Employee happiness takes many shapes and forms. Happiness is not static, it’s dynamic and always fluid. Keeping that in mind, it’s important to remember that just as happiness is a dynamic form so too is your company culture. To create an atmosphere that allows your staff to flourish and be happy, you have to take into consideration all the moving parts. Implementing tactics to help is great, but if you have departments where bullying might be taking place among management to staff, then your initiatives might not be followed through on. It’s important to notice all dynamics within the workplace, treating all employees equally, and taking careful notice of the lower paid employees—as they tend to be the ones most affected by low morale. WorkSource Staffing gives you three inexpensive tips to drive up employee happiness and thus productivity in the workplace.
Encourage Growth Opportunities
Most employees are interested in making their way up the career ladder. Most will jump ship if they find that their efforts have gone un-noticed or they are being passed over due to favoritism. Since you’ve put a lot of effort into training them to perform perfectly for your company, it’s in your best interest to encourage them to stay around. Meet with your management teams; discuss staff career paths, strengths and weaknesses, and various areas where staff have taken initiative. Build in extra training or direct career advancement paths that will apply to those employees. Give opportunities for seminars or workshops being offered in-house, invite employees to networking meetings or lunch-ins and offer outward praise, to those doing extra, during “staff days”. Taking these steps will ensure that your employees are being validated and increase their willingness to go above and beyond for you.
Give a Little on Dress Code
Dress codes, while necessary in context, can be created with some leniency. Individuality trumps uniformity, so let your staff’s personality break through – within reason. Provide guidelines for what is appropriate and what isn’t (for example financial institutions have very strict dress codes compared to magazine companies) but try not to make it so stringent that your employees are left feeling stripped of their own personal voice. Employees need to feel they are being heard, and allowing for some variance in dress code gives them that autonomy and voice. It goes a long way in driving up employee happiness.
Being Flexible is a Good Thing
According to a Bloomberg survey, employees stated that work/life balance has become one of their top priorities in today’s work economy. Trying to juggle family, personal well-being, and job priorities can be stressful. An inexpensive way to drive employee happiness is to offer various work packages. For instance, if you have employees that have peak seasons of work hours, then offer opportunities to telecommute during the off-season. Or maybe you have staff that are new mothers, and are finding it hard to balance this new transition in their lives. Maybe they need one day a week telecommuting to spend time at home with their infant. Rather than lose their goodwill, morale and productivity by forcing them to take sick days or always needing to put all 40 hours in at the office, why not allow that flexibility? As long as they are contributing and getting their work done, it shows you are extending an olive branch and lets them feel they can balance all of their priorities.
Whether, it’s the above tips or offering bikes to get some exercise on lunch break, extending lunch to a full hour, or offering staff appreciation days, there are a multitude of inexpensive ways to drive up employee happiness and morale, all the while increasing work productivity and reducing turnover.
WorkSource is a premier staffing agency where quality and service are our mission. A healthy state of mind within your workforce matters to us. Contact our team at WorkSource and find out how we can help you.