As a company owner, have you considered how your employees feel about their jobs? Is this a 9-5 must-do that pays the bills or are they living their dream and can’t wait to get to work in the morning?
Building a business filled with motivated employees is the corner stone of success. Growth, positivity, great customer support and profits all follow as a natural result. Employees who are disgruntled and demotivated act like bad apples in a basket, bringing down the moral of the organization.
Here are some tips for creating and sustaining employee loyalty and making your company a great organisation that people want to work for.
1. Hire people who aspire to your vision
Every business was started with a great idea in mind. Sometimes this gets lost in the hectic day-to-day pressures. When interviewing prospective employees, get back to basics. Make sure they respond positively and with enthusiasm to your original dreams and that their values and ideas correspond with yours. Apart from checking previous work skills and referrals, do personality screening and see that they fit in with the rest of the team.
2. Increase their skills and promote
Keeping people locked in the same job year after year will cause them to become demotivated. Arrange to send them on regular training courses that will allow them to do their jobs better and smarter or move up to higher positions. There is a plethora of online courses that can be done on the work premises, taking up less time with no travel or additional costs incurred. Ensure that the people in the higher ranks are also suitably trained to inspire an encourage and not feel as if their job positions are being jeopardised.
3. Plan outside team building and brain storming sessions
Apart from your regular work meetings in the board room or boss’s office, organise fun team building, brain storming and motivational seminars and outings. These activities allow employees to get to know one another outside of the workplace and visit locations that they may not normally get to see. Team building events inspire and motivate, resulting in great communication and ideas that will benefit the company.
4. Offer incentives and choice
Rewarding employees financially or with gifts is a great motivator. Don’t just let them wait for that possible year-end bonus. Offering incentives for higher sales targets or better customer service will encourage employees to try harder. Make a great show of giving awards at conferences and seminars, so that everyone recognizes their achievements. If you are able to, giving employees a share of the profits is a great motivator. Knowing that they own a small part of the business changes the mindset from an employee to an entrepreneur.
Offering employees a choice goes a long way to a happier and trusted relationship. Can the lady with a baby do some of her work from home? Can the dad with older kids and a school run have flexi-hours to accommodate traffic? Giving people a choice of how, when and where they can do their work shows an element of trust on your side, creating greater employee satisfaction.
5. Have a proper chain of command and an open door policy
A disgruntled employee will eventually cause damage to the moral of the team if their issues are left unattended. Ensure that proper structures are in place for complaints and problems to be dealt with, other than being discussed around the coffee machine. If possible, allow managers and executives at higher levels to be easily approachable. If an employee feels that someone will listen, he or she is less likely to negatively influence those around them.
Increasing employee loyalty is a must for a successful business. When your staff are motivated and excited about their work, your business will flourish, they will grow as individuals and clients will be satisfied, creating the ultimate win-win situation for all.
Jessica Gust is a Marketing Assistant at Localpeek.co.uk– a new postcode finder. She is passionate about new marketing strategies, she is always eager to share her ideas through blogging.
