For any business, employees can be a valuable asset. How they’re treated and valued can have a significant impact on the company’s bottom line. While big companies have the resources to invest in employee engagement and retain the best hires, small business owners can also take plenty of steps to keep their employees happy.
The article “Joy of Work? Jobs, Happiness and You” by Peter Warr and Guy Clapperton, cites research that demonstrated a connection between being better at a job role and being happier in a job role. Also, organizations that score higher than average on employee happiness have greater customer satisfaction and financial performance.
In order to reap such benefits, you should take steps to improve staff happiness. Mentioned below are just some of the measures you can take to achieve this goal.
Support ideas and acknowledge good performance
Employees are often hungry to push the company forward. You can place value in their abilities by including their ideas on key business decisions and showing them how their input is being considered in defining the future of the company. Not every suggestion needs to be implemented, but it is important to listen to their ideas. If you don’t like a suggestion, don’t condemn it publicly, as it could kill a creative working environment.
It is also a good idea to acknowledge and respect when they show good performance. This can be done through conference calls with the team if your business has a remote working environment. Meetings could be combined with monthly retreats to acknowledge employee performance while taking some time off. Retreats could also be a great way to connect with employees on a more personal level. Lastly, gestures such as sending a birthday card can improve their mood.
Pay their wages on time and be consistent
Clunky processes and date systems could be detrimental to your wage payment cycles. Not only do late payments make staff members unhappy, they could also lead to an investigation by an employment agency if a complaint is filed. The outcome if that happens can be the loss of your business license or a lawsuit. While you may not be able to offer substantial bonuses, you can find ways to improve your wage-pay timeframe and pursue consistency in payments.
ADP Business payment solutions and wage automation systems can help small business owners simplify payment processing so that they can expedite every step of the process to save money, resources, and time. Advanced wage payment modules can ensure timely payments while companies reduce operating expenses, along with protection against fraud. Paperless payroll processing can give your firm the flexibility to pay salaries in the way you desire.
Offer time and workstation flexibility
Employees have certain psychological needs that need to be catered to. For instance, they may prefer to work an extra hour each day and take Friday off. Offering flex-time can help bring down the amount of sick days and PTO (personal time off) used by staff members. And though work/life balance is promoted by many businesses, employees rarely get a chance to practice it. Flex-time can increase the quality of both their professional and personal lives.
Another strategy is to offer them flexible workstations. For example, ergonomic workstations can be deployed in a separate office setting, where employees suffering from physical stress or disabilities could be allowed to work. Ergonomic workstations have been found to improve productivity and reduce healthcare compensation costs. Office chairs can be equipped with lumbar support and standing desks could be incorporated in a flexible setting.
Allow cross-communication
It’s easy for employees working in small firms to develop silos with co-workers. However, breaking down the silos can give your employees new ideas and boost their happiness by making them feel more connected to the organization. It also gives them a better chance of getting along well with each other; staff members will enjoy the environment when it is filled with individuals they get along well with.
Even if a get-together is not in order, you can deploy a software app such as Hipchat to increase the happiness levels of your staff by letting them interact with their favorite co-workers. Keeping the lines of communication open can play a key role in moving your company forward.
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