University of Oxford proves happy workers are more productive
Happy employees produce more work, according to a study of UK call-center workers by the University of Oxford’s Said Business School. The research showed that employees were, on average, 13% more productive on those weeks when they described themselves as “very happy” compared to those weeks when they saw themselves as being “very unhappy”.
Putting the findings into perspective, Professor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, one of the study’s authors and a director of the University’s Wellbeing Research Centre, said there had never before been such strong evidence of a correlation between employee sentiment and efficiency and advised managers to bear the research in mind for their own benefit and for that of their staff. While the study did not specify just what companies should do to improve their employees’ state of mind, previous research by the same team indicated, perhaps unsurprisingly, that better pay and greater job security could both make positive overall contributions.
