Ensuring we keep our employees happy
During International Week of Happiness at Work 2022, we found it important to understand what makes our employees tick. It’s more challenging but more crucial than ever to keep employees content and productive in light of the workplace’s ever-changing trends in a post-pandemic environment, and the rising stresses in our lives outside the office. Understanding how our employees tick and implementing ways to keep them happy is always important to maintaining a company’s prosperity. Happy employees are more likely to work harder and more regularly, rarely skip a day of work, and show interest in the business and its performance.
Employee productivity can suffer greatly if they are dissatisfied and lacking inspiration. Additionally, the number of sick days and staff turnover may climb. It can cost more than 30% of a team member’s salary to replace them, and since dissatisfied workers cost businesses more than £500 billion a year, it’s critical that we tackle the issue head-on and look for solutions to keep our staff members satisfied.
Throughout the week, we worked with our managers and our employees and discussed the best ways to make sure our staff are happy and working at their best:
Foster a positive work-life balance
Although employees working their hardest can have visible benefits to the company itself, they run the risk of burning themselves out, especially when their work overlaps with their life outside of work. This can develop into a dislike for their job, which can be escalated when they’re overburdened with tasks and responsibilities, put under excessive pressure, working longer hours, or doing all the above.
Instead, employers can use these tips to promote a healthy work-life balance for their staff members:
- Provide more flexibility, such as allowing employees to occasionally work from home
- Ask managers to track employee productivity rather than the amount of time spent on a project
- Encourage employees to take breaks as necessary
- Review an employee’s workload on a regular basis to make sure they aren’t feeling overworked and, if you can, assist them in task management
- Assure the best possible support for parents
Involve staff in the bigger picture
Employee engagement and productivity are negatively impacted when they aren’t involved in the big picture since they don’t have a clear goal to strive toward. Their ability to provide excellent customer service or close sales may also suffer since they may not feel motivated by their own organisation.
Give staff members the chance to have a greater effect through their work, so they may have an impact in how the business is run. Staff will be encouraged to be reactive rather than proactive if they follow instructions rather than considering why they are undertaking a task, and proactive behaviour ultimately benefits the company more and promotes positive wellbeing to a greater extent.
Encourage an open and transparent workplace
It might be challenging to be honest at work. Employees frequently refrain from expressing their dissatisfaction, general thoughts, or comments about how to alter the running procedures at their company. Instead, these issues could develop into gossip, which could fuel any resentments without a safe outlet. Instead, companies should be receptive to their worker’s facts and collaborate with them to find a solution. Even if it’s a bitter pill to chew, it’s critical that we address underlying grievances to develop integrity and raise morale at work.
Offering employees the ability to be honest in a setting that won’t criticise them for what they say but would instead cooperate with them can help promote honesty in the workplace. Employees must be held responsible and required to support their claims with evidence and substance. Employers can use this knowledge to help their personnel discover solutions to problems they might not have even been aware of.
Recognise and reward staff
Recognising our employees’ efforts and continuously praising their conduct will have a bigger impact on them than a single event every month or year. When workers believe their efforts aren’t appreciated, they may feel disengaged with work, as they themselves are not being engaged with. A workplace culture which recognises the accomplishments of its staff can provide opportunities for co-workers to learn from one another. By fostering teamwork and communication, engagement can improve and prove tremendously beneficial to an employer. Recognising personnel at all levels of the organisation for outstanding performance or exceptional effort is also crucial. Although these praises are unpaid, they provide significant public recognition for a job well done.
Offer employee benefits
Benefits are one of the best methods to keep employees happy. It should go without saying that employees are considerably more likely to feel happy and productive when they feel cared for by their company. However, the majority of companies do not want to spend any more money on additional benefits, especially after they have just spent a substantial sum of money and effort on a new team member.
Implementing the right benefits, which are also cost-effective can be challenging. However, employers can get around this by designing a comprehensive benefits package that genuinely satisfies their staff members’ demands. Leaders may learn exactly what their employees desire by promoting dialogues with them. This can be done through feedback mechanisms, office-wide polls, and other methods.
Whether you’re offering them additional annual leave or giving them the day off on a special occasion, it’s critical to ascertain exactly what each employee needs and how you can best help them. If you give your staff the impression that you are genuinely interested in satisfying their needs, they will be much happier and will work harder.
Supporting you
If you want to best support your teams and help them be the best versions of themselves, contact the team today and we’ll create a tailored plan which supports your team best. Contact the Life & Progress team at 0808 164 3941 or email us at service@lifeandprogress.co.uk .
