Everybody is aware of the fact that stress is responsible for killing creativity. If a person is happy he is likely to exude greater energy and creativity levels. Unfortunately, employee happiness has never been such a significant priority as businesses rather focused on keeping their clients and customers happy. But there is a definite connection between having a happy employee and a satisfied client.
Studies have concluded that a rise in employee focus and passion was observed due to raised happiness. It equates to a rise in productivity levels by around 10%. Employee engagement and productivity are signs of a healthy environment at work. If you are looking to improve the company profits you are expected to take small measures to make sure that the employees stay happy. Keep in mind that it is not always about money. You will discover several other happiness statistics that can be used for reaching out to the employees. There is a direct correlation between employee happiness and business bottom-line. Here are some changes you can administer in the management to increase employee happiness levels.
If you are an experienced businessman you will know that trust is the foundation of any organization. It is not possible to develop a happy work environment if there isn’t any innate trust level between you and the employees. If the employees feel that the employer trusts them to do the various tasks they are more likely to perform creatively and confidently. This also builds a feeling of being valuable in them. This way they can increase their contribution to raising the business bottom-line.
All employees want their employer to notice their hard work and they also expect good feedback from the management. You need to be aware of their strengths and weaknesses and how their performance can be improved. Be accessible and give them consistent feedback about their work. It opens up communication barriers between yourself and your team. But keep in mind that this feedback can be effective only when it is fair and objective. Use this as a tool for instructions rather than a way of handing out punishment.
Talented employees will always try to learn and raise their knowledge levels. One of the writers from Harvard Business Review mentioned that one of the more significant driving forces in the case of employee motivation is the urge to get better at work and make progress. So, if you are looking to lead a team of employees that are engaged do not assign mundane tasks each day. Give them tasks that need productivity and permit them to grow professionally.
The engaged employees will always try to exceed the call of duty. They always take full responsibility for their assignment and many times will complete them before the deadlines. However, to keep their motivation levels on the higher side you have to appreciate the hard work continuously. Always pat their back for the tasks that are well done and provide them due credit for them. Establishing a positive feedback loop makes sure that this engaged employee stays that way. You can use written feedback for this purpose or online ones. In the second case, you can create individual files for each employee. There you can include everything you have to say, of course, you should start by what they are doing right and let them know they are appreciated, next you can move on to constructive feedback. Make sure to deliver the feedback kind. Let them know you will be sharing files and have the workers read the comments in private.
Many companies offer incentives and bonuses to their employees as a kind of appreciation. However, keep in mind that money is not everything. The kind of appreciation for motivation is public recognition where the employee will enjoy elevated social status and rejoice in the glory of being praised. There are several ways of appreciating the hard work of your employees. You may call them up on the stage during the next organizational event, or mention their names in the newsletter, or even introduce an award such as employee of the week. Some people just provide a shout-out for them at the time of office hours. Providing a simple gesture showing appreciation will do wonders for the performance of that employee. Just try it.
Those days are gone when the office hours are 9 to 5. This is the era of digital technology and people are working with greater flexibility and are maintaining a greater balance between work and life. Provide your employees with the independence they need to work as per their preferences. As long as they are working for 40 hours a week and are meeting the deadlines required by the projects there is no need to chain them to their desks. You can integrate hybrid work methods and utilize coworking spaces.
The advent of cell phones and Wi-Fi devices has made life easy for everyone enabling the employees to work from home and anywhere despite not being present in the office. By allowing them to work from home you are contributing to their happiness and this means better productivity.
You may introduce new tools for your system such as analytics solutions. This allows everyone to learn new things each day. One of the key ways of promoting professional growth for employees is by offering them opportunities to study further and improve their career prospects. You may send them off to attend significant conferences and allow them to participate in your internal mentorship programs. You should consider investing in the professional growth of your employees because it is not only beneficial for the business but it also helps in making them feel appreciated and worthwhile. The feeling of gratitude these gestures will generate together with the satisfaction can propel the employees to work harder and to the best of their capabilities for raising the company's bottom line.
There is a need for a business owner to realize that the employees working in your company have a life away from work that they indulge in. It can be family life or indulgence in extra-curricular activities such as hiking or music. Any good leader will have proper initiatives that can support the life of people. For example, you may develop a lactation room for the staff that has children. You may promote a fitness culture in your workplace for catering to the needs of different employees that like to work out regularly. You can start by providing them with cardio machines to exercise and feel better about themselves. This way you will offer them a guaranteed chance to create a work-life balance.
You are well-advised to encourage a bit of selfish thinking within the workplace by allowing the members of the staff to chase their targets. Let's say an employee is attempting to achieve higher education. You can support his cause by being a little more tolerant if they take a bit of time off from work to prepare for the test and appear for the exam. Or you could consider remodeling options for the office to create a cozy and comfortable working environment for your workers.
You may start this activity by hiring happy people for your business. Happy people are those that love their work and are constantly looking to perform well to the best of their abilities. Many times the people that enjoy their work are mostly always happy. You can also promote a happy culture in your workplace that allows the employees to stay positive. You can also practice philanthropy at work. The employees working in your organization spend hours to ensure that you stay in the business. Therefore, it is only fair that you give a piece of this back to them. Giving back can be in the form of setting time for family fun days, engaging your employees in team-building activities, or even giving them opportunities to do some community work. This culture of giving out more can make people more content when they work for your company.
Your staff is the most significant asset of your organization. Concentrate on finding out what makes your staff so awesome. Provide opportunities to them to shine at the workplace. It is a fact that the team managers that concentrate on the strength of employees are successful in boosting employee engagement to a greater degree. For instance, if you have an employee that is good at leading teams, provide him an opportunity to take charge of one of your projects. Empowerment of the employees via their strengths is going to make them feel like contributing to the workplace more.
It is a fact that most companies have huge goals. You really cannot expect the employees to accomplish all of them overnight. Rather you need to create smarter goals for motivating the employees. When you have a big project or a big deadline coming up, break things up into smaller and smarter goals for things to become easier for the staff to keep being focused and engaged.
Modern technology has come a long way just recently. I've been using email for communication at work for years, but these days, many companies are moving towards more digital forms of communication. One tool that has really caught on in the past year or so is Google Apps - which is made up of Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, etc. The majority of my colleagues have switched to Gmail at my workplace. It's pretty easy to use and contains most of the features that you would expect from an email provider like filters, spam protection, and the like. What really sets Gmail apart is that it is integrated with other Google Apps that can be accessed through the browser.
All leaders agree that the attitude of an employee plays a significant role in the success of a company. Whether you want motivated employees or frustrated ones is up to you. For keeping your teams happy and engaged ensure that you incorporate the steps described above into your leadership style and execute them every day. Happy employees are always engaged employees. Provide them a reason to get up every day and be excited about work. Stick to this routine developed with these points and watch your bottom-line rise.
Author Bio: This article is written by our marketing team at HR Cloud. HR Cloud is a leading provider of HR solutions, including recruiting, onboarding, employee engagement, and intranet software. Our aim is to help your company improve employee engagement, employee productivity, and to save you valuable time!