Speak Happiness is a leading provider of compelling keynotes
for conferences, meetings and in-house events around the globe,
and of culture-defining leadership training
...but our best-kept secret also happens to be the most valuable service we provide: Workplace Happiness Assessments
The “Why” of Workplace Happiness
A happy workplace
is the most cost-effective feature you can roll-out, and the returns are
astronomical.
Prioritizing the happiness of your workforce has extreme value.
- walk out
- “quiet quit”
- need mental health days to recover from the way the boss speaks to them
- steal or sell your corporate secrets on the dark web
- attack co-workers or customers
- have workplace injuries
- sue you or cause you to be sued
- vandalize your property
- destroy inventory
Happy employees are more innovative, more creative, more diligent, more likely to catch a bug in your code or notice the 50-pound sack of shrimp that was left out of the freezer, to spot the broken latch on your security gate or the clamp that was left inside the patient…and will care about those things!
These are not anecdotal musings!
They are the result of Gallup’s decades of research on the topic, as shared in the State of the American Workplace report.
That report reveals that workplaces in the top quartile of happiness and engagement, when compared with the bottom quartile, have:
- 41% less absenteeism
- 24-59% less turnover
- 28% less shrinkage
- 70% fewer workplace accidents
- 58% fewer incidents of medical malpractice
- 40% fewer manufacturing quality incidents
- 10% higher customer satisfaction
- 17% higher productivity
- 20% higher sales, and
- 21% higher profitability
How much would it change your outcomes to achieve those improvements, compared to where you are now?
Workplace happiness is the most undervalued resource in our economy, and the costs of ignoring it will continue to skyrocket.
Workplace happiness is achievable.
In fact, it’s easy.
But it doesn’t happen by accident.
You can’t manage what you don’t measure, and if you want happiness to happen in your workplace, it must start with an honest, candid assessment of how happy your workforce is now.
Organizations of all sizes, across all industries gain eye-opening insights into: (a) what they’re doing exceptionally well for their workforces; (b) what desperately needs improvement; and (c) what changes their employees believe would benefit ALL stakeholders.
Happiness vs. Engagement
The concept of employee engagement was first introduced by William A. Kahn in his article, “Psychological Conditions of Personal Engagement and Disengagement at Work.” The idea originated in academic theory, then became widespread in management practice, and for good reason.
Thousands of studies on the subject have reported a strong connection between employee engagement and corporate prosperity, with benefits including increased productivity, improved performance, lower turnover, and higher earnings per share.
Everyone wants their employees to be engaged.
And here we are talking about happiness.
Why?
Because the same management skills are required to get to BOTH those outcomes – happiness and engagement.
But engagement is about you, the boss, and what you want from those who work for you.
Happiness is about your employees and what they want.
Great people-leaders focus on that – what the employees want.
No one ever got home at the end of the day and said, “Wow, I was so engaged at work today.”
They say, “Today was a great day! I love my job.”
No one ever says, “I am so disengaged here.”
They say, “This place makes me miserable!”
How would it go over if you said to your significant other, “I’d really like to make you more engaged in this relationship?”
Compare that to saying, “I’m going to do everything in my power to make you happy!”
If you think from a perspective of what will keep your employees coming back, and loyal and wanting to give their best, it’s being happy in their jobs.
So at Speak Happiness, we think about it that way.
We don’t use arbitrary metrics or 40-page questionnaires to discover how happy and engaged people are.
We have conversations.
About their happiness.
The Method
Leadership and logistics prep happens between the signing of the initial Assessment Agreement and the beginning of On-site conversations.
It is during this stage that:
- the logistics of the in-person work are agreed upon (time, place and scheduling of employee interactions)
- the rules of engagement are spelled out, and
- the groundwork is laid to manage the expectations and emotions of the leadership team
If your C-suite executives and other leaders are not open to honest, accurate feedback about how happy (or unhappy) your workforce is, then you should probably stop reading now, as a Speak Happiness Workplace Assessment will be a waste of your money and everyone’s time.
Our reports are constructive, forward-looking and generally uplifting, and they always – always! – demand to be heard with openness and empathy for the workforce. They took a risk by sharing their views solely to improve your outcomes as an organization, and we want to make that worth it…for everyone.
Having a happy workplace requires attention, intention, integrity and humility. If your leadership team is down with all four of these inputs, you are well on your way to realizing the off-the-charts returns from prioritizing the happiness of your workforce.
On-site conversations are conducted in-person (or very rarely, by Zoom, when needed) by Valerie Alexander. Each conversation is designed to last 10-15 minutes, and elicit from the employee honest, open feedback about what makes them love their jobs, what does not work for them in the workplace, and to gain their perspectives on ways to make the organization better.
These conversations are conducted privately, confidentially, not recorded, and notes are taken by Valerie, by an assistant, or by an AI note-taker. The employee is never identified by name.
Valerie conducts up to 24 conversations per day, up to 124 per week, for a maximum of 248 employees during the two-week on-site assessment period. This may cover an entire workforce, one division of the company or organization, or a RANDOMLY-SELECTED sampling of employees, but with at least twelve from each division or business unit.
Keep in mind, Valerie’s job is not to ask specific questions you may want asked.
Valerie’s job is to actively listen to your employees’ answers, without getting defensive or denying the truth they’re sharing, nor speaking on behalf of the organization.
Her job is to be a 100% neutral outside observer, with the safety to share with your leadership the information she obtains without filter or judgment, and with the expertise to know which issues are addressable and need to be prioritized.
Following the completion of all on-site conversations, Valerie will return to her office for one week and prepare a 15-25 page report (or in some instances, longer) detailing the best practices the organization already engages in to create workplace happiness, and the top five issues leadership can address to prioritize and maximize the happiness of their workplace.
These issues may include, among other things, communication challenges, unpopular policies, inequity, salary and wage complaints, toxic behavior, lack of inclusion, incentive programs, safety and security, workload, job insecurity and other concerns.
In the fourth week of the engagement, Valerie will return to your workplace to meet with your leadership and other stakeholders to deliver and discuss the report. If the client so chooses, this report or its results can also be shared with the entire workforce.
At the in-person results meeting, Valerie will communicate what, if any, management training she recommends based on the information shared in the Assessment, and those trainings will take place following this visit, up to three sessions over two to three days.
Training may encompass workplace happiness, equity and inclusion, how to deliver effective performance evaluations, or a bespoke training based on the outcomes of your specific Happiness Assessment.
Value
The Speak Happiness Workplace Happiness Assessment includes:
- all leadership and logistics prep
- two weeks on-site, conducting employee conversations
- one week reviewing results and preparing report(s)
- meeting(s) with leadership to deliver results
- up to three in-house management trainings
Fee: $48,500, plus airfare from Atlanta to your location and up to 14 nights hotel accommodation.
Is it worth it?
It’s your company.
Only you would know.
What is the price of losing one valuable employee?
How much do workers compensation, health insurance and shrinkage cost you now?
What would it mean to your bottom line to have 41% less absenteeism, 59% less turnover, 70% fewer workers compensation claims, 20% higher sales and 21% higher profits?
Getting a thorough, honest assessment of the happiness of your workforce from one of the leading experts in the field, and training your leadership and management how to maximize and prioritize workplace happiness will probably be the best business decision you can make this year.
And the payoffs will continue to roll in for many years to come.