Here’s a business truth for you: if you’re not making your employees happy, or helping keep them sane at work, then your business is going nowhere fast. Yes – some larger businesses treat their employees badly and seem to cash in on it, but they get lucky, as larger businesses are wont to do. If you’re running your own business, then frankly you cannot afford to make a costly mistake like making your employees happy.
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A small business can’t afford to waste money, especially in its early years – but through a constant cycle of employing people and firing them, you can certainly see yourself burning money.
By default, employees are not going to be satisfied at work. Unless they are a certain kind of person, there are likely other things that they want to be doing with their time. That means you need to work hard and lay the groundwork to ensure that you are making your place of work a place where employees look forward to working at.
Employees need to be happy with their environment, their manager, their workload and their work in general. Anyone of these areas can lead to an employee being unsatisfied at work – and if that doesn’t cost you money, it almost certainly means that your workforce will become unproductive as they become unhappy in the place of work.
A regular employee might give 70% effort on their best day, whereas a happier employee might be able to give that very same amount of effort on a more regular basis – but that will only happen if you work to ensure your business works for your employees!
The thing is – if employees are unhappy, or unsafe in your business, it doesn’t just mean they’ll be unproductive, or that they will leave, but it could also present a legal situation. If employees are untreated unfairly by a business, the business could be sued by one – or many employees.
Things like bullying, breach of contract, racist behavior & sexual harassment are all things that can land a business in hot water, and these behaviors and actions will be looked down on by the law.
It’s unlikely a business emerges unscathed from the legal proceedings that follow, so it’s best to make your place of work a respectful and inclusive environment for all employees. There’s no excuse for this type of behavior!
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How can you ensure your employees are happy outside of that? In the first instance, notice their work – compliment them. Hold corporate awards to acknowledge their hard work. You can also talk to them. Get feedback and act on it – employees like to know that they have some kind of power in the workplace. This also allows you to mold your workplace to suit your employees.
Using this as a method to incorporate togetherness and a better culture, you can build upon this by using little approaches to improving morale. Some people like a way to have their efforts recognized in a simple way. You can very easily get badges made from wood or little certificates that help your employees to realize where they stand in the big picture and have their efforts, however little in the grand scheme of things, recognized. We all have to remember that the little things are just as important as the big things.Â
Employee happiness multiplies the effectiveness and productivity of your business. If you have happy and satisfied employees, your business has a better chance of doing well, simply because it has a passionate and fulfilled workforce behind it.
Boost your chances of success by making your employees happy!
