Successful businesses work to create a happy workplace for their employees, and as a result, efficiency and productivity go up. Today’s workforce looks at many facets of a company before accepting an offer, from benefits and salary to workload and time off. However, many are more concerned about the workplace’s overall atmosphere as they want to be happy and excited to come to work. Whether it’s fine-tuning the way conflict resolution is approached in your company or focusing more on the employee experience – there are many factors business owners can consider to create a workplace all team members enjoy.
Encourage Daily Communications
Every employee in your workplace has an individual set of daily tasks or projects to complete. More often than not, many fall into a busy work routine that doesn’t allow a lot of personal interaction with coworkers. Management and higher-ranking individuals should make it a point to communicate each day with their employees, whether this is a simple hello, smile, or a full-blown conversation. Encouraging these communications will not only help your team members feel welcome, but they will also feel appreciated and like their role matters in your company. Your team members will likely adapt daily communication into their own routines, which will help everyone establish relationships, increase workplace productivity, and encourage collaboration.
A simple way you can start encouraging daily communications in your workplace is by making a point to learn something new about team members every week. Not only will this open the door for more in-depth conversation, but it will build a sense of community within your workplace because employees will have the opportunity to identify similarities among one another. Along with this, creating a policy for executives, managers, and other team members to greet or start a conversation with another coworker once a day is an excellent way to kick things off.
Regular Praise + Recognition
According to Inc., many workers today decide to quit their jobs if they feel underappreciated. While it may seem like benefits, workload, or salary would have a larger impact – this isn’t the case. It’s incredibly important to establish a system within your workplace to recognize successes and praise employees for their accomplishments. Not only does this communicate to your employees that you’re aware of the work that they’re doing, but it displays that you’re invested in their overall well-being and want them to be happy at work.
Everyone has preferences as to how they’re recognized, and it’s essential to check in with your employees so you communicate in a way that’s most beneficial to their work style. Whether this is giving a quick shout out during a team meeting about stellar digital content, scheduling a one-on-one feedback session, or creating a weekly meeting just to identify successes, each method is useful in its own way. The days of annual reviews are subsiding, making it essential to recognize and praise your employees for their successes immediately rather than waiting till it’s old news.
Work-Life Balance
You’ve likely heard of the 9 to 5 “grind,” and you may have even fallen victim to it at one point. Everyone spends a substantial amount of time each year focusing on work, and at times, it causes many to miss a lot of important life events, or we just get flat out exhausted. Over the years, many workplaces have focused on improving and encouraging a work-life balance for employees. Discovering changes you can make within your company to allow for a healthy work-life balance will make your employees happy and motivate them to continue providing great work.
While it may seem challenging to identify how you can establish a healthy work-life balance, an easy way to do so is by thinking about what makes you happy outside of work and what perks you would want to make this happiness more accessible. Your employees would likely be drawn to the same perks you are. Companies nationwide have discovered creative ways to support work-life balance, from unlimited vacation days and childcare options to offering work-from-home days and discounts on health and wellness. Every company is different, but at the end of the day, your employees are what matter – it’s time to show them.
Avoid Micromanaging
Establishing a trusting relationship between yourself and your employees is an essential component of overall success. The employees you hire want to feel trusted and supported, rather than being hovered over or micromanaged each day. It’s important to remember that you hired each employee for a reason, and showing them that you’re confident in their abilities is necessary. Productivity is bound to decrease if employees feel unnecessarily micromanaged as it will likely lead to them resenting their job and not performing the way they usually would. Instead, create accountability requirements coupled with incentives, so employees know that the benefits will pay off if they’re completing their tasks and performing well. Communicating to your employees that they have your trust and creative freedom through clear expectations and reasonable boundaries is what will continue to keep their confidence high each day.
Personal + Professional Growth
Every human strives to improve themselves throughout each year, whether through personal or professional development – it’s a basic human need. Employees often feel stagnant if their capability to grow is hindered in any way, meaning it’s incredibly important to help your employees identify their personal career goals and offer growth opportunities. If your employees feel like their work is also benefiting their individual career goals, the day-to-day stresses in the work environment won’t be as much of a bother. A few ways you can support personal and professional growth in your company are as follows:
- Lunch and Learns
- Online Courses
- Industry Trade Shows and Events
- Book Club
- Establishing Personal and Professional Benchmarks
Another simple way to inspire your employees to succeed is by making work fulfilling. Your employees will be more invested in their job if they’re aware of the impact their contributions make on the company as a whole. Take some time to create a document or chart to show what each department or individual does and outline why they do it. This will not only establish transparency with your employees but allow them to learn about the inner workings of your organization and realize that they make an impact each day with their impressive talent.
Team Building
Like life outside of work, it’s often better with company. While we all know that being employed comes hand in hand with work, it doesn’t mean you can’t schedule activities to help bring your team closer together. Your employees will be excited to come to work knowing that the environment you’ve created is fun. Have you ever heard, “work hard, play harder”? This is a phrase that should always be in the back of your mind. Scheduling team outings and team building events will help create a happy workplace and encourage your team members to get to know one another on a more personal level.
- Weekly Happy Hours
- Monthly Team Outings
- Group Lunches
- Cook-Offs
Take Action To Improve Your Workplace Environment
There’s no time like the present to start making changes in your company – it’s never too late. If you’ve been noticing employees not being as productive or feel you don’t know team members as well as you should, it’s likely time to start making changes to improve your workplace environment. Many employees thrive in a fun, collaborative environment, so start identifying ways in which you can enhance your workplace today – it’s that simple.
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