There’s oh so much that goes into building a successful company. You need to have strong ideas and make sure that you execute those ideas well, for starters. And then there’s the matter of your employees, who will have a significant impact on the overall success or failure of your venture.
While you can work on bringing onboard the best candidates, that’ll only be half the battle. You also need to make sure they’re motivated and engaged.
Do you have a pleasant work environment? Follow these tips to ensure that you do.
Welcome New Employees
You might have found the best talent to hire, but you’ll only be able to make the most of their full potential if you’re welcoming them to the team.
This is where your employee onboarding process comes into play. By doing this, you’ll bring them up to speed with everything that’s required when they work for your company, but more importantly, you’ll give them a chance to meet your other employees.
You can’t have a positive work environment if your staff don’t know one another! They’ll feel comfortable from day one if they have friendly faces to call upon.
On-Brand Office
Employees can begin to feel a little disgruntled if it feels as if the work they’re doing is out of sync with the office in which they work.
Studies have shown that the work surroundings play a bigger role in productivity and happiness than previously thought.
So take another look at your office space: is it joyful? Would you like to work there? It might not be your favorite way to spend your company’s cash, but don’t think of it as dead money — the improvements you make will improve morale and productivity, and that will ultimately improve your bottom line.
Employee Perks
First thing’s first: pay your employees well. If they don’t feel like they’re being compensated fairly, then morale will be low.
Assuming you are paying well, look at offering employee perks, which have been shown to greatly improve staff engagement and happiness.
There are some excellent reward and recognition programmes that’ll let your employees know just how highly you value their work! As well as broader incentives, you can also look at adding small office perks.
Don’t underestimate the power that free coffee and donuts can have when it comes to employee happiness!
Ask For Feedback
You might feel like you’re doing an excellent job in your capacity as the boss, but are you really? The only way to know for sure is to ask for feedback.
In any case, even if you feel like you’re offering nice things to your staff, it might only be what you consider to be nice. They’ll have a better understanding of what they want and need that you do.
So gather feedback, either directly or anonymously, and then — this is the important part — turn that feedback into action. It’ll show that you care for your staff, and that can have a big impact on employee happiness!