Keeping Your Employees Happy at Work

As a boss or a manager, you want your workers to be happy; if they are not, then it can cause all sorts of issues. A happy workforce not only works better together, but they are also more content in their jobs and more productive for you. Getting the right balance to having happy employees can be tricky. You don’t want them to feel you are a pushover, but equally, you want them to feel that coming to work is worthwhile. Here are some ideas for keeping your employees happy.

Giving them a Good Environment

Your workers will be spending most of their day working in your building, so making it more welcoming will make them feel better. You can add a communal area where they can have their breaks or spend their lunchtime, and you can provide some vending machines or arrange for a sandwich van to come around. If you have space, you could even have a canteen with subsidized meals that they can have for breakfast and lunch. At break times, you can have Office Coffee Solutions visit, who can provide you with coffee supplies. Another way you can improve the environment for your staff is being able to manage the temperature. If it gets too hot or too cold, your workers won’t be working to their full potential, so getting this right is vital.

Read also: Effective Ways to Increase Your Employees’ Morale

Give Your Workers More Autonomy

One of the things that workers complain about is being micromanaged. The feeling that every decision they make is scrutinized and evaluated. To prevent this, you can allow them more freedom over their workspace and their schedule. Let them work on their own projects for an hour or two per week and let them customize their work areas. It will make them feel trusted and less suppressed, and make their working area special and unique to them. There is obviously a limit to how much autonomy you can give them, but if you try to give them as much as possible, it will make them feel much happier.

More Freedom About How and When They Work

You need to have enough workers in your company to cover all the jobs, but that doesn’t mean that you cannot be more flexible about how and when they work. Try introducing a flextime system that enables your workers to do their hours within a set range of time instead of a fixed time. They can also agree to work longer and build up time to take off later. Another idea you can instigate is telecommuting; this would allow your workers to work from home on set days and can be especially helpful to employees if they had an issue at home. It would also prevent workers needing to take time off if they were unable to get to work due to bad weather.

Challenge Your Employees

Even if your employees love what they do, any activity or job can become repetitive and boring if done day in and day out with very little change. To add some variety and inspiration, you could set them tasks that are different to what they usually deal with, and therefore provide an opportunity for them to challenge themselves. Another idea that can be fun and challenging is getting staff to swap roles for a few days so that they learn something new and experience another aspect of the company. It will push them mentally and keep them motivated.

Introduce Friendly Competition

A good way to motivate staff and keep them doing well is to introduce some competition into their day. Set up a leaderboard with all the workers, or split the office into teams, and give a prize to the ones who produce the most (or the best) work that month. You will need to monitor the competition to ensure they are still meeting quality standards and that the rivalry stays friendly, but it can be an effective way to boost production while keeping things interesting

Read also: 4 Ways Office Automation Helps Employees Stay Productive

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Be Open and Engaging

If you want your employees to be happy and trusting of you and your company, then you need to let them know you are open to their views. Hold regular team meetings where they can give their suggestions and opinions about the work. You don’t need to take them all forward, but there may be some ideas that will help your company and your staff. If this happens, get the person who suggested it to develop it further and present it to you when it’s ready. It will give them more confidence in their position within the company and could encourage others to do the same.

Acknowledge Achievements

If one of your staff has been working especially hard, or if they have won the monthly competition, then it is important to acknowledge their achievement and reward them. Some companies use the regular team meetings to present staff an award for their efforts. The award could be anything from some gift vouchers to an additional day’s leave. These types of things will mean more to your workers than a trophy, though you can always have that as well.

Treat Your Employees as Individuals

When managing your worker’s happiness, you cannot run your company with a one-size-fits-all approach. Each person has their own needs and limits, so it is important that you try to embrace that as much as possible. Have one-to-one meetings with your workers and ask them how they feel their work is progressing. Ask them what they need from their managers and the company, and what rewards you could offer by way of an incentive. If they have concerns or problems, try to deal with them in an individual way rather than quoting a blanket policy that applies to everyone. If you can help them with their problems, they will be happier at work and have greater loyalty to your company.

Read also: How to Keep Your Employees Safe at Work

Encourage Social Events

Getting your employees together for celebration days is a good way to increase the ties between staff and management. You can hold a holiday party or a celebration on the anniversary of the company; your staff will welcome any reason to have a party or some fun games!

Keeping your employees happy is one of the most important parts of staying productive. If they feel valued and appreciated, they will give you their best work.