A happy workplace is a productive workplace.
Many employees choose to stay at their jobs even if they are paid less because they are happy at their place of work. Since we spend around 90,000 hours of our lives working, it makes sense that we would want to be happy while we’re there, right?
Continue reading this article to learn more about how to keep your employees happy which will, in turn, make your business more successful.
How to Keep Your Employees Happy
Work and happiness is no longer an oxymoron. Many people love their work and are happy to play their roles within their teams. You want your employees to feel this way as well. As you learn more about what makes your employees tick, you’ll be able to retain more employees.
You’ll also increase performance and productivity in the workplace if you get cultural conditions right.
1. Give Employees a Voice
One of the things we all want as humans is to be able to voice our opinions. If you’re making changes that are going to cause change for your employees, get them to weigh in on these decisions. Create a work environment where employees feel safe to express their views and give input.
Your decision may be something as simple as whether to put a juice bar in the break room or to splurge for a fancy coffee machine.
While you might think you know what everyone wants, that’s not always the case. You can even offer a blind vote on topics if you think people would be worried about voicing their opinions on a specific topic.
2. Allow for Flexibility
Another thing we love as humans is the ability to be flexible.
Let’s say that one week we have doctor appointments that we need to go to. We might want to come into work a little late and get them out of the way early in the morning.
Allowing your employees to have flexibility so they can do what they need to do for themselves and their family makes for higher morale and increased productivity.
If it’s possible, you may also opt to allow employees to work from home some of the time. Remote working is becoming more popular with employees and company owners alike.
Give it a try in small doses and see how it feels to you and to your employees.
3. Have a Compelling Company Culture
A compelling company culture is not going to create itself. You need to put things in place that shows the culture. You also need to communicate it to employees new and old alike.
You might stress things like we over me or that you’re a family working together toward a common goal.
4. Communicate the Mission
Playing off the point above, the company mission has a lot to do with the company culture. When people understand what they’re working for and toward, they’re much more likely to get excited about what’s going on in the company.
Without knowing what a company’s mission is, it can be tiring and frustrating working day in and day out feeling as if nothing is getting accomplished.
5. Advance Education Efforts
Your employees love to learn and learning at the company’s expense — that’s even better. Put the money out to send a couple of people to conferences or even the whole team if that’s within your budget.
When people see you’re investing in them, they’re more likely to stay with your company and help you make waves in the industry. Continually educating your employees and helping them grow will help your company in more ways than you can imagine.
6. Recognize Employee Progress
When you recognize when an employee makes progress, they will continue to strive to do more and be more. You don’t have to do anything major. You may choose to make it an announcement and public recognition or you might opt to recognize them one on one.
7. Invest in Team Building
Another great investment is team building. When people love who they work with and are invested in the lives of the other people that work at your company, they will work harder and do more to make sure the company is doing well.
Having company picnics or getting everyone together for a family day can be a great way to get people to build relationships and get to know each other at a deeper level.
8. Focus on Work/Life Balance
If your employees feel like they’re always working, they will begin to resent their work instead of being grateful for it. Focus on conveying the fact that you want them to have a healthy life outside of the workplace.
Many times employees are worried they won’t look committed if they don’t spend their every waking hour working. Constantly working can only last for a little while so it is important that you encourage your employees to take time off and enjoy themselves.
9. Provide Perks
Perks are a great way to get people into the mood of greatness. You might provide works such as paying for their gym membership, a massage or other enjoyable activity.
You don’t have to break the bank when paying for cool perks like this or even having lunch on the company one day of the week. It’s always a lot of fun for your employees and you’ll notice it gets them in the spirit of productivity.
Continue Your Education
Now that you know how to keep your employees happy, continue your education. We have many more great reads on our site so make sure to bookmark your favorite sections and come back soon.
