The Good Boss: The Link between Working from Home and Employee Happiness

Happy employees are hard to come by in this day and age. According to a Gallup-Healthways estimate, the cost of America’s disengagement conundrum is at a jaw-dropping $300 billion in lost productivity annually. This begs the question, why are workers so unhappy at work? Productivity is directly linked to how engaged and motivated workers behave in their environment. As a business owner, you can tackle this feeling of malaise head-on by offering your employees options that will give them agency to choose how they work and increase company productivity in the process. Read to learn how to create an environment of well-being at your workplace to promote and ultimately, increase productivity.

The Secret to Happy Workers

People value their time tremendously. People live the longest when they are involved in meaningful careers and activities. Now, this may seem too vague to be acted upon in your workplace but the idea is simple—give people the time they need to feel motivated to work, and provide them with the choice to work in the ways that they feel comfortable. People do not enjoy feeling like they cannot make the choices they want to be happy because work gets in the way. The truth is, even if your employees signed a contract to be available from 9-to-5 on a weekly basis, they probably didn't account for inclement weather, upcoming social engagements, or long term illness. So now, when one of these occasions rolls around, your workers feel trapped. They want to be able to go to Jack and Judy's wedding, but they know that their colleagues and management will not appreciate their absence. This feeling translates directly into how productive your employees are. Once they do not feel comfortable taking time off to live their lives, they begin to show the effects in their engagement at work. The science backs up this idea that happy workers are more productive—researchers at Warwick University found that happy employees work harder with a 12 percent increase in productivity linked directly to well-being.

Offer the Right Tools

Top companies are offering work from home positions, or "flexible jobs." Why should your company be any different? You can account for employee happiness by becoming more flexible as a business and creating an environment that respects each employee's lifestyle. One of the best choices you could make in this regard is revamping your benefits package to include options to work from home. Working remotely gives your employees the choice to remain home if a child or family member is sick, or if inclement weather arises, or if the commute is too much of a hassle that day. Instead of coming to work in a bad mood, with other concerns on their mind, your employees can be equally productive at home because they have the flexibility to perform their role—even if they can't make it to the office. Implementing a work from home policy will involve work on your part in making your company information accessible to all those who need it.

This can be as simple as making sure that all documents that are shared in the office are available and can be accessed remotely and stored through a cloud system designed to house large amounts of data. A cloud storage system allows for files to be shared between employees in any location using any device, as well as safe backup of files. MozyEnterprise offers a cloud storage solution that is secure and easy to use, so that you can immediately get the ball rolling on remote capabilities and provide your employees a reason to be happy about where they work.