5 Ways To Make Your Staff Happier For A Better Business
This shouldn’t really need saying, but a business is only as strong as its staff, and whether you have one member of staff or hundreds, keeping your staff happy and enthused is perhaps one of the most important aspects of your job as the leader of the business.
Happy and motivated staff work harder and produce a better level of work, which will make your customers happier. Happy staff also results in better customer service…
Image Credit: Office
If your staff are not happy, they will probably not work as hard and worse still, they might leave, taking your business’s talent to the competition. So you can see why thinking about your staff is a good idea.
Here are 5 simple ways to make them happier without having to pay them more:
1: Office Environment
This is perhaps the easiest and the most important way to keep your staff happy. Remember that your staff probably spend more of their waking life in the office than in their own homes, so it is vital that they feel comfortable and safe.
Investing in air-conditioning, or heating is a good way to keep the office at a comfortable temperature. Remember in particular that if you have many people and computers in a small office space it can get surprisingly warm, so even if you don’t have air conditioning at home, you may need it at work.
Noise is also a factor to consider, so keeping your office well maintained is important and as your business grows (more staff = more noise) you may need to re-work the office space and use separate rooms or dividers to keep the noise down.
Above all else, never under-estimate how distracting small problems can be, things like flickering lights, poorly serviced AC units or even a creaky door can get people down if not fixed.
2: Invest In Them
Staff need to feel valued and feel that being a part of your business will give them opportunities to grow. There are few better ways to convey this message than by investing in your staff. You can offer staff the opportunity to take training courses, or train them yourself if you have the expertise.
Don’t force your staff to take courses that they don’t want to take, but make it clear that you will consider funding training and that you will give motivated staff the training that they need if they want it.
Taking this approach will send a clear message and you will find that the staff who actually ask for opportunities will become your most valuable assets. Staff who actually seek opportunities are valuable and you should allow them to grow.
3: Ask For Feedback
This is obvious really, so obvious that many managers don’t think to do it. The simplest way to tell if your staff are happy is to ask them!
Make a habit of asking your staff how they feel about their jobs and always encourage feedback, positive or negative.
Be careful though, ask the right questions, but don’t be too intrusive and try not to undermine your managers by cutting them out of the feedback loop. Talking to lower members of staff is fine, so long as you don’t find yourself doing the job your management should be doing.
4: Team Building
People work better and have more loyalty if they are working with friends and whilst you can’t always guarantee that everyone in an office will get on, you should do your best to encourage people to become friends.
Team building doesn’t have to be expensive, just an evening out on a Friday or a work funded lunch is enough to get everyone chatting and socialising.
5: Building A Team
The other aspect of team building is building your team as your business grows. If you keep an eye on how well your staff interact and try to get a feeling for the culture that is developing in your business you can try & recruit new staff who will fit in that culture.
You can even keep interactions in mind as your office grows. Try to make your office a comfortable environment and encourage a hard working but sociable office environment. Happy, comfortable staff will communicate more openly and share ideas – all of which will lead to a happier office and a better business.
