Creating A Culture Of Happiness With A Strong Employee Appreciation System

Welcome to the Vantage HR Influencers Podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Vantage Circle, the simple and AI-powered rewards and recognition platform for employee engagement. What makes employees happy? What do they really want? Is there a hype about employee happiness? Is workplace happiness overrated? One of the obstacles that leaders face while keeping their employees happy and engaged, we'll answer all these questions today in our episode of the Vantage HR Influencers Podcast.

Susmita Sarma: I'm Susmita, and today with me I have our guest speaker, Dr. Elia Gourgouris. Dr. Elia is the president of The Happiness Center, an organization of world-leading experts in the field of positive psychology dedicated to creating personal success and happiness. Welcome to the show, Elia.

Elia Gourgouris: Thank you very much. It's nice to be here.

Susmita Sarma: Thanks for joining me. So we spend a lot of time at work, in the workplace, and I believe it can be a huge deal if we aren't happy to be there. So you've given this a lot of thought already. How do you see this as such an important matter, and how do you help others understand it better?

Elia Gourgouris: I think happiness at work is probably one of the most important aspects of our lives, because, like you said, Susmita, we spend an extraordinary amount of time throughout our lifetime, decades, at work. So if we spend it miserably, we're going to be miserable in our lives outside of work too. If we have a positively engaged workforce, that's obviously going to impact our personal lives as well.

Susmita Sarma: Right. So I have a lot of nitty-gritty questions for you about employee happiness today, but to get started, my first question is the simplest one to ask, but probably a little difficult to answer: what makes employees happy? What do they really want? We know it differs from person to person, but there must be some common things we can mention here.

Elia Gourgouris: Believe it or not, salary is not at the top of the list. It usually comes in fourth or fifth. What makes employees happy is, number one, I think, a great employer, someone who expresses appreciation. When employees feel appreciated and seen, they feel welcome at work. They feel like they matter, and I think that's usually at the top of the list. The other thing is working within an organization where they have the opportunity to grow, to learn new things, and to advance. In other words, they're not stuck in a position for the next five or ten years, but their work is rewarded and they have opportunities to grow. The actual physical work environment is important as well. Those are some of the things that make employees happy. There's a lot more than that, and we can discuss it as we go on.

Susmita Sarma: Right. So there's a famous quote that says people work for money but go the extra mile for recognition, praise, and awards. What do you think is the role recognition plays in employee happiness?

Elia Gourgouris: We have to remember that regardless of the title or position a person has within an organization, in the end we're all human beings, and we have feelings. When human beings do a good job, they'd like to be rewarded, whether verbally or through other means, and organizations have to reward them. It just makes people feel better. I know this is common sense, but it's not common practice. It may seem almost too simple. Yes, we all know that, but we don't put it into effect consistently throughout organizations. The companies that actually do that obviously have happier and more engaged employees.

Susmita Sarma: Right. So when it comes to recognition, we understand that's about praising someone, but when it comes to rewards, what kind of rewards do you think play the best role?

Elia Gourgouris: I think sometimes even a gift card works. You do a good job, and somebody asks, "What's your favorite restaurant?" It's a targeted reward. I think some other rewards are maybe a day off tomorrow, the unexpected kind of thing. You've done such a great job today, take the day off tomorrow and do something for yourself. Don't answer any emails, do something you enjoy, and come back refreshed and renewed the day after. Obviously more vacation time too, if that's possible.

Susmita Sarma: Right. There are a lot of companies switching to almost unlimited vacation time nowadays. That's something that's been implemented lately.

Elia Gourgouris: With mixed results, I have to say.

Susmita Sarma: Yeah, I don't know how good that will be for employers. It sounds a little difficult, unlimited holidays.

Elia Gourgouris: What's funny about that is employees actually aren't taking that time. They're taking less time than before, because they're afraid that if they take too much time off, they'll seem dispensable and get replaced. So even though, on paper, according to HR, employees have unlimited vacation time, they're not actually taking it. It's a very interesting psychological effect, because you'd think if you had unlimited time off, you'd take it and use it, but when someone gives that to you, you don't.

