Employee happiness should be at the forefront of your mind as an employer. Not only is it costly to recruit new staff (meaning you must do your best to keep them), but a happy workforce tends to be a much greater productive workforce. It benefits everybody to make sure that whoever works for your business is as happy as possible. Here are some things you can do to make sure this!
Focus on Team Building
People tend to be happier at work when they get along well with their co-workers. So, focus on team building activities. This will help break the ice, create a good relationship between your staff and encourage everybody to work well together. It could be a small occasional activity at the office or a day of team building outside of the office!
Make Sure Everyone Knows What’s Expected of Them
People tend to become stressed and moody at work when they do not know what they’re supposed to be doing or what they’re aiming for. Make sure everyone seems to be sure of their duties and responsibilities by setting KPIs and targets. This has to be reasonable to avoid undue stress or pressure on your staff and to avoid the inevitable failures, which degrades morale.
Make Sure Everyone Gets Paid the Right Amount on Time
This sounds basic. But so many small businesses mess up payroll. While it may not affect you if your staff are paid late, it can have a large impact on their lives. They may have bills and direct debits coming out of their accounts on payday and delayed payments can result in missed bills, bounced direct debits, fees and penalties and potentially a mark on their credit score. Doing this is bound to make staff feel negatively towards you and your company. Maintain team spirit and do the right thing by making sure all staff are paid on time. They have earned the money and it’s your responsibility to give it as agreed. To guarantee this, use Payroll services for small businesses.
Remembering Your Remote Workforce
If your employees are working remotely, which is a lot because of the current coronavirus pandemic, you need to ensure that you are focused on their happiness just as much as if they were working in the office. Of course, managing the happiness of remote workers may be a bit harder. You do not often see them in person to determine their mood and gauge their well-being for yourself. But you just need to put in a little effort to get there and it is still possible when they work at home. Here are some steps you should take to make sure remote worker happiness.
Make Sure Everyone Can Communicate Effectively
Think about how much your staff talks on an everyday basis at work. People chat all day long. They chat about professional duties. They chat about their personal life. All of this helps maintain a healthy mood balance in the workplace and can even help employees to bond and work better together. So ensure they can still communicate freely when all of them work in numerous locations. It’s a good idea to invest in software like Microsoft Team. It has a video calling feature that can accommodate multiple people at a time. It also has an instant chat feature that enables your staff to talk more casually – whether it is asking a fast question that will help them solve a problem or complete a task, or a casual chat that can help them feel like they’re still part of the team.
Be Flexible
We work through difficult times. Some people’s lifestyles have totally changed. People are being asked to unexpectedly be working from home and you need to admit that not everybody has a comfy home office where they can work comfortably and without distractions. Be as flexible and patient as possible as people are used to managing remote work and manage their own ways to create a healthy distance between work life at home and private life at home.
These are, obviously, only a few suggestions that will help you keep your workforce happy. If you have ever doubted whether your employees are happy, or if you are attempting to find areas to improve for them, you can at all times do so anonymous survey to check! The results will help guide you in the right direction for further improvements specific to your company!
