The biggest obstacle to employee engagement and successful business may be work/life balance, according to the Happiness Index 2016. The year-long study looked at many factors that go into happiness and employee engagement.

The 5 factors they found to be most influential were:

1. Roles and responsibilities

2. Management

3. Team’s work/colleagues

4. Workplace/environment

5. Work/life balance

While big steps have been taken recently to improve the office environment and to improve employee happiness, there's a lot of things that can be improved upon.

Active Listening
It's rare to have an employee open up to a boss, but they do, you need to listen. These moments are so valuable because it gives both parties a chance to hear the true experiences of the other. Whether it's a monthly review or an exit interview, creating the opportunity for employees to talk earnestly about their experiences with your company

Employee Feedback
Doing a monthly feedback meeting with each of your employees is one of the best things you can do to improve your business and recruit more skilled staff.

These meetings don't have to be extremely formal, but they do have to be consistent. Make it a part of your business schedule. It's also best to not do these meetings in a formal setting. Try to just catch up with employee on a lunch break or during a break at work. This will make them feel comfortable and provide you with the most honest answers.

Establish Manageable Workloads
Don't overrun your employees with work. It's your job as a boss to manage tasks, meaning that you need to decipher the valuable work from the useless. Employees will become very thankful if you just make them feel like you're looking out for them.

Good leaders are ones who can quickly and easily manage people and their unique traits. Learn about your employees, it'll help in the long run.