Susmita Sarma: Yeah, there's a reluctance to use it too much.

Elia Gourgouris: Yes, there's a reluctance.

Susmita Sarma: So what do you have to say about the hype around employee happiness? Do employers really care about it, or is the term "workplace happiness" overrated?

Elia Gourgouris: I definitely don't think it's overrated. I'd categorically say employee happiness is one of the most important things, whether it's a profit or nonprofit organization. Happy employees tend to be more productive, more innovative, and more creative. They're better teammates. People have asked me why that is, and it's because when we take care of ourselves and our batteries are full, when we practice great self-care, we have enough energy to help somebody else. So we make better teammates, which means stronger teams, which means a more collaborative, creative, and productive environment, which in the end is more profitable. Everything leads to everything else. The other thing very few people notice is that happy employees are physically healthier. Think about the cost when employees are sick a lot, physically, or have to take days off because of their mental health. Happy employees are physically healthier, and that adds to the bottom line too. That's something people rarely talk about.

Susmita Sarma: So there must be obstacles to keeping employees happy and engaged, especially around mental health, which seems more difficult to manage than keeping someone physically engaged in a job. What obstacles do employers face, and how can they overcome them?

Elia Gourgouris: Here's what's interesting. In the COVID world, for almost two years now, we've seen the workforce upended across the globe, regardless of industry or company size, profit or nonprofit. I wrote a book in the middle of the pandemic called Seven Keys to Navigating a Crisis, with my good friend and co-author, Konstantinos, and I have to give him credit, because I wouldn't have been able to do it without him. We initially wrote the book for consumers and got it out in May of 2020, the first book of its kind to market in the world. We wrote it for everyday people, because we could see a multitude of crises coming to the world besides COVID. What we didn't anticipate was that in June of 2020, after the initial lockdown, as companies began to emerge after the first wave, they reached out to us and said their employees were traumatized, scared, depressed, anxious, and basically stressed out, and asked for help. We were hired, and we continue to be hired, by organizations to help with employee engagement and happiness.

It turns out that the biggest challenge facing organizations in the world, based on a study of thousands of HR directors and professionals, is how to maintain the physical and mental wellbeing of employees while battling a global pandemic. I feel like a lot of companies have done a pretty decent job on the physical side, providing masks, hybrid workplaces, work-from-home options, and physical distancing when meeting in person, partly because it was mandated by governments. But they haven't done a great job ensuring the mental wellbeing of their employees. If you look at United Nations data, going back even to last year, billions of people are suffering from stress, anxiety, and depression, people who did not have a pre-existing condition, meaning this is a direct result of the pandemic. There's a mental health crisis that's huge, I think even more damaging than the pandemic itself. There's also a financial crisis, with tens of millions unemployed, hundreds of millions underemployed, and billions of people feeling financially insecure, not knowing how they'll take care of their families. As human beings we're very resilient, and we've handled crises before, and I'm not even counting people's individual crises, like going through a divorce, a relationship issue, a sick child, or caring for an elderly parent with dementia or Alzheimer's. Human beings, and our employees, are resilient. We can handle one or two crises, but not multiple crises happening at the same time with no end in sight. So there's a huge obstacle for employers trying to keep their employees happy and engaged, because it's a global issue, not specific to a country, industry, or company size. The second challenge organizations face is how to maintain employee engagement, productivity, and effectiveness in the midst of all this, but you're not going to solve that until you solve the first challenge: ensuring the mental wellbeing of your employees.

