Happy Workers Make Happy Owners

In yesterday’s blog, we began discussing a very important way that business owners can increase their sales. While it is always important to make your customers feel valued, it is just as important to give the same feelings of value to your employees. Boosting employee morale is a key ingredient to running a successful business.

Taking a look at a Ragan.com article by Joy Powers, we began looking at ways that you can make your staff feel appreciated. It is often said that a happy employee is a productive employee. And especially with summer saying its official goodbyes this month, now is the perfect time to find new ways to cheer your summer-loving employees up.

Treat your employees like people, insists Powers. Simple enough concept, right? Extend small gestures to them like always calling them by name and acknowledging certain events like birthdays. Send flowers or at the very least, a kind phone call when they are sick. Make each person on your staff feel like you care about them and make these feelings genuine.

Be sure to offer proper training. It is very frustrating for workers to be told to do a job that they were not adequately trained for. As well, Powers notes that a major reason for employees to leave a company is the lack of development opportunities. This means giving your best people added responsibilities when they are deserving of them. If your employees see personal growth, your company will see growth as well.

Don’t forget about the small perks. Rewarding staff members with certain perks make a huge difference in how they feel about working for you. For example, if an employee has done an exceptional job, you may want to offer them a special bonus. Perhaps, the ability to leave work early on Friday will be enough to make them extremely happy.

Keep your staff in the loop, reminds Powers. She writes: “When employees don’t know what is going on in the company, productivity can give way to redundant or otherwise unnecessary efforts on the part of the staff. Worse yet, when employees are given only part of the story, they are left to fill in the blanks with gossip, rumors and worry.”

Finally, make the office fun. Workers will be eager to arrive at the job each day if they know that the time spent there will be enjoyable, as opposed to depressing. One way to do this is to ask your workers what motivates them and give them incentives.

Feel free to make friendly games and competitions part of the work atmosphere. Remember, happy employees will help your business to run like a well-oiled machine. We’re sure that’ll make you happy too!