The modern workplace is an interesting place. In it, you will find people of different natures, different backgrounds, different beliefs – the list could go on.

Then throw into the mix, the different departments and teams. These are taking these people of different natures, backgrounds and beliefs, and putting them together, in groups, that are in their own way, different from other groups.

That’s a lot of differentiation.

However, this is by no means a bad thing. This is how the world works, particularly in a workplace. But, what it can do is pose issues from an HR perspective – how do you keep everyone happy?

As a full-service digital agency, we have as many different people in here as you can imagine. In the company, we have built what we proudly consider a ‘happy working environment’ for our workforce of over 150 employees.

There is no “secret” to this, it’s more of a reading the lay of the land, and there are many variables that need to be considered and carried out.

Incentives

You won’t get much of an argument against using incentives to keep everyone happy. And you’ll go a long way to find an employee, of any company, who doesn’t enjoy something extra on top of their expected returns. The proverbial cherry on top!

Studies have shown that providing incentives to your workforce indeed makes for a happier and more productive working environment. The study, carried out by Genesis Associates, shows that a massive 85% of worked felt more motivation to work if an incentive was offered. Additionally, 73% described the working environment as ‘good’ or ‘very good’ as a result.

Now, this may seem rather obvious, and to all of you (I hope), it is. However, these studies wouldn’t be being carried out if absolutely everyone was aware. If you’re one of these, or know someone, perhaps you should pass on the aforementioned study.

Listening

Regular contact with your employees, and in turn, your superiors, is also vital. Yes, you can hand out an ‘employee wellness’ or ‘employee happiness’ survey every now and again, and think “That’s it. Job done.” Far from it.

Actually listening to your employees and what they’re saying is paramount to your role as an HR manager.

Again, for the majority, this will be obvious and common practise. But there will be those out there that feel if targets are being met and no complaints being made means everything is fine. This may not be the case due to some employees feeling that they can’t come to you with a problem. It’s your job to make sure that everyone knows that this isn’t the case.

I don’t believe that there is a ‘catch-all’ method of handling your workforce, as each on is different, and as mentioned before, there are vast differences within each one themselves.

One of the key requirements, however, is how you, as an HR manager or HR team, set up and how you interact with your colleagues. You can’t really cater to each individual need, not realistically, so I would suggest that it’s more about finding the proper balance within your company.

We’ve covered a couple of the more standard practices of keeping a workforce happy, but I would be more than interested to see what else people feel is a ‘standard’ HR requirement, or perhaps any ‘out-of-the-box’ methods that they’ve found particularly useful.