If you are the owner of a small business, you’ll know how important it is that your employees are happy. Not only are they the lifeblood of your business, but they’re also representatives of your company, an integral part of ensuring that your customers are happy, and your business’s annual revenue is dependent upon their performance.
Your reputation, and to a degree, the future success of your business, is reliant upon your employee’s ability to deliver what you need. As everybody knows, their happiness is an important aspect of their achievements.
You may not have the budget of some much larger organizations to compensate your employees with higher salaries, big bonuses, and expensive parties, but there are plenty of ways to ensure they feel happy and appreciated.
Get to Know Them Better
Getting to know your employees well is a cost-free way of ensuring they feel appreciated for the hard work they put in for you and your company. It goes without saying that you must use their names regularly, but also try asking about their lives. How are their children getting on at school? What does their partner do for a living? Are they having any problems that you may be able to help with?
A kind word goes a long way, and a friendly smile cannot be underestimated. They are important and help people feel appreciated.
Ask what they want from you as an Employer
Making small changes that don’t affect your business could dramatically impact your employees’ happiness. Ask them what they feel about their working conditions or the uniform that they wear every day, and make a change if they’re not happy. A new set of polo shirts is a small expense for your business, but it makes a huge difference to the people who wear them. A change like this could also be fun if you make it into a competition to see who can develop the best design for your business attire.
The point is that inclusive businesses are more productive, and your employees will feel happier. There are many more examples of small changes that impact your employees and are minimal for your business.
Employee Benefits
Some employee benefits have a cost associated with them, but may not be as much as you think, and you can use the internet to find good deals. Some employee benefits are very cost-efficient. For example, allowing your employees to go home an hour early one day a week, making sure they’ve got good health insurance and workers compensation insurance, paying for uncommon problems like lost wages, retraining, and unexpected medical expenses are some good benefits.
What about introducing Fresh Fruit Fridays or Taco Tuesdays, where you buy lunch for everyone. Consider offering Paid Time Off (PTO), where employees are offered a bank of hours or days to use when they need time away from work. Lastly, offer flexible working conditions and working from home if you can. Research shows, contrary to popular belief, that employees are far more productive when offered hybrid working, giving them the flexibility to work around school pickups, helping with family members who may be ill or unhealthy can be a real benefit to you and to them.
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