The majority of employees in the workplace work in offices that are made up of one 100 people or less. If you are the owner/ manager of a business its imperative to the state of the company that your employees are happy, if you want not only to exist in the corporate world, but to thrive. There are a few standard guidelines for keeping employees satisfied that will make a huge difference in the success of your business.
Confirmation of value
“Good job”, “nice work” and “thank you” are not often used in the work place but can have a remarkable difference in attitude and trust. When money is the only form of recognition used it can seem as though money is all that matters, and leave the employee feeling that its “just a job”. No one goes the extra mile for something they don’t believe in or have emotional attachment to, and a raise has short term effects that are useless without a foundation of appreciation. That being said, hourly wages should reflect those in competing industries and positions, but it is not what determines a productive worker.
Room for creativity
When there’s a task at hand it can be good to let your employees run with it in their own way. Setting up too many guidelines and restrictions can strip them off autonomy, passion and creativity, which will only hurt the company in the end. As the business owner and / or manager you have the authority to make final decisions, but to assume your methods are superior is an arrogant mistake. Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don’t and you may be surprised what you can learn from an unexpected source. It should be your mission as an intellect and business owner to learn as much as you can, especially from those who work closely with you, and apply it.
Weekly Check-ins
Meetings are a useful way to keep everyone motivated, discuss current and future goals with all of your staff as a way to stay on track and provide direction. Enthusiasm comes from inspiration for something bigger than right now. Meetings should be purposeful and have a list of prepared items to tackle each week that will leave your employees with a sense of accomplishment and excitement for future tasks. Meeting more than once a week can be overbearing, and deter employees from getting their work done in an effort to prepare for another meeting, and the opposite can be said for meeting too far apart.
Feedback
The best way to find out what you are doing wrong is to take feedback from customers and address the concerns of those who have used with your product. If you are only aware of how you feel about your business and its employees and not how the employees feel about you and your business, you will miss key factors that could be holding you back. You need more than your own perspective if you plan sell your product to anyone but yourself. Read customer reviews, employ a suggestion box, talk to your customers and employees without bias.
Happiness in the workplace is something every employee wants and every employer should want for their workers and business. 9 out of 10 times it is more important then salary amount and will prove more beneficial for long term success.
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