A joint study¹ by the University of Sussex and the London School of Economics recently asked employees: ‘Are you happy at work?’ The answer was no.

UK-based staff, who were asked to record their wellbeing via the smartphone app Mappiness, said they were at their most miserable when they were sick – with work coming a close second.

The data proves what many already know; engagement levels are crashing in the modern Workplace. A culture of Presenteeism – where employees show up to work but have their mind in their ‘happy place’ – is rife.

Employers at a loss because happiness is very subjective, and there’s still some lingering doubt over whether a bouncy employee leads to a better bottom line. They come in and get the job done regardless, don’t they?

Not necessarily. A 2016 Global Challenge report found that presenteeism took 57.5 working days and a combined total of USD $1,500 billion out of the UK, US and Australian economies.²

Happiness and positive emotion are clear steps away from the presenteeism and disengagement that seem rife in many businesses.

Here are three ways to make your organisation a positive place where employees can do their best work:

Reframe conversations – Instead of starting each meeting with the problems at hand, start with what’s working. Capture that first and then use it as a platform to go on and solve what isn’t.

Find connections – Link up the bigger picture to the personal picture. What value do each of your employees add as an individuals? How do they want to be involved in the business’s objectives? Ask, and autonomy and purpose – the foundations of motivation, according to career analyst Daniel Pink – will be granted.

Lead for resilience. As a people leader, one of your responsibilities is to hold the business’s vision out there for your employees. Make it an emotionally tangible concept, and then tap into why they want to be a part of it. Ask for their buy in and get them engaged that way.

Learn more about positive workplaces. Download our whitepaper, Get Engaged.

¹ Bryson A et al. Are You Happy While You Work? The Economic Journal. 2016

² Virgin Pulse Global Challenge. Clocking on and checking out: why your employees are not working at optimal levels and what you can do about it. 2016