Are wealthy people happier? They may be more comfortable but it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re content. The same can be said about employees when it comes to the correlation between happiness and job performance.

Last week in my article and video on employee motivation I wrote about the importance of having a job that meets with your work and personal interests. That’s the core foundation for good performance on the job. However if someone lacks personal motivation and good work ethic they may not be the most highly productive employees.

The responsibility of the employer in today’s knowledge-based economy is to provide interesting work and to engage people in continuous improvement initiatives. This will provide an opportunity for diversity in the work and have them contribute to the success of the company.

The employer must also provide the right working conditions, tools and support to the employee so they can get the work done efficiently. This includes knowing what is expected of them and having feedback on their performance. Surprisingly this is not always done well in many companies and ultimately it is the responsibility of the person at the top to make sure this is happening.

Happiness is each individual’s personal responsibility. Happiness is a feeling that comes from within. When you do something that you enjoy the feeling of happiness takes place on the inside. That feeling that resides inside can be accessed at any time by everyone. Once we become aware of this and we know how to access happiness within we become less dependent on outside circumstances people and situations to cause our happiness.

Last week I saw a news report about how some companies had embraced a new training program that teaches people how to be happy. It seemed to be working for two of the companies that were featured in the video and they also claimed that it was having a huge impact on productivity.

But imagine if on one hand you are implementing these types of trainings in your organization and yet on the other hand people lack direction, do not have the skills for the job and never receive feedback. How effective with this type of a training program be?

A few days after seeing the news report I came across this article with an infographic called the 12 Steps to Happiness That You Create. I have included it here as I think it is interesting for organizations to use to educate their employees and to promote a culture of well-being. In fact you can print this infographic as a poster and hang it up in your company. However it takes more than a poster on the wall to motivate people to become happier.

One thing leaders can do with this infographic is to involve employees in workshops to come up with ways to implement these practices in your organization. Companies are doing this and it’s paying off. I wrote an article and made a video about this last year after hearing two CEOs speak about this at the sea to NTL conference in Montréal. In fact one of the speakers Tony Hsieh of Zappos wrote a book on the subject titled DELIVERING HAPPINESS: THE PATH TO PROPHETS, PASSION AND PURPOSE.

Hiring motivated and happy employees combined with the right work environment and support will definitely try greater productivity and performance.

Stephen Goldberg