On August 30, the monthly TRG talk about employee happiness took place upstairs in one of the TRG meeting rooms. The topic for this month was: “Employee Happiness for Business Growth.”

Yet again, this month’s seminar was led by Andree Mangels – General Director, Malaysia and Vietnam for Adecco.

Mr Mangels introduced this month’s TRG Talk with the interactive game called Kahoot. The topic of these questions was ‘How well do we know the Vietnamese workforce?’ To participate in this game, the members of the audience must use their phone to open the Kahoot web page where they enter a game pin to access this specific game. The participants have ten seconds to answer the question by clicking on one of the four choices given. One of the questions was ‘which job position in Vietnam have the happiest employees?’ with the answer being ‘marketing’.

Vietnam’s happiness in the workplace

70 per cent of Vietnamese people feel generally happy at work – not overly happy but happy, yet 40 per cent of employees are seriously looking for new jobs. The top three jobs with the happiest workers can be found in: 1) Marketing, 2) Human Resource, and 3) IT, whereas the jobs with the least happy people were found in 1) Customer Service, 2) Finance, and 3) Admin.

What is important for Vietnamese employees in the workplace?

Many Vietnamese people find that a good working environment is made from meaningful relationships with their colleagues. As one of the audience members said, “the environment you’re in, your colleagues and team members, for Vietnamese people they become their family and that is usually what makes them happy at work”.

Vietnamese employees ranked open-mindedness, good training programmes and mentors, meaningful tasks, friendly colleagues and Constructive feedback as the most motivating factors for employees in the workplace. Especially the younger generation entering the workforce appreciate being treated as individuals in the workplace.

Why do happy employees lead to Business Growth?

At the TRG Talk, Mr Mangels gave the cold hard facts on how happy employees are linked to business growth. It is proved that happy employees have 31 per cent higher productivity, 37 per cent higher sales, they perform 20 times better, and much more. Long-term employees are important assets to the company because of the amount of knowledge they have about the company, which can be an advantage for developing leaders or for mentoring and guiding new employees.

How do you keep your employees happy?

Develop Relationships that Treat Employee as Individuals

It is important that employees are treated as individuals. In the recent years, there has been a shift in work culture meaning that employees, especially the new generation, want to be treated as individuals – human beings.

Empower Workers to Develop Networks within the Company

The happiest employees are most productive. It is important to get teams to get together across levels and departments to create a great working environment in the company. Teams working closer together will create better results.

Read more: 4 steps to building a great company culture from ground zero

Provide Ongoing Education & Clear paths to Advancement

Training and development is very important to Vietnamese employees. Having a development plan in place is therefore very important so that employees can learn and grow.

Offer the Right Benefits

It is important to know your employees’ values and wishes, and know what motivates your employees. Many employees with families might appreciate benefits that can give their children an education or healthcare whereas other employees with focus on their career might appreciate benefits that can help them develop within their field. “Customising” your benefits to fit your employees’ needs can have a big impact on their level of happiness.

Read more: What should your employee's development plan contain?

Close Communication Gaps

Great communication and transparency in the workplace should always be a priority. Informing your employees about what is going on in the company will create trust between management and employees which will lead to better relationships between the levels in the company.

Consult with HR Experts

They know what is going on! It is important to listen to your employees. Doing internal surveys on happiness or how to improve the company can be great guidance to make your company a better place for your employees.

Mr Mangels demonstrated this by making the audience write down the things they like about their company and the things they want to improve on a piece of paper and separating them into themes. Just with this simple exercise made with people from different companies, it was evident which areas seem to work and which need to be improved. Imagine the impact it can have on one company if they were to ask their employees to do the same.

About TRG International 

TRG International is an IT, Talent and F&B company. We help people and businesses to shine. We help people be the best they can possibly be by selecting the right people for the right job and developing them to their full potential. We help companies by providing an IT solution that works quietly and brilliantly in the background, freeing them up to focus on their core and not having to worry about their IT systems. We do this for more than 1,000 clients in 80 countries.

About TRG Talk – Talent

Is your organisation caught in various problems revolve around talent management? Are you actively looking for ways to efficiently as well as effectively recruit and retain talented staff? TRG Talk - Talent series is a platform where all leaders can openly share their experience in managing talents, how to create and maintain a healthy working environment where everyone of any background, belief, and identity can work harmoniously.

TRG Talk - Talent is held every fourth Wednesday of the month.

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