06 September 2006 - International [United States]
Motivation
In exam scripts, a number of students suggest that 'happy' workers are more productive and therefore of benefit to a business. For many workers, the idea of 'going to work' is not something that fills them with happiness, nor gives them inner warmth and a glow of satisfaction. Having a job you really enjoy might be a goal for many but the reality is that an awful lot of jobs are tedious, repetitive and in some cases unpleasant.
Of course, the whole economic and business landscape has changed in the last 30 years. In the UK, many more people work in the tertiary or service sector. In such a sector, one might have the image of comfortable offices or equally comfortable workspaces, which may be the reality for many people in this sector. Work is also about human relationships. To twist a popular phrase, you cannot choose your work colleagues but you can choose your friends. The value of friendships at work in contributing to 'happiness' may be more important than previously thought, if a new book by author Tom Rath is to be believed.
The title of Rath's book is 'Vital Friends: the people you can't afford to live without'. Rath works in the United States for the Gallup Organisation and heads up their Workplace Research and Leadership Consulting practice. Rath is drawing from research that includes in excess of 5 million interviews carried out by Gallup. Only 30% of employees report having a best friend at work. Those who do are seven times more likely to be engaged with their job and be more productive.
What Rath is pointing out in the book is that many businesses do not cultivate a culture of friendship; in some cases, businesses work to discourage friendships from developing in the belief that it might lead to problems within the workplace - familiarity breeds contempt is something that Rath mentions as being a common belief within businesses. Rath suggests that such a mentality is not in the business's best interests.
Students who have studied Maslow will know that 'belonging' is one of the factors he identifies as being important in generating motivation amongst employees. Rath points out that Gallup research suggests the majority of people, when asked if they would prefer a best friend at work or a 10% pay rise, went for the best friend option; additionally, of people with at least three close friends at work, 96% said that they were extremely satisfied with their lives. Close friendships at work can lead to employee satisfaction rates rising by 50%.
Rath concludes, therefore, that good communication and cultivating friendships in the workplace is an important feature of business practice. He identifies friends as falling into eight groups: builders; champions; collaborators; companions; connectors; energisers; mind-openers, and navigators. Businesses can promote friendships through, for example, providing places for employees to socialise and building up funds to pay for employee outings and social events to which families can also be invited.
Such simple strategies can help employees to become more engaged with their job, be more innovative and willing to share new ideas, as well as dealing more effectively with customers and having fewer workplace accidents. Rath provides a little more insight into the role of motivation in the workforce: despite the many conclusions from student exam scripts and coursework submissions that money really is the main motivator, the whole field might be a little more complicated - not surprising when humans are involved!