Salary isn’t necessarily the most important factor for the average job seeker. Today, many young professionals are evaluating less quantifiable metrics in the recruitment process as well, like having full-time stability with freelance flexibility and more vacation time in exchange for increased productivity.
Hey, job seeker: If you really want to find a job you’ll love, you should work on finding companies where the employees are genuinely happy. If you find a company where employees are happy from the second they show up in the morning to the moment they lay their head down at night, you’ll likely be happy there as well.
But how do you find one of those companies? There aren’t tons of them and, if you want to pick them out of the crowd, you’ll need to keep an eye out for these signs of happy teams:
Exceptional Customer Service
Really good customer service is an indicator that its employees really believe in the company or, at least, are compensated well with salary and benefits.
If you encounter a company with exceptional customer service, chances are the employees providing that service are highly satisfied behind the scenes. But how do you identify exceptional customer service?
- The team members listen to their customers
- They take action to right wrongs
- They’re helpful for the sake of it, not for the sake of compensation
- The team is trained for their roles and perfectly able to fulfill their duties
- They go one extra step to make sure you’re comfortable and satisfied
Employees Who Are Also Friends
Do employees genuinely like each other, or do they merely put up with each other until they can go home? While coworkers don’t need to be best friends to be happy at work, it certainly helps when there’s healthy camaraderie. It’s much more likely that employees are happy in their positions if they enjoy hanging out with coworkers outside of work. This leads to stronger relationships and a greater sense of belonging.
Loose Workday Schedules
We have all worked jobs where we’ve rolled in at 9 a.m. and sprinted out of at 5 p.m. In these situations, employees are rarely happy, they’re just working to get a paycheque and pay rent.
You can spot a happy company if you see employees showing up a bit early and leaving a few minutes late simply because they care about the company and want to do a good job, and do right by their friends at work.
+1 Smiling Faces
If you can’t get inside a company to observe the employees and their level of happiness during your interview process, simply look no further than the faces of the employees you meet. When you walk through the hallway, do people look frustrated and scared, or bored, or do they smile and acknowledge you? The presence of smiling faces is a good sign that employees are satisfied in their roles. If everyone is giving you side-eye, they may be warning you to stay away.
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Job seekers: you can study salary and compensation figures all you want, but if you want to find an employer that will make you happy, pay attention to the people already on the payroll. If they’re genuinely happy, chances are you will be, too. Keep this in mind as you conduct your job search. Don’t stop until you find the perfect fit!
Read this next:
Why You Should Ask Your Boss For More Vacation Time Today
Bobby Umar Explains Why Your Career Should Reflect Your Spirit
The New Dream Job For Millennials Is Full-Time With Freelance Flexibility