For companies looking for ways to boost their financial health, studies suggest that focusing on employee happiness, often referred to as employee engagement, is essential. Although the idea of employee “happiness” may be seen in the corporate world as fluffy or soft, you cannot argue the connection studies have found between employee engagement and a company’s profit margin.  Here are 8 tips to get you started:

1. Paint a vision of the future that excites employees and connects to what’s important to them.

2. Tell employees how they are making a difference and adding value for your customers, community, culture, company and team.

3. Each person is motivated differently. Take the time to understand what inspires them and how they are driven.   

4. Help employees create goals towards their career development plans. Then meet with them regularly to discuss their progress and help eliminate any hurdles they are experiencing.

5. Appreciate and recognize employees in big and small ways throughout the year that aligns to what’s important to them.

6. Practice flexibility in your approach and communication style to best meet the needs of their employee.

7. Provide opportunities for employees to learn and challenge themselves in a way that is exciting to them (ex. participate in a cross functional team, pioneer a new project, lead a meeting, attend specialized training, be a mentor/coach)

8. Engage in activities that focus on building team trust and unity such as communicating candidly about problems. Be flexible in your communication style to meet the needs of the employee.

Employee engagement is not something that companies can afford to ignore, since so many studies back up the idea that engaged employees result in profits. Companies today need to learn the drivers of employee engagement and happiness in order to enjoy increased profit margins. There is nothing soft about cold, hard cash.