Employees - How to keep them happy

Employees who are satisfied in their jobs tend to be more motivated and loyal which can lead to higher productivity which can only be good news all round. So what can an employer do to address this and keep hold of their valued employees?

Here are 5 suggestions to improve morale without the need to break the bank: 

Be a Better Employer 

For employees to feel engaged with the company, and not treat it just like a job, they need to feel like their opinion is valued. Quite often those doing the actual job can have an idea of how the role could be improved. Employers should not feel threatened by feeling they don’t know as much as the employees about how things work as things change over time. Managers who used to do the role previously might find it no longer needs to be done the same way if the technology offers a more efficient option. Get involved and you could find you create a better sense of working together as a whole for the company.   

What’s the big secret…? 

Something employers can regularly get wrong is lack of communication or the wrong type of communication. There can be an ‘if they don’t know about it they won’t create about it’ type approach leaving employees feeling demotivated and untrusting. Quite often these things have a way of coming out and rumours are spread making it far worse than the actual issue or news itself that has been withheld. Be honest and upfront with employees, they may not always like what they hear but they will at least respect the fact they have been made aware of what is going on. If you don’t treat them like adults they may not behave like them. Don’t always wait for a team meeting or staff briefing, have shorter regular catch up’s making the communication process far more effective. 

A little bit of encouragement goes a long way 

Once when being interviewed for a work external accreditation an employee in a large company was asked the question ‘How do you know you have done a good job?’ and answered with: ‘If I haven’t been called in for a telling off I know I must be doing ok’. So in this instance, the employee's benchmark for knowing if they were doing their job well was that they hadn’t been reprimanded for doing something wrong. Giving praise to people and offering encouragement can make all the difference to people and make them go above and beyond the call of duty for you.
Ask yourself (apart from an appraisal situation), 'when was the last time you told someone that they had done something really well?' If it takes you more than a few moments to think of an occasion (and the employee you're thinking of is a good worker), then perhaps it's time to start giving some positivity out! 

Create a more productive environment 

Without always having to cost a company lots of money can things be more productively done?:

• What about a change around in the office furniture to create a fresh start to a project and making it easier for people to speak to each rather than always emailing?
• Is it possible to offer flexible working patterns to help people travel outside of rush hour times or suit their family life which in turn can make them feel happier when they do start work?
• Has training for certain team members been put off time and time again?
• Despite it being in-house training and not a big external expense, has it been put on the back burner for something more pressing? Lack of training can make your team far less productive which could cost you more money in the long run.  

Rewards 

It isn’t always about employees receiving a financial bonus, other incentives can be offered fairly inexpensively:

• A couple of hours off on a Monday or a Friday as an incentive for achieving a target can be seen as an appreciation of effort put in.
• Summer working hours or the option for flexible working hours (such as 8am-4pm 10am-6pm).
• Linking in with a gym or restaurants to offer discounts to staff members is also seen as an added incentive. This will help create loyalty to the company as they will benefit from these savings.
• Offering extra day’s annual leave for certain milestones of service.
• Even ordering in pizza for the team after a successful project has been completed can make your staff feel you appreciate what they do. 

Source: Article written by Wenta