Being a game changer with happy workers: The Ziraat Bank example

Abstract

Many companies have been implementing strategies in recent years to increase employee happiness, which has become one of their primary corporate objectives. Research has explored which initiatives are effective in promoting employee happiness, the extent to which happiness affects employee performance, and the importance of numerical evidence in this regard. Studies have found a positive correlation between employee happiness and organizational performance, making employee happiness rate a crucial indicator for measuring the health and sustainability of an organization.The aim of this research was to examine the connection between performance scores and happiness, drawing on Fisher's “happy-super worker” hypothesis proposed in 1980. Data analysis was conducted on seven quarters (21 months) of information from 4,277 employees, and the results confirmed that happiness and performance are positively correlated. The study revealed that happiness had a beneficial impact on performance at both low- and high-performance score levels, albeit with a gradual effect. In contrast, happiness had a more rapid impact on success at medium-performance levels. However, a positive association was found between happiness and success across all performance scores, including low, medium, and high performance.The study revealed a curvilinear relationship between happiness and performance. Furthermore, panel data modeling showed that an increase of 1 unit in individual happiness at any given time led to an average increase of 3.41 units in their performance score.