UK employees are a happy bunch

New research reveals that British employees are, on the whole, happy at work, with a third feeling inspired to succeed every day and 70% feeling positive more than three days a week. This counters a common misconception that we’re a nation of disgruntled employees pushing paper.

Ahead of the second Employee Motivation Day on 25 February, a study conducted by Argos for Business into the behaviours of workers highlights that team dynamics play the most important role in employee satisfaction, with two-thirds enjoying being part of a team.

The most popular work personality is ‘Captain Questions’. A fifth of workers place themselves in this category – probing and problem solving in a group is the thing they enjoy most about work. These are the most likely candidates to call collective brainstorms to reach a decision and also the most likely to encourage free thinking and offer thanks for all suggestions and input.

The second most popular personality type is, conversely, the ‘Independent Introverts’ at 15%, those who make considered and informed decisions in their head before expressing out loud, followed by the ‘Confident Creatives’ (11%). Just over one in five employees will be a ‘Big Idea Bod’, understanding that it will be others in the group who make their ‘big picture’ thinking feasible.

Despite clearly being a nation of team players however, the research reveals that 56% of workers believe they themselves are their biggest motivators, suggesting a personal ambition to make an impact is driving them. Perhaps this is why only a small group (one in seven employees) are ‘People-Orientated Performers’ – there to motivate others instead of themselves.

For this personality type, a third believed that even the smallest gesture of thanking people for their input goes a long way in motivating them to participate and, case in point, three quarters of workers remember a time they were verbally praised.

A third of workers claim that simply encouraging collaborative working and allowing the different personality types to complement each other was the best way to motivate employees.

In keeping with the collaborative working theme, 36% of employees thought taking the time to listen to other ways of working helped increase levels of motivation. A quarter of employees also claim that being involved in decisions helps to boost positive attitudes in the workplace.

The study comes ahead of Employee Motivation Day 2016, an event created by Argos for Business to inspire passion and appreciation across the country’s workforce.

Employees and employers can get involved by downloading the motivation resource pack from employeemotivationday.co.uk, or by visiting the dedicated Facebook and Twitter pages, using the hashtags #EmployeeMotivationDay, #EMD, #MakeTheTeam and #NatMotivateDay.