One of the main aspects of profitability which lies in the heart of many firms’ internal maxims is employee productivity. Human Resources and Organizational Cultures within companies have a strong effect on the success of the firm and reflect highly on their profitability. Moreover, it is significantly cheaper for firms to retain their employees rather than hire new ones, so the companies that are effective at keeping their employees not only save a lot of internal costs in the long run, but also prove to be more productive. One may wonder why productivity is linked with employee retention. Well, this is directly related to Human Resources and Organizational Cultures. According to the article “Happiness at Work: Why Money Isn’t the Only Thing That Matters” on CNN’s Thinking Business, companies tend to offer their employees higher salaries or bonuses in order to persuade them to be more productive. However, according to Dr. Matthew Lieberman: “This is not a recipe for long term success” (CNN 2013). This illustrates that lying at the root of employee productivity may just be the simple concept of employee happiness and appreciation. Additionally, Lieberman goes on to state that “fair treatment, praise from others, and even the opportunity to help someone in need are all socially rewarding and activate the brain’s most primitive pleasure centers” (CNN 2013). The simple concept is: keep your employees happy, and they will be more productive than if you offer them monetary values. These concepts or ideas are directly linked to sustainable business practices and will ensure greater returns in the long run than the outdated methods of offering incentive’s (money). In Commerce 101, we learned about the methods used by the Human Resources departments of firms and how effective they can be in improving the firm’s productivity and decreasing costs/increasing profits. Evidently, employee happiness is a similar concept which lies under the same principles, and should be considered by managers more frequently.

Works Cited:

Lieberman, Dr. Matthew. “Happiness at Work: Why Money Isn’t the Only Thing That Matters.” CNN. Cable News Network, 31 Oct. 2013. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. <http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/31/business/happiness-at-work-why-money/index.html>.

Article URL:

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/31/business/happiness-at-work-why-money/index.html