even coworkers, can foster a sense of greater purpose for employees. 

Happy employees have all, or most, of the four core needs fulfilled: renewal, value, focus, and purpose. Happier employees are more engaged and productive, ultimately driving greater business results. Although the workplace has changed dramatically in 2020, the fundamentals remain. Creating happy employees is no longer just a nice to have or “feel good” benefit -- it’s key to your company’s future success.