Part of that is, specifically from an HR perspective, because I work with a lot of senior HR leaders, that it's no longer enough to ask your employees how they're doing, because most of them aren't going to tell you the truth, especially when you're doing all your meetings over Zoom, when you can't physically see them and make eye contact or feel the energy in the room. So as senior leaders we have to change ourselves. I think the responsibility lies with leaders to show up differently. Imagine you're on a Zoom call with your team. If you ask them how they're doing, you'll get silence, or a mumbled "fine," even if things aren't fine. You have to lean into the camera, get your face and your eyes into it, and ask, "How are you really doing? How is your family? How are your loved ones? How are the kids?" Make it much more personal, and show real empathy and real concern. Ask, "Is there anything I can do as your leader? Is there anything the company or the organization can do to make this transition, or working under these difficult circumstances, better?" And here's the extra credit, which requires great emotional intelligence from a leader: when you're leaning into the camera and asking those questions, be transparent. Practice what I call hot communication, meaning honest, open, and transparent communication. What that looks like is looking into the camera and saying, "By the way, it's been really hard in my home too. Our kids haven't gone to school in nine months, and it's really stressing us out." Be vulnerable and real as a leader, because then you're basically saying, we're in this together, I feel your pain, I understand your concern, and what can we do collectively to move forward? That's the type of leadership required right now. People don't want to hear, "We replaced potato chips with apples so we have a healthier workforce," or "let's stretch for half an hour and that'll make you happier." That's not enough anymore. We have to raise our own bar as leaders, and as we do that consistently throughout the organization, we're showing our employees that they matter to us. We have to communicate much more clearly, and communicate our expectations clearly. And I know this may sound a little unusual, but we have to show our employees that we care about them and that we actually value them, that they're not just a number in the organization that we use and then discard. So if I'm going to ask you to work an extra ten hours this week, I should explain the why behind that. It's not because I want my company to be more profitable so we can hit our margins and make a bonus. It's because if we don't hit certain numbers, I may have to lay off ten percent of my workforce, and my workforce is like a family, and I don't want to lay anyone off. So I'm asking everybody to step up a little more because revenues have been down for the last year due to the pandemic, and we're trying to make that up. It's not because I'm greedy, it's because I want to preserve livelihoods and people's jobs. If you explain that to people transparently, believe me, they'll work harder for you as a result. But you have to explain the why.

Susmita Sarma: Right, exactly. So leadership has really had to step up.

Elia Gourgouris: It has, and they need to.

Susmita Sarma: Elia, you've helped thousands of people, both personally and professionally, achieve happiness, prosperity, and wellness as the president of The Happiness Center, a premier international professional association in positive psychology. Does your research and experience prove that people's lives get better all around if they're happy and perform well at work?

Elia Gourgouris: Yes, there's no question about it. I've been working with people for 35 years. The first half of my career I was a clinical psychologist, and then I switched to the corporate side as an executive coach in leadership training and development. In my experience, when a person is content and happy at work, imagine what they're like when they go home, and the impact that has on the home. Usually when someone comes home from work tired, exhausted, cranky, maybe angry, they bring that energy into the home and it impacts the rest of the family for the evening. Now imagine if we had a positive experience at work, if we were engaged, connected, and felt like we made a positive impact. We drive home, open the door, and instead of grumbling when our loved one asks "how was work today," we say, "Actually, I had a great day at work, let me tell you what happened." You bring that energy and excitement home to the people you love and care about most. Imagine how impactful that is, not just to your own inner circle, but for society as a whole. Usually that's not what happens. People come home saying work was so hard, complaining that their boss is an idiot or a coworker did something stupid. It's negativity, and because human beings are all about energy, that negative energy impacts your most intimate environment. Imagine if the opposite were true, how great that would be.

Susmita Sarma: Very true. So, coming to the next question: what are some ways we can use technology to improve employee happiness and learn more about what's going on in the workplace?

