Are Managers Responsible for Their Employees’ Happiness?
Are you responsible for your employees happiness?
No, I do not believe other’s happiness is your or anyone else’s responsibility. Too often I see that mindset hinders well intentioned people from cultivating actual happy employees. Believe you me, I want people to be happy at work that’s the whole dang crux of Career Blindspot! I know managers can and do influence (for better and worse) happiness, but when we are not careful with the expectations we put on ourselves, others’ tension and resentment will grow. So what do I know in my bones managers are responsible for:
Training
Resources
Communication
Sure, there’s a whole plethora of other things you can add but when there are unhappy employees I guarantee one, if not all three, are lacking or worse: non-existent. So, even if you had a happiness guru of a manager they are still RESPONSIBLE for those three things - not the employee!
Are managers responsible for setting employees up for success?
I don’t know who’d argue against that. Otherwise employees make new rules, policy that likely solves one problem but ignores other parts of the organization - impacting the happiness of peers and customers. Tell me how happy you are when your people aren’t on the same page and the customers aren’t happy, especially the top tier customers.
And here’s the hard part, setting up impactful training, quality resources, and effective communication takes work and yet, not every person can meet expectations. Some managers are too quick to let go, but some are too slow to hold accountable and we know what that does for team dynamics. I could see an argument, made that a good manager, letting go of an under performer after genuinely trying to help them succeed, is a form of taking responsibility for their employee’s happiness. Perhaps that is the better way to word it.
But if you’re not setting up employees to be successful in their roles, holding them accountable and only focused on their “ happiness” I guarantee YOU are not a very happy person. And I really want you to know what YOUR HAPPINESS looks like and align your actions towards that.
- Juan
