Let’s face it we have all worked in a place where we just were not happy going to work, in fact, there were some days where you had pre-shift anxiety, or maybe started feeling a hint of sadness on Sunday evenings because the weekend was over.
A recent Gallup report stated that worker unhappiness is at an all-time high worldwide. The report noted that, along with dissatisfaction, workers are experiencing both disengagement and unhappiness. 60% of people reported being emotionally detached at work. And, a troubling 19% reported being miserable. In the U.S., 50% of workers reported feeling stressed at their jobs on a daily basis, 41% as being worried, 22% as sad, and 18% as angry.
Whether you are a business owner or an employee at some big firm it is important to understand the happiness of the employee. Business owners should make themselves more aware of this since employee retention can actually help pave a successful business, and happy employees will be more motivated to come to work. Here are some ways to keep your employees happy so that your business can succeed.
Happy Employees Make Life Easier for Business Owners
There are many reasons why it is important to keep employees happy. Happy employees tend to be more productive and loyal to the company and its customers. One study found that happy employees are 20% more productive than those employees that are not satisfied with their jobs.
However, when employees stop caring about their jobs and are unhappy, it negatively impacts the business. One of the major reasons why good employees quit is due to their dissatisfaction with the company, their role, or management.
The Gallup report noted that 70% of the reason for employee dissatisfaction was, in part, due to management. This means as an entrepreneur, business owner, or manager, you wield a lot of influence. In this article, we will list a few things you can do to keep employees happy.
1. Instill Trust in Your Employees
If your employees feel that they do not have your full support, then they will not feel motivated to work for you, and will feel a sense of doubt. You want to make sure that your employees know that you can trust them. It can be as simple as delegating an assignment to them without having to micromanage them. This will prove to your employees that you have a strong belief in their work, that you have a sense of belief that they can do a task alone, and that you appreciate the quality of their work.
2. Give Them Room to Grow
Maybe it’s time to offer a promotion to your best employee. Before you go out and hire someone for a big position at your company, take a look around. Maybe there is an employee who has been doing an exceptional job and deserves a promotion. You can also give your best employees an opportunity to work overseas if you have an office in another country.
By offering International relocation, they can gain a competitive advantage, expand their professional network globally and increase cultural awareness. If employees see that there is an opportunity to grow within the company, then they will be motivated to do better and work hard with the hopes of potentially getting that promotion. After all, who doesn’t like a nice pay raise!
3. Make Yourself Clear
When it comes to showing great leadership, the most important thing you can do is show great communication skills, and properly communicate with your employees to avoid any issues down the line. There is nothing worse than being unclear about the task at hand, or the goals that you want your employees to reach.
You want to make sure that your employees have a clear sense of what your goals are and how they can go about achieving these goals. Do not tiptoe around the idea. Just be straight and to the point. You’d be surprised how much employees appreciate a boss who gets right to the point.
4. Offer Employee Evaluations
This is a great way to not only show appreciation to your employees but also to give them an opportunity to grow or even improve themselves on the job. As employees, we take pride in the fact that our boss enjoys the work that we are doing, and we also take pride in receiving constructive criticism when there are areas of improvement. Try giving employee evaluations twice a year. They do not have to be anything elaborate, but simply state the strengths and weaknesses of each employee, and where they can improve.
5. Make Yourself Approachable
A great leader should always make themselves feel approachable. This does not mean that you should become best friends with your employees and paint each other’s nails. It can be as simple as keeping your office door open so the employee can come in and not feel like they are disturbing you. It can also be as simple as asking the employees how they are doing when you find yourself in a common space. By making yourself more approachable, the employee will find it easier for them to come to you if they are having trouble either at home or work and need to talk to you about it, or they can talk to you if they are having trouble with an assignment.
6. Be Consistent
Consistency is key when you want to run a good business, and it is important that you be consistent with your employees as well. Although you want to maintain a great relationship with your employees, they still need to understand that you are their boss and that you need to make executive decisions when necessary. Therefore make sure that you maintain that act of leadership across the board, and that you treat everyone with the same authority. There is no room for favoritism in business.
7. Show Full Transparency
This may be one of the most important things you can do as an employer, and that is to show full transparency to your employees. There is nothing scarier than seeing the senior management team holding secret meetings constantly and not communicating with their employees. You do not have to go into full detail about what is happening, but by having bi-weekly team meetings with all members of the company and discussing important company headlines, you will show that you are being fully transparent with the employees.
8. Give Perks
Perks are sure to keep your employees happy, and they can be given out in a number of ways, whether it’s extra vacation time for hitting an important goal or taking the team out for drinks at the end of the week. Giving perks will keep your team motivated. Another popular perk is the infamous summer Fridays where employees get to go home early on Fridays during the summer months.
Final Thoughts
Your employees will make or break your business, and chances are that if you keep them happy they will feel more motivated to get back to work and provide you with good results that will keep your business afloat.
This is not about hand holding your employees or giving them a gold star when they do something right. It’s about giving credit where credit is due and showing full appreciation for the great work that they are doing. So the next time you want to do something nice for your employees, consider taking a look back at this list to see what you can do so that they can feel a sense of appreciation.
This article was first published in September 2020 but has been updated and expanded.
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