A business is
only as good as its people. With staff retention, productivity and engagement
now ranking as the most topical concerns for modern-day businesses, identifying
ways to improve and build job satisfaction for employees must be on the company
agenda in order to ensure continued success.

As adults, we
spend the majority of our waking hours at work. That means our experience at
work determines a great deal of our happiness, or not. We teach our kids that
finding their passion, finding the job they will love is the path to a happy
life.

A growing body
of research findings that job satisfaction has a lot more to do with the people
we work with than it does with the actual work we do. According to a Gallup poll, close friendships at work improve
employee satisfaction by as much as 50%. Establishing and embedding a strong
company culture isn’t achieved overnight; however, employers can help facilitate
its development by encouraging socialization and communication. 

Consider the
workplace environment and whether colleagues can talk and share ideas.
Organized social activities outside of work hours are beneficial; organizations
who encourage birthday celebrations or attend events together demonstrate
greater engagement and contentment at work. 

Managers have the
most significant impact on happiness at work and job satisfaction. Gallup has discovered that
70% of the variation between great workplace engagement and poor workplace
engagement can be explained just by the quality of the manager or team leader.
Managers are most effective when they make a shift from manager to coach.
Engaged employees report higher levels of wellbeing and experience more
happiness at work.