Happy employees are more creative, more energetic, more motivated, and more optimistic. They fix problems instead of complaining about them, they learn faster, get sick less often and make better decisions. Happy employees not only work harder but have a greater sense of company ownership.

Happiness at work is the ultimate productivity booster.

Are your employees happy?

And what are you doing about it?

Here are the 5 top tips to creating a happy team

1- Communicate, communicate, communicate.

I can't stress this point enough. Transparency and open communication empowers those working with you to execute with confidence and direction.

If you want your goals to be their goals too, then keeping them up to date on the company's long term vision, current status and progress is key. It is what gives your team a purpose and a drive.

2- Listen to them.

Communication is a two-way dialogue, not a monologue!

"Smart people hire people smarter than them." Listen to your employees, and their ideas!

"It's not personal. It's business" Bad Advice: it is always personal

Listen to their feedback and concerns. Unless you work in vacuum with only robots, business is always personal. Decisions you make at work impact your team and how they feel about you and the company. It affects their productivity, loyalty and happiness in a way that simply can't be ignored.

3- Productive makes happy too. It's a virtuous cycle.

Boredom at work is one of the top reasons people leave their jobs. Without much to do, think of the many hours they have to search for another job!

Keeping your employees busy actually makes them happier. Keeping their work interesting and challenging gives them that extra sense of fulfillment.

4- Encourage mistakes.

Sounds counter intuitive, but give it some thought. Making mistakes and failing is a big part of learning. Those who play it safe always miss out on opportunities. If innovation and being ahead of the curve is important for your company, then a workplace focused on learning, failing and discovering will take you a long way.

5- Remove obstacles.

A good leader knows that part of their job is to remove the obstacles that hinder their employees' work. A good place to start is by not introducing silly rules in their way. Unless it's for safety reasons, rules are not going to solve any problems. Blocking Facebook and other internet sites or asking your employees to wear a buttoned up shirt is not going to make them more productive. I promise.