Marc Chan, RingCentral VP, General Manager of China, is featured in a recent Fortune article focusing on the ways RingCentral China boosts employee happiness and productivity.
Happiness is a feeling. Performance is a metric. For RingCentral China, those things are tied more closely together than you might think.
In what could be called The Least Surprising Finding In The History of Findings, studies have shown that “paid work” ranks near the bottom of any list of things that make people happy. Only slightly more surprising is a 2019 Oxford University study that shows workers are actually 13% more productive when happy.
Following a six-month study of British Telecom call centers, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve of Oxford’s Saïd Business School reported, ‘“We found that when workers are happier, they work faster — making more calls per hour worked and, importantly, converting more calls to sales.”
Seems simple enough, but in China, where workplaces are commonly described with phrases like “996” (“Work from 9am-9PM, six days a week,”) and “Mattress Culture,” (“bring one to work, you’re going to need it,”) focusing a company’s culture around employee happiness is a big leap. That’s not stopping RingCentral China, where management has been reshaping the way employers and employees see each other.
From their robust COVID-19 response to policies that encourage health and welfare outside the office, RingCentral China is getting noticed—earning a second consecutive HR Asia “Best Companies To Work for in Asia” -award in 2020, as well as a “Top Healthiest Workplace” -award from Mercer China.
In a recent Fortune profile, Marc Chan, VP, General Manager of China, said the company’s people-first culture is translating to a competitive advantage – even in the midst of a pandemic.
“We used to say we were in the business of changing the way companies will communicate, collaborate and connect in the future, but in 2020, our job became to help the world make that leap now. Our platform has the ability to change the way companies communicate, collaborate and connect. By putting it to work for ourselves, we were able to keep our own people safer, happier and healthier, and hit all our major performance benchmarks ahead of schedule.”
Giving people the power to collaborate freely, when, where- and however they want is unlocking innovative thinking that Marc Chan believes will continue to pay dividends, even after the pandemic ends.
“ We put the emphasis on helping our employees be more purpose-driven. When people understand a shared mission, how their work makes a positive impact on the world, and how their efforts fit into it, they are happier and more fulfilled – and that’s how we’re able to see their talents drive our collective success. Our people are doing amazing things, which helps us attract even more great people. It’s a virtuous cycle that I think defines success. The truly successful enterprise makes achievements both systematically and sustainably. To us, success is a journey, not a single victory”
By encouraging a healthy work-life balance, RingCentral empowers people to become successful at work and in life. When a workforce feels taken care of and listened to, results follow. And work starts to feel like a place where anything is possible. Even happiness. #strongertogether
Originally published Feb 16, 2021, updated Feb 24, 2021
