The key to success in every business is to focus on the customer’s needs while also ensuring that the employees are happy and work in a warm and friendly environment.
Studies show that employees with high job satisfaction are more productive, make better leaders, are more creative and tend to be better team players.
Sometimes small changes can lead to big results. Salary isn’t always the driving factor for satisfied employees. In this article, I will discuss five ways to make your employees not only happier at work but more productive. Each of these solutions is very powerful, can help your business run more efficiently and also improve its overall performance.
1. Show appreciation
Showing appreciation for your employees will have long-term benefits. Your employees will not only enjoy working for you more but will also be more willing to help if you need a favor because they know you appreciate their hard work and effort.
You can express gratitude just by saying ‘thank you’ or delivering a straightforward, specific compliment. For example: “Liz, great work on that report today!”.
At minimum, giving a simple compliment can make someone smile; on a larger scale it even has the power to make someone’s day. The possibility that this person will then seek to make another person happy is increased, since expressing gratitude tends to have a domino effect.
Don’t limit your appreciation to your own efforts; express appreciation and gratitude at work and you will turn your workplace into a positive environment with happy employees.
2. Buy some flowers
Nature can hold the secret to a successful business.
Flowers and plants are a significant way to make a work environment look warm and friendly. Flowers are not only beautiful and smell good, but can make one feel happier just by looking at them.
Studies prove that including flowers and plants in workplaces, improve employees’ creative performance and problem-solving skills. In that study, both women and men generated more ideas and original solutions to problems than in workplaces without any plants.
Flowers and plants can have positive effects on our psychological well-being, stress, and health. Furthermore, they have a positive impact on our state of mind and our emotions; all factors that can make for a happier work environment and better performance.
3. Get branded apparel
As Codrin Arsene, CEO of Digital Authority Partners, a Chicago digital marketing agency says, getting branded apparel for your employees has multiple and varied benefits. One benefit is that it makes workers feel proud and has a positive effect on their states of mind.
In some companies, employees in higher positions wear nicer and fancier clothes to distinguish themselves from others in lower positions. This leads to hierarchical levels in the workspace and can make your employees feel unworthy or uncomfortable.
Branded apparel fosters a culture of equality and makes your employees not only look like a family but feel like a family. It delivers the message that everyone is in this situation together, instilling a positive effect on teamwork.
4. Plan team building activities unrelated to work
Businesses are moving away from encouraging competitive work environments and toward workspaces where collaboration between the employees is seen as the key to success. Team building activities can have a positive impact on employees and increase their performance.
You can organize weekly or monthly events to bring your employees together. For example, if your employees work online, Escapely offers a variety of exciting games to play. You have options like escape rooms, murder mysteries, and team trivia.
Team building activities improve productivity, increase motivation and collaboration, encourage creativity and improve communication among workers.
5. Celebrate team milestones
Celebrating accomplishments is critical to a firm’s success. It not only feels great physically but also reinforces positive behavior and motivation.
Celebrating team milestones can easily be achieved during a monthly 30-minute meeting. You can get some breakfast foods and coffee for your employees and express your gratitude to the ones who achieved something great.
Celebrating good work will not only make the ones who achieved it feel special, but will attract more success. Team members will feel that their work is meaningful as well as exciting and challenging, inspiring them to be successful.
Summary
I hope you enjoyed reading this article and will incorporate some of these methods into your everyday business operations to make your employees happier. Turning your workspace into a better and warmer place for your employees will make them feel appreciated and eager to work.