When you run a business and you employ staff, they are undoubtedly what will make or break your company. They are the people who deal with the day-to-day of keeping the business going, the people who talk to your customers and clients and the people who determine just how productive your business really is. So, it’s really important that you keep them happy, not only so they stay with you and do their best work, but also because study after study has found that happy employees are much more productive than unhappy members of staff.

Okay, so how do you keep your employees happy?

Reward Them

It’s pretty obvious, but if your reward your employees when they have worked hard and done something really positive for your business they will feel appreciated and you will further increase their motivation to do well and help the business to grow and thrive. The key is to reward them with stuff they would actually like rather than boring cor[orate trophies or lunch with the boss (unless they’d like that of course).

Offer Them Opportunities to Grow

Most people like to be challenged by their work, and they like to feel that they have the chance to progress up the corporate ladder. If you can’t give them that, sooner or later they will get bored or frustrated and eventually look for opportunities elsewhere. A simple way of ensuring that this doesn’t happen is by sending them on courses and to workshops or even by paying for them to gain additional, higher, qualifications. Create Learning is one of many companies who offers professional development for employees, but where they are perhaps better is in the fact that their courses will benefit your business just as much as they do your employees by giving them high-level leadership, sales and communication skills that should boost your bottom line. Look at professional development for your employees as an investment because at the end of the day, that’s really what it is.

Get to Know Them

There’s nothing worse than working for a boss who doesn’t know that you exist. It feels completely demoralising and you start to wonder why you are working hard for someone who does not give you the time of day. So, as a boss, make it your mission to get to know each and every one of your employees to the point where you at least know their name, what they do and maybe who their family/ what their interests are. If you have the time, go down to the office and have a chat with them, take them to lunch at a fancy restaurant like Quay, or get involved in the work on the ground floor yourself. It will do more than you might imagine for morale and those employees will want to do their very best for you.

More than that, you may also want to know what motivates them to do their work. Conducting an employee engagement survey is a good tool to measure and assess how motivated and engaged your employees are to perform their best at work each day. This way, you can gain insight into employees' thoughts and attitudes towards their work and the overall environment.

Give Them Some Freedom

Give your employees more freedom and chances are they won’t abuse it; they’ll respect you and when they are working they’ll do their very best for you. So, let them take naps, make it known they can leave early to see their family on Friday afternoons, or maybe even let them work from home sometimes - what do you have to lose?

Make your employees happy and they’ll make you even more happy in return.

contributed article