Elia Gourgouris: I'm not a technology expert, actually. I'd say that's one of my biggest weaknesses. I know people very well, inside and out, but I don't know technology very well. That said, since a large portion of the workforce has needed to work remotely, technology has become even more important. We're able to have meetings with people working from different parts of the world and get together over Zoom or other tools, and it seems to be relatively effective, even though people are experiencing Zoom fatigue, myself included. Of course, meeting face to face and in person is still preferable, and there are still people reluctant to come back into the office. I know several companies that have said they won't have people come in until 2022, because this whole situation has lasted far longer than anyone anticipated, so there's a huge sense of world fatigue. But technology has allowed us to continue working, and I believe the future of work will be hybrid. Leaders have recognized that it's cost-effective in a lot of ways to have people working from home, though I don't think it'll be full-time. There will probably be two or three days a week in the office. The main thing, to me, is to communicate your expectations clearly and then trust that your employees will do the work even when they're not being supervised all the time. In other words, treat them like adults, like people who care and who you trust to get the work done. As a leader, I don't care if you're in front of your computer eight or ten hours a day. What I care about is the outcome. If you get your work done in four hours and meet the deadline, I don't care if you go play with your kids afterward, go for a walk, or go to the gym.

Susmita Sarma: That makes sense.

Elia Gourgouris: Otherwise, we're not here to babysit employees and check how long their computer was open or whether they were sitting in front of the screen the whole time. That just means you don't trust your employees, and employees will rise to whatever level of trust you give them. I really believe that. If you trust that they're doing an honest, good job and delivering on time, and they finish faster than eight hours, good for them. I'd tell them to take the rest of the day and do something that fills their bucket.

Susmita Sarma: We've also heard of some employers tracking employees' keyboard and mouse activity, and employees, in turn, using different tricks to keep their laptops looking active. These seem like small things, but they point to bigger concerns about trust between employers and employees.

Elia Gourgouris: That's like playing cat and mouse with your employees. I think that's a very unhealthy environment to create, because it's the opposite of trust. You're essentially assuming they're not working when you're not watching, but we want people to be engaged, connected, innovative, and productive. When you expect the best from people, they tend to show up. In fact, they often work even harder, because they feel appreciated, loved, and supported by senior leadership. That's how important trust is to a happy workforce, right?

Susmita Sarma: Well, absolutely. Because otherwise, why are you hiring these people if you don't trust them? And if you're saying you don't trust them, then they don't trust you. That's a negative spiral.

Susmita Sarma: Okay, so finally, what would be your suggestion for our listeners today?

Elia Gourgouris: Like I've shared before, I think HR leaders need to show up differently themselves and practice that hot communication: honest, open, and transparent. Not just go through the motions and ask, "How are things going?" because most people aren't going to be honest about that. They need to be open and vulnerable, and say, "I'm struggling myself too." Be real, basically, as an HR leader, and show that kind of vulnerability. That's what's expected nowadays, because if employees feel like your life looks perfectly fine while their life at home is falling apart, there's a huge disconnect. Versus saying, "We're all in this together, I'm struggling with my family too, so what can we do to better our lives and help one another?" In other words, there needs to be connectivity between leadership and employees, a feeling that we're all in this together. I heard a great quote: we may not all be in the same boat, but we're all in the same storm. Meaning we're not in the exact same circumstances, because people's circumstances differ, but globally we're all in the same storm, because we've all been impacted. I don't know one person who hasn't been affected by what's happened in the last year and a half, two years.

Susmita Sarma: Yeah, right, very true. Okay, so finally, how can our listeners reach out to you?

Elia Gourgouris: LinkedIn is probably the best way. Search for Elia Gourgouris, PhD, The Happiness Doctor, and you can reach me there. I'd love to connect with your audience if they have any more questions. I work with organizations across the globe, and I've really been expanding in India, actually, over the last year. That's one of the blessings of technology, my sphere of influence has grown a lot in Europe and India, doing multiple webinars and seminars there. There's a real movement to understand the importance of happiness for employees, and I'm happy to share that, because I'm very passionate about happiness, as you can tell. I spend my entire life focused on people's happiness, both personally and professionally.

Susmita Sarma: Brilliant. It was really great talking to you, Elia, and thank you so much for all the insights. We hope to have you back here soon, and thanks a lot for joining me on the Vantage HR Influencers Podcast.

Elia Gourgouris: I appreciate it very much. Thank you.