13 October 2008 | Steve Bagshaw

If you want to keep your team productive, cut sick leave and reduce staff turnover, make sure they are happy. That is the conclusion of the "Happiness, performance and profit" session run by consultancy iOpener.

"Happy staff will do more for you, will take 200 per cent less sick leave and would, for instance, save a company of 500 people

£1.8 million over three years," according to Jessica Pryce-Jones, CEO. "That is equivalent to 32 full-time posts."

The session examined four areas: why happiness matters, what happiness is, what it means to you and how to implement it. According to Pryce-Jones and Julia Lindsay, chief operating officer, there are five areas that employees have identified in their pursuit of workplace contentment:

• Being good at their job • Doing something worthwhile • Having control over what they do • Having a boss they respect • The ability to progress their career

The focus of the session was how to make and keep staff happy rather than how to improve your own satisfaction level. But of course it is tricky to extract one from the other.

This was a very different and highly refreshing approach to team management. It was also a very comprehensive survey.

For more information see www.iopener.co.uk/happinessatwork.

SMoct2008