6 Tips for Keeping Your Employees Happy

This article was written by: 
Lewis Robinson, Business Consultant and Writer.

Your employees are extremely important assets that can determine whether your company succeeds or fails. While one of the best things you can do for your business is to hire excellent team members, another vital step is to make sure your employees stay happy and fulfilled at work. Some basics of keeping your workforce happy involve fair pay and good benefits. However, there are several other steps you can take to ensure your workers maintain high morale and good productivity.

1. Encourage Work-Life Balance

Many employers make the mistake of assuming more hours on the job will lead to more productivity. However, many experts indicate that people are generally more productive when they are able to maintain a healthy and satisfying work-life balance. Encouraging employees to balance their work lives and personal lives can provide benefits for both workers and their employers. For example, if your company supports a good work-life balance, you may see fewer cases of absenteeism, more efficient teamwork, and improved employee retention.

2. Make Paperwork Easy

No matter how much your HR department attempts to streamline processes such as onboarding, benefits management, and payroll, these administrative tasks still require employees to spend a certain percentage of their work time doing paperwork. Taking steps to improve administrative efficiency can give your employees more time to complete their work tasks and reduce the level of frustration across all levels of management. One thing you may consider is using digital tools and automation to handle tedious documentation and administrative tasks. For example, you could set up an automatic email reminder for your employees to fill out their timecards or use a 1099 generator to quickly create tax documents for your contractors.

3. Communicate Well

One thing that contributes to poor employee morale is a lack of communication, especially from managers and senior executives. When employees don’t feel like their leaders talk to them, they may be less likely to communicate with colleagues and managers. Some ways to improve communication within your organization include providing an instant messaging platform, using an open office configuration, and sending out an informative and encouraging email from senior leadership on a regular basis.

4. Include Employees in the Big Picture

It can be hard for an employee to feel dedicated to his or her tasks when it is not clear how those tasks fit into the company’s overall vision or mission. One of the best things you can do to improve morale and productivity is to make your employees feel like their work is a significant contribution to your company’s goals. You may encourage managers and team leaders to send out regular updates or schedule all-hands meetings to provide employees with details on the company’s progress toward defined goals.

5. Offer Advancement Opportunities

Employees who feel like they are stuck in their current roles are not likely to spend years putting forth their best work. It is essential to make sure your employees see benefits to their work, including the chance to move up in the organization. There are many ways to give your employees the chance to advance their careers. You could commit to in-house hiring for a majority of senior positions. Another option is developing a management track with clear, achievable milestones for your employees to follow.

6. Provide Unique Perks

Good health insurance and vacation packages are basic keys to happy employees, but you don’t need to stop there. Most of your competitors likely offer similar benefits, which can make it easier for your employees to transition to other companies every few years, placing a large strain on your HR’s hiring resources. A great way to encourage retention and boost employee morale is to offer unique perks. This could be something simple like free drinks or snacks in the break room. You may offer rewards for carpooling or cover your employees’ public transportation expenses.

Keeping your employees happy can be one of the most significant factors in your business’ growth and success. There are several important keys to boosting your workers’ morale. Some effective strategies include improving communication, reducing tedious paperwork, and providing sought-after perks.