It’s a well-known fact that employees are representing the company they work for, and their attitude is extremely important because it’s reflecting on the ethical principles of the company. As there is no doubt that a happy employee is more efficient and productive, let’s look at several strategies for making your employees more satisfied.
Give Employees More Power
Employers should try to give their employees more responsibility so that they feel in charge of their work, let them feel more in control because that will give them more confidence and a sense of importance. For example, give them the freedom of decorating and personalizing their workspace, which will result in increased job satisfaction, productivity and efficiency. Letting them customize their work schedule is also a good way to help employees feel more responsible and appreciated.
Manage your time better
Considering that one of the main causes of stress for employees in the workplace is lousy time management, employers can alleviate this stress by decluttering their schedule. That can be done by making meetings shorter and more productive, or scheduling the meeting just before lunchtime or at the end of a workday, when everyone is eager to finish what they have and go home, so doing this will lessen long speeches and make people cut to the chase.
Flexible Work Schedule
We all know how arriving to work late can be stressful, whether it’s our fault or not. This kind of stress can be avoided if employers give flexible working time, and employees can arrive to work within a few hours, and not be admonished for being late. Another solution to help employees avoid traffic congestion and the burden of thinking if they’re going to be late for work is telecommuting, therefore employers should offer a possibility of working from home, at least once a month, if possible. Telecommuting offers certain benefits for the employer as well, as reduced costs, for instance.
Encourage employees to expand their skills
According to a current distance learning course in the principles of design thinking, we should strive to identify opportunities and build a better future for people, companies and institutions. With this in mind, employers should encourage their employees to build up their exploratory attitude, self-organization and abilities to collaborate in multidisciplinary and cross-disciplinary teams. In this way, they are not only helping employees to improve their skills, but also making the company look better in the eyes of the public, since the employees are the first face of the company. Having said that, it’s clear how important it is for employers to help their workers to build up confidence, learn new skills and work on personal growth.
Promote Employees Well-being
Constant pressure and demanding situations, whether at work or in the private life of employees, can lead to chronic stress that is not only damaging to employees, but also to businesses. For this reason, employers should raise employee awareness about their good health and well-being. That can be done by offering employees discounted gym memberships, seminars about healthy eating, working out, and making positive lifestyle changes, or simply providing a well-equipped kitchen.
Encourage Employee Socializing
There are many ways for employers to encourage employees to socialize, such as organizing team building activities, office Christmas celebrations, birthdays and sporting events, or just by bringing the food for everyone and gathering in the kitchen to eat, chat and mingle. Scheduling a game night once a month, where employees can stay after work and play online and card games together, arranging a picnic somewhere in nature, or perhaps an annual barbeque party are all good ideas for employees to socialize and befriend.
Show Employee Appreciation
Small surprises like bringing a cup of coffee or tea to employees can truly be productive and efficient in making employees happy and more motivated for work, therefore employers should think of some appreciation ideas to surprise their employees. Rewarding employees for a job well done is very important – it can be something as simple as saying thank you for their hard work, giving them gift cards and coupons or some extra time off when they least expect it.
Showing employees that they are appreciated and recognized should be the first thing on every employer’s to-do list. A happy employee makes a successful company, and remembering that those people work hard for your company every day can only make things easier for you in this respect.