Fact: companies that continually rank highest for employee satisfaction are also some of the most productive and successful places to work. This correlation is no coincidence. In fact, it’s just logical: employees that are happy and engaged with their jobs come up with better, more innovative ideas and work more efficiently during their time spent in the office.
Ensuring that your employees are happy, fulfilled and engaged with their work is as simple as the following key tips.
Employees Are People Too
This is a two-fold approach that comes down to recognising that employees are individual people who have their own lives. It’s easy to only consider employees in terms of their job titles and descriptions, and their output. However, employees are all different, with their own individual and distinct needs. It’s important to take these into consideration, asking employees how they feel about their daily tasks and how they see themselves evolving and growing within the company.
Similarly, one of the biggest employee stressors is taking time off, especially those in leadership positions or in positions that are highly specialised, and can lead to low morale and less productivity. Key to ensuring a productive working environment is maintaining a work-life balance that takes into account issues of short-staffing, working late and emergencies that keep employees from work.
Purpose Helps Productivity
Employees like to feel passionate about the work they do, which extends beyond a paycheck and into wanting to find a job that supports their community and their values. Engaging employees in projects that are near and dear to their hearts is one of the assured away of ensuring that employees are happy and fulfilled. When employees feel passionate about their work, they do the job better, so exploring how the company or organisation can assist with causes important to their staff is an important consideration.
Upskill Your Staff
When you hire the right people for the position, you’re building a team of individuals who are committed and passionate about their careers. In order to get the most of their skillset, employers should encourage this interest and commitment to their field and industry. One way to demonstrate your company’s understanding of their employees’ value is to support them in their endeavours, whether it is getting advanced degrees or taking specialised courses. Supporting your staff, financially and morally, will not only ensure they are happy and productive, but also that your company is on the cutting edge of development, with a highly skilled and effective workforce.
Pay Employees Well
Ultimately, no matter what you try to make employees happy, it falls flat if you’re not paying them adequately. Money remains fairly central to employee happiness — if people are working hard, then they want to be paid for that hard work, a tangible indication of their worth. If your business isn’t keeping up with industry standards of pay and benefits, then you need to change that. Staff flock to workplaces where they are paid competitively and offered good opportunities. Conduct a market assessment of your industry and ensure that determine whether they are being adequately compensated. If they are not, you should seek to rectify that and ensure that your company keeps a competitive wage balance in the future.
