Organizations with strong reputations often share a common trait: employees who feel heard, respected and motivated.
A company’s reputation is more than a glossy marketing campaign or polished mission statement — it starts with the people inside. When engagement is high, that energy spills outward, fueling better customer service, stronger brand loyalty and even helping companies avoid PR nightmares.
To learn what it really takes to create that kind of employee experience, we spoke with Jennifer McClure, a former HR executive and executive recruiter, who now works as a speaker focusing on the future of work, innovative people strategies and high-impact leadership.
What is happiness at work?
Happiness at work is rarely about doing flips in the hallway or constantly wearing a big smile, McClure explains. Instead, for many happy employees, it’s often about enjoying the work you do, even when things feel tough.
You might think to yourself: “I still enjoy my work and want to push through the challenges rather than, wow, this is a problem, and now I’m unhappy and I can’t function,” she says.
How can companies foster happiness at work?
How a company treats its people can make all the difference in whether employees feel motivated, valued and happy with their work environment. Here are four ways that companies can foster employee satisfaction.
1. Create meaning
One of the most powerful ways to boost employee engagement and, in turn, company reputation is by helping employees see the impact of their work.
“The single most important thing you can do as a leader is to create meaning at work,” McClure says. “And to me, that plays into happiness — if people feel valued.”
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Employees might recognize that feeling when they feel valued when they show up. The work they do matters, and it impacts other people, she explains.
It was Herb Kelleher, the founder and chairman emeritus of Southwest, who said, “You put your employees first, and if you take care of them, then they will take good care of you, and then your customers will come back, and your shareholders will like that, so it’s really a unity.”
Leaders can create that sense of meaning by clearly connecting employees’ daily tasks to the bigger purpose of the organization and showing how each contribution makes a difference.
2. Live your core values
A company’s core values aren’t just words on a website; they should guide behavior, shape workplace culture and be lived every day.
For example, if your company says it values delivering exceptional service to customers, that value should be modeled by leadership. When employees see leaders living these values, it reinforces their importance and strengthens engagement, employee morale and the company’s reputation.
“When you lean on your core values or purpose, it does mean a lot to people,” McClure explains. They feel that they believe in the mission or they chose to join a company because they believe in the work.
That alignment doesn’t just drive engagement; it also impacts how employees talk about the company, both publicly and privately.
“If your culture is really ingrained and it’s working, and people match the values or the culture that you have, then they’ll repeat those types of things, because that’s their experience when other people ask them about the company. Over time, that’s going to impact their ability to attract and recruit and retain talent,” McClure says.
3. Listen to feedback
When building a happier culture at work, it’s important to listen to feedback that is both positive and negative. People take to sites like Glassdoor and TikTok to review the companies they’ve worked at.
“People who write reviews on those sites aren’t just unhappy employees,” McClure observes.
If negative reviews are consistent, “where people are talking about long work hours, no work-life balance or being treated poorly — you have to pay attention, because that’s how people are feeling in your company,” she says.
That doesn’t mean every negative comment is an automatic red flag. McClure noted that it’s important to weigh feedback in context, since not every review will reflect the broader employee experience.
“If you go to Glassdoor and you see hundreds of reviews from employees and former employees or people who’ve interviewed with the company and they share a positive experience, and then you read 10 that share a negative experience, you understand that, yeah, not everybody is going to be perfect,” McClure notes.
Even so, if someone’s experience is negative enough that they feel compelled to post about it online, that’s a signal leadership should take seriously.
4. Use one-on-one meetings to check in
Another opportunity to strengthen culture and happiness at work is through one-on-one meetings. These check-ins are a chance for managers to see how employees are really doing — not just with their work, but with their overall experience.
McClure suggests asking employees: “Is there anything that we haven’t talked about or that I haven’t asked you about that’s either bothering you or that we need to look into, or that should be addressed?”
She explained that managers should actively seek out the challenges employees are facing.
“It’s great to have a one-on-one where they come in and say, everything’s great, I’ve met all my goals, and you’re a wonderful manager. But we should be asking them what’s not working,” she explains.
McClure also recommends a question that opens the door for constructive feedback. As a manager, you could say to your employee, “If I gave you a magic wand and you could change anything about your work, about my leadership, about our company, what would you change?”
By asking thoughtful, open-ended questions in one-on-ones, managers can move beyond surface-level check-ins and uncover what their employees truly need to thrive.
At the end of the day, the happiest workplaces are built on core values, meaningful work and seeking feedback — foundations that drive employee satisfaction and company success.
What is USA TODAY Top Workplaces 2025?
Do you work for a great company? Each year, USA TODAY Top Workplaces, a collaboration between Energage and USA TODAY, ranks organizations across the United States that excel at creating a positive work environment for their employees. Employee feedback determines the winners.
In 2025, over 1,500 companies earned recognition as top workplaces. Check out our overall U.S. rankings. You can also gain insights into more workplace trends and advice by checking out the links below.