How to Measure Employee Happiness ( and can You?)
How to Measure Employee Happiness (and can You?)
Employees’ happiness is like the wind in the ship’s sails that lets both employees and the company reach great results. Read more: Importance of Employee Satisfaction Survey.
But how to measure emotions? Is it even possible?
Companies try and collect employees’ answers through different ways to understand if their employees feel happy at work.
Employees’ happiness measurement methods
The survey is the most commonly used tool of employee happiness measuring. This method can be used in apps, intranet or on paper.
Surveys usually include questions about the work environment, work characteristics and emotions.
“Happiness at work” (HAW) is a self-report survey to measure employee happiness. This survey is improved by professors and researchers A. Salas-Vallina and J. Alegre Vidal, pointing to shorter scale’s improvement in efficiency and efficacy. SHAW survey includes 9 statements and questions about employee engagement, job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment.
All statements and questions of SHAW survey:
• At my job, I feel strong and vigorous
• I am enthusiastic about my job
• I get carried away when I am working
• How satisfied are you with the nature of the work you perform?
• How satisfied are you with the pay you receive for your job?
• How satisfied are you with the opportunities which exist in this organization for advancement [promotion]?
• I feel a strong sense of belonging to my organization
Answers can be offered on a scale from 1 – 5, with a gradation from strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, to agree and strongly agree. As a result, answers reveal how engaged and satisfied and, more importantly, happy are employees.
Answers analysis also might be a little bit complex if the survey includes open-type questions.
Like customers like employees – eNPS
Because the Net Promoter Scores (NPS) metric has been working so well to measure customers’ experience and satisfaction, now this tool is also used to measure employee happiness in companies.
The NPS method has 1 important question:
“How likely is it that you would recommend this company to others as a workplace?” Answers are given in scores from 0 to 10.
This metric calculation process is simple, counting all points together and dividing with the total number of participants. Tip to receive extra information: offer a text field for their comments.
Almost 9 in 10 (89%) surveyed employees at companies with supportive work environments and well-being initiatives would recommend their workplace as a good place to work for others,
Experience – narrative analysis
Employee happiness level also can be analyzed from their narration in conversation, interview and discussion. The happiness level measure method is based on employees identifying situations and moments in positive or negative adjectives.
Analysis steps:
- The first step is interview organizing
2. The second step is conversation transcribing into text
3. The third step is analysis – manually or with data analyzing programs. The analysis includes sorting situations in positive and negative terms. And happiness level is calculated in the following equation: total number of positive terms minus the total number of negative terms.
Happiness importance and new professions
The importance of employee’s happiness at work rises every year in the whole world. Companies have created new departments and have hired Chief Happiness Officers (CHO) and Happiness Managers who make the right conditions for employee happiness, involve the employees in these activities and keep a finger on the happiness pulse.
When employees receive interest in their well-being, especially happiness level, they feel important and heard. Feedback is always important in the form of actions and words.
How often should managers run employee happiness?
Happiness pulse can be measured every week. Asking them one question, “How do you feel?”. And longer surveys like NPS and sHAW can be conducted every half year.
Employee happiness role and life satisfaction
Employees’ happiness at work has an impact on their life evaluation and happiness overall. World Happiness report highlights incomes, trust and social support as job-related factors that impact life satisfaction and well-being.
Have a look at recent interesting facts on employees’ happiness that draws a bigger picture.
Companies most often choose employee happiness surveys to measure how happy their people are in the workplace. More and more employers improve work conditions and employees’ well-being.
“Take care of your employees, and they will take care of your business,” Richard Branson
