June 4th, 2021

By Saliza Sulaiman, Erlane K Ghani and Aida Maria Ismail

Introduction

The feeling of happiness comes over us when we know life is good. Whether we realised it or not, being happy plays a tangible effect on everything that we do, including in our workplace (Lombardi, 2016). Hsu and Wang (2008, p.353) noted that ‘people are the most important asset of any organisation is a highly over-used but under-believed statement’. Employees not being happy in the workplace have been shown to bring negative impact as it reduces their ability to think creatively and critically. Studies have also shown that happiness in the workplace does have a multiplying effect in which seeing other employees happy can affect their team members’ mood to work creatively and critically (Hsu & Wang, 2008; Benuyenah & Pandya, 2020; Fu, Ji & Jing, 2020). Often, employees who are not happy are people who are difficult to work with as their negative outlooks can affect many parts of the tasks in the workplace. These employees are also more likely to resign as they are no longer interested to engage in a solid working relationship. Therefore, employers need to ensure that their employees are happy. However, how do we measure employee happiness?

Employee Satisfaction Index

One of the instruments available in measuring employee happiness is the Employee Satisfaction Index (ESI). ESI assists the employers in determining how happy their employees are and if not, to identify what their employees want. ESI can be used to address three main questions:

How happy are you with your current workplace?

1. How well does your current workplace meet your expectations?
2. How close is your current workplace to the ideal one?

The employees are requested to respond to a series of questions related to the three main questions using a 10-point scale and their response would subsequently be calculated based on the following formula:

 ESI= [(question mean value ÷ 3) - 1] x100

The results of the ESI may vary from 0-100 where a higher index indicates that the employees are happier.

The Telco Company

This study utilised a telco company that has an enviable position in the telecommunication industry as a provider of physical fibre optic cable transmission service primarily to the telecommunication network operators. This homegrown company that was established as a joint venture company has marked its 25-year journey in the industry in 2020. Over the 25 years, the company has made a remarkable outstanding performance in the telecommunication industry. Today, the company is the largest network provider in one of the states in Malaysia. It is the most profitable business entity in the fibre optic transmission business within the electrical contractors’ industry. This performance is evidenced by the total dividend paid since its inception amounting to RM128.9 million, and the return on investment is 18.37 times the paid-up capital.

Application of ESI in Telco Company

The ESI questionnaire in this study was developed based on the three research questions with some modifications to suit the context of this study. There are three sections. Section A requested the respondents to respond to 12 questions related to how happy are the employees with their workplace, there were 12 questions. Section B consists of 11 questions that are related to how well does your current workplace meets your expectations. The last section, Section C requested the respondents to respond to 7 questions related to how close is your current workplace to the ideal one. were posted. All three sections used a 10-point scale.

The questionnaires were distributed to the employees using hard-copy via the human resource manager. The responses from all the 71 employees of the telco company were gathered. The results shown in Table 1 indicate the mean score for each of the ESI’s research questions. Overall, the result shows that the employees on average, are happy working with the company with a mean score of 4.23. Specifically, the employees provided the highest mean score of 4.58 in relation to their happiness working with their current workplace, followed by a mean score of 4.19 in relation to their expectations on their workplace and a mean score of 3.94 on how close was their current workplace to their ideal one.

Table 1: Mean score for ESI

Using the overall mean score shown in this study, the ESI’s formula was used to determine the level of happiness of the employees in the telco company. Therefore, the ESI in the telco company is:

ESI= [(25.42 ÷ 3) - 1] x100 = 74.7%

The result shows that the happiness index for the employees in the telco company is 74.7%, which is above the average score of ESI. This finding indicates that the employees, in general, are happy working with the telco company. Such finding provides some evidence that employees’ happiness in the workplace can become a contributing factor to the success of the telco company.

This study shows that the telco company realised the importance of their employees’ happiness to its performance success. Further investigation shows that apart from providing support for career advancements to the employees, the company also ensures that they maintain a clean and professional work environment for employees to conduct business on a day-to-day basis. Various incentives are given to the employees such as bonuses and other monetary benefits. In addition, the company has also conducted activities such as appreciation gatherings, holiday gatherings, and picnic trips with the employees and encourages them to bring their spouses and children to gatherings as a sign that the company values their employees' family connections. On special occasions such as during the festive seasons, the company ensures that the employees are treated with gifts and lunch treats. In addition, they also provide opportunities such as holiday trips throughout the year for employees to relax and bond with co-workers outside the office environment.

Conclusion

This study reports the level of happiness among the employees in the telco company. This study shows generally, the employees are happy working with the company. This study suggests the high level of happiness index among the employees could be one of the contributing elements to the success of the company over the 25-year period. Therefore, happiness is a powerful motivator for the employees to perform at their best for the ultimate benefits to the company.