Your employees are your most important asset. How would you or your business function without them? When you treat your employees well, they’re more likely to feel more invested, thereby being more productive, doing a better job and staying with your company long-term.
Here are a few ways to increase employees happiness:
Make Expectations Clear From Day One
From day one, your employees should know what is expected from them on their job. The expectations should be very transparent. They should also be easily attainable for the employees if they’re competent at their job. Proper onboarding is key to sharing your expectations. It’s also an excellent time to discuss the company and individual goals with the new hires.
Acknowledge Your Employees
Everyone feels good being recognized for their achievements. Small accomplishments often go unnoticed, yet employees are frequently called out if they forget to do something or do it wrong. Create ways for your employees to get daily recognition for their hard work. Creating a little healthy competition can boost employee morale and productivity. Find ways to recognize top performers from each department and give some kind of reward. You could find ways to offer employees incentives like free gym memberships, great cruise deals and other types of bonuses. Even a small prize like a free lunch or a store gift card will make a challenge fun.
Allow Some Flexibility
Navigating rush hour traffic can be the most stressful part of the day. If your employees don’t have to be physically at the office, consider letting them work from home at least a couple days of the week. Working from home can create more flexibility and save time for your employees. It can save money for everyone, not to mention the positive environmental impact of not using as much fuel to commute during the week.
Increase Employee Engagement
Employee involvement is essential so that everyone feels like they’re contributing to something bigger than themselves and a necessary part of the team. Be sure you keep all employees involved in setting goals and sharing business ideas that can help contribute to the business’s growth. If the employees feel they’re actually part of the company, they’ll be more invested and committed to working harder. You could even give them a role in decorating the workplace and changing it around for the holidays and different seasons.
Promote a Positive Environment
There’s a good chance that any of your full-time employees feel that their workplace is their second home. Maybe there’s no way to get them thrilled about coming to work every day, but creating and maintaining a positive work environment goes a long way in benefitting employee satisfaction. In a positive work environment, teams work well together and encourage and motivate one another. The employees are comfortable giving not only positive feedback but constructive criticism. When people can go to work and enjoy being around their colleagues without unnecessary drama and negativity, work will be much more pleasant for everyone involved.
Offer Generous Benefits
Offering competitive benefits is a must if you want to keep employees on board long-term. If they’re not getting the same or better benefits as friends in the business who work for other companies, they’re likely to go to work for another company, as well. Health insurance and paid holidays are two of the most important benefits you should have for your employees. Flextime is also invaluable to some, especially employees with kids. For those that commute or travel a lot, company fuel benefits can be appreciated.
Ask Your Employees
All of your employees are probably not completely satisfied with their job. Random surveys can really put things into perspective so that you can understand where your employees stand without fear of punishment for speaking up. Make them anonymous surveys, online or through text. Handle any problems that arise as soon as possible. This will show that you actually care about their opinions and feelings.
Having happy employees benefits not only the employees themselves, but the company as a whole. Even if your company can’t afford pricey incentives like some of the more prominent companies, showing your employees that they’re essential and that you care about them on a personal level will help increase and maintain employee satisfaction.
