Feeling of happiness is also productivity

Edited and translated People's Daily Online

Nowadays, many famous enterprises in China begin to value the feeling of happiness of their employees. Situ Weizhong, general manager of Jabil Circuit Guangzhou Branch, said that the productivity cannot be "forced" to come out but comes from the heart of employees. Only when the employees are happy, the productivity can be improved. According to Ren Hongbin, chief executive of China National Machinery Industry Corporation, the feeling of happiness is also a kind of productivity and a valuable soft power to all enterprises. 

A survey from the Southern Metropolis Daily shows that 80 percent of the employees are not satisfied with their work and life and only 20 percent of the people admit they can feel happiness. A young peasant worker said, "We work 12 hours a day and 28 days a month but only get about 2,000 yuan wages a month. We live in places without bathroom and air conditioning. We have dreams and love but our dreams are so humble and our love is so far away. Could it be said that we are happy?"

In the past, many enterprises only regarded their employees as labor force and managers only cared about whether the employees can work well but ignored their feelings, let alone their future. This resulted in two consequences. Firstly, the employees flowed too fast, directly impacting the quantity and quality of the products. The attrition rate in some companies reached as high as 20 percent to 30 percent every year. Many employees left when they just got familiar with the operation technique and the companies had to recruit replacement and start training from the very beginning. Secondly, novices now are hard to recruit because the demographic dividend is receding. Less money, heavy work and bad environment cannot attract the eyes of employees. 

Intelligent entrepreneurs soon understood that they must make their employees happy if they want to get their enterprises prosperous. Therefore, they began to raise wages, improve welfare, build lodging houses and reduce pressure for their employees. They let the employees feel satisfied and happy, giving them future and hoping them break a new ground willingly and gladly together with the companies. 

An important achievement brought by modernization is the continuous improvement in the living conditions and the quality of life. Merely, different social stratums and groups have different feelings due to different environment and interests. Some people feel happy but others do not. The so-called happiness and unhappiness comes from comparison, either comparing with themselves or with others. However, various unfair distributions are the main source of unhappiness.

Although the feeling of happiness belongs to psychosocial system, it directly impacts the production capability of people. Regarding employees as "cost," the enterprises will always want to compress it. If regarding employees as "capital," the enterprises will consider investing in it. Competition among enterprises really is the competition for teamwork and talents, rather than technology and products. Without a cooperative team, how can it create greater economic benefits? By putting employees' difficulties and feeling of happiness prior to its own, the company can really be on its way to success.