Every successful entrepreneur knows how important it is to keep your employees happy and motivated. Keep in mind that they are the backbone of your company. As a business owner, providing their needs should always be on top of your list. It is also your responsibility as a leader to help them hone their skills and achieve their goals.
Here some of the best ways to keep your staff happy, engaged, and motivated:
1. Be Creative with your Incentives
While monetary reward is good, there are other employee incentive programs you should explore. Organizing corporate events such as team buildings, group activity seminars, vacation, and lunch or dinner treats can be encouraging to your employees.
According to a study conducted by Maritz Institute and the Incentive Research Foundation, most participants enjoy virtual awards presentation. They have observed that non-cash rewards have a stronger emotional impact. The chief behavioral officer of Maritz, Charlotte Blank also pointed out that nonmonetary incentives are more memorable for employees.
2. Keep everyone Updated
Keeping everyone in the loop is also a big factor to your employees’ morale. As a leader, you need to be transparent with everything happening in the company. One way to do this is to organize a weekly conference. This is where you can make announcements about your plans for the month and other important updates. Take this opportunity to give recognition to your staff, as well.
According to TINY pulse study, open communication or transparency can impact professional growth. Set clear goals to your team leaders or managers. Get their feedback about certain issues. Ask them if they have any concerns. Making them an integral part of the conversation will give them a sense of purpose.
3. Facilitate your Employee’s Career Path
This is one of the important tasks most companies usually overlook, and also one of the main reasons for the high attrition rate. If your employees only see their job as a source of income, you can’t expect them to stay for a long time.
The problem with some employers is they base everything on the job description they give to their staff. You need to make big changes for this. Create a program where they can develop a career path within your organization. Help them develop a new skill, or enhance existing ones. Training and development should always be part of the action plan. Find ways to integrate each employee’s interests to a unique role in your company. Otherwise, they will take this opportunity somewhere else.
4. Evaluate your Company’s Structure
Every company needs to evaluate how they manage things around the office. This is why it is essential that your department heads or managers are keeping track of their staff’s performance on a daily basis.
Assess all departmental activities. You can do this quarterly to gather more data. Construct different action plans to address any issue. Observe how each team will respond and make necessary adjustments.
Keeping your employees happy and motivated is a work in progress. As a leader, you need to be decisive and set good examples. Remember, communication plays a big role in your success. Sun Tzu said it best, “If words of command are not clear and distinct, if orders are not thoroughly understood, then the general is to blame. But if orders are clear and the soldiers nevertheless disobey, then it is the fault of their officers.”
