Ever wondered how to keep your employees happy and productive at work? We have and thankfully in this piece, Tess shares her top tips on keeping staff members happy at work.

As a business owner, you need to ensure that your customers are satisfied, loyal and overall happy with your product or service! However, you shouldn’t neglect those who make it possible every day – your employees.

Most companies don’t realise that apart from the familiar side of the coin, such as keeping the customer happy, there’s another side to it, which is equally important — keeping the workplace productive and stress-free.

When people are stress-free, there’s more room for motivation and growth, which are incredibly important for both you and your employees. By taking care of the people that work for you, you take care of your company, it’s as simple as that.

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Over the years, I’ve learned so much about how to keep my team happy and productive so that they never want to look somewhere else.

Today I want to share my best and most practical tips that will help all future or soon-to-be entrepreneurs create a good company culture.

Practical Guide on How to Keep Your Employees Happy

Offer your employees a chance for growth

The same way you have your dreams and aspirations in life, your employees have them too. They are more likely to choose or stay at a job where there’s room for progress, such as training, courses, promotions, conferences, work trips, etc.

If you encourage your employees and show them that they can rise upwards in your company, they will have a stronger motivation to excel at their jobs.

Show them genuine appreciation

One of the most important lessons of entrepreneurship I’ve learned is that an honest ‘Thank you’ from the heart goes a long way.

I never had a problem with showing appreciation for the people around me, but honestly, I wasn’t aware of how much it would also help me build relationships with my employees. Strong relationships are as healthy for them as they are for me.

Organise team-building events

What better way to make your employees happy than to occasionally allow some fun activities in the office. You can start small; buy pizza for everyone, let them mingle and have fun.

With time, you can include more events such as the following:

• Karaoke nights
• Field trip
• Escape room
• Game night
• Scavenger hunt
• Laser tag etc.

Team building is the most exciting way to create bonds that will ultimately benefit your company.

Accept feedback and implement changes

Your employees shouldn’t feel scared to share constructive feedback with you. Encourage them to do so and consider implementing changes when and where possible.

After all, you should be proud to have strong individuals on board with you because they take good care of your product.

They are also in direct touch with it, so they may have a bunch of ideas on how to improve or update your business. If you don’t support constructive feedback, you might miss some groundbreaking ideas.

Consider workplace flexibility

Being able to work remotely has become the number one requirement in the business world. More and more people are choosing jobs that allow workplace flexibility.

If you want to make your employees satisfied, you should definitely consider providing them with more significant flexibility, workplace wise.

Some people are more productive when they don’t have to commute to work every day, so why not help them get rid of that daily stress?

Show your employees the bigger picture

You should take full advantage of the available communication channels to keep your employees posted on all running affairs. Luckily, you can easily include them in the company’s plans for the future.

For example, you can create a newsletter or a group where you can send them regular updates. This way, they will feel like a part of something bigger, which will eventually show in their quality of work.

Celebrate milestones

Make sure you praise your employees for their accomplishments, as this is one of the most significant factors in keeping them happy and productive.

I don’t mean only telling them in person, but instead letting the whole team know. Good news can make someone’s day better. Why not be the news bearer? You should always aim to celebrate achievements, especially if the whole team had some input in it.

Even if it’s a short email when you don’t have that much time; try not to forget to praise your employees for their milestones.

Take an interest in your employees

Understandably enough, sometimes you don’t have time to have casual chats with your employees. However, you shouldn’t ignore this completely.

By getting to know your team, their strengths and weaknesses, their aspirations in life, you are learning how to be a better boss to them.

Ask yourself, how can I help them achieve their goals while they’re working for me? How can their dream help me grow my business?

Make a connection with your employees, and they will make your company better in return.

Trust and respect them

Nobody likes micromanagement. By double-checking everything your employees do, you show them that you don’t trust them, which eventually makes them lose interest and motivation.

If you find yourself delegating tasks then spending time on checking every single thing, you are not only losing your employees; you are also losing your own precious time. You can either work on your mutual trust or teach them how to be better at their jobs, as simple as that.

Conclusion

Finally, remember your previous workplaces – the good and the bad.

What were the things that made you feel productive and happy at work? And what made you miserable?

If you follow your gut and trust your experience, the chances are higher that you will not repeat the mistakes your previous bosses had made. Being a human being yourself, you’ll make some errors too, but the key is in how you will act on them.

Will you ignore them, or will you work harder on making yourself a boss of the year? Your company, your choice.

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