Money doesn’t guarantee happy employees

Because that’s when we realised how cool some companies in the world are (and how ours aren’t), but according to equity visionary Michael C Bush, ping-pong tables and massages and pet walking don’t guarantee happy employees.

“It’s not about the perks,” he says, “The miracle thing is, companies don’t have to spend more money to make their employees happy. It’s all about how they’re treated by their leaders and by the people that they work with.” In his short and crisp Ted Talk video, Bush brings to the fore insights that are possibly enlightening for employers and employees. “Organisations that have a lot of happy employees have three times the revenue growth, compared to organisations where that’s not true. They outperform the stock market by a factor of three,” he says. Pointing out factors that employees, especially in India, have taken for granted, Bush stresses on the need of being trusted and respected at work.

Global hospitality brand Four Seasons, he says, is known for delivering some of the best services. “They have magnificent properties all around the world. And their employees are told, ‘Do whatever you think is right when servicing the customer.’ To hand that trust to your employees to do whatever they think is right makes the employees feel great,” he says.

Bush says, “The thing that erodes trust in an organisation faster than anything else is when employees feel that they’re being treated unfairly. Employees want to be treated the same, regardless of their rank or their tenure or their age or their experience or their job category, compared to anyone else.”

He also suggests that while employees are expected to always “listen to their bosses, the bosses too should listen to the employees. “Being humble and always hunting and searching for the best idea possible -- that’s what listening is. And employees can feel whether you’re doing that or not. They want to know, when they talk to you and share an idea, did you consider it when you made a decision? The one thing that everybody appreciates and wants when they’re speaking is to know that what they say matters so much you might actually change your mind. Otherwise, what’s the point of the conversation?” says Bush.