One of the most challenging aspects of being a small business owner is keeping your employees happy. A satisfied employee will boost their productivity and improve their interaction with customers. A happy employee will make the work place a more pleasant place to be and minimize workplace conflicts. However, it’s not easy to keep your employees happy. In the latest survey, nearly two third of respondents said they were dissatisfied with their job. Here are some ways to motivate your staff.
Offer room for growth
Many employees feel stuck in their job which can turn into detachment over the long run. Some employees have more potential than others and it’s a good idea to give them more training and growth opportunities. If the employees link their personal growth with the business’ success, then they will work harder to help the business grow.
Don’t micromanage
Nobody likes to have someone looking over their shoulder when they are working. Micromanaging an employee will increase stress for everyone involved. Give the employee the needed training and then monitor the result from a distance. Let the employee know that they can ask for help and step away.
Camaraderie
One crucial way to keep the employee happy is to build camaraderie in your team. When a team of employees are friends, they work much better with each other and they can power through many obstacles. Sponsoring activities with food such as a BBQ or other get-togethers is a cheap way to bring people together. Once in a while, a corporate hospitality event like a football game would go a long way toward boosting everyone’s moral.
Comparable salary
A team of employees who perform similar tasks should have comparable salaries. If one employee makes more money than the others, the news will inevitably get out. Discovering that your co-worker makes more money than you will cause you to be a lot less happy at work (especially if you perform better.)
Frequent small bonuses
Instead of a big yearend bonus, consider giving out small bonuses frequently instead. If an employee performs especially well, thank them in a team meeting and give them a small bonus. Even $50 is appreciated and it will show the employees that you recognize their contribution.
Give your employee a voice
Let your employees know that you value their input and listen to their ideas. Toyota has been using the employee suggestion system in their factories for years and it helps to continuously improve the whole production line. The employees feel more involved and the company also improves. It’s also important to encourage the employee to drive their idea to completion. Focusing on employee involvement will encourage employees to submit their ideas.
These are just a few things a small business owner can do to keep their employees happy. A happy employee is much more important to a small business because the customer interaction needs to be top notch. A happy employee is much more like to provide great service that will keep bringing the customer back. As the business owner, you also want to work in a pleasant environment so keeping your employee happy is a win-win proposition.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Micromanaging is really easy to do when you are a small business owner. Anybody who has ever nurtured their business from birth of course is going to feel “out of control” when their baby starts trying to ride the bike for the first time. It’s better to take the training wheels off and cheer from a distance and teach them when they fall. Frustration and doubt in your employees mind is like riding without a helmet. Eventually somebody is going to get hurt!
I’d also say these are key to a good dept in a mid to large business.
I work in a K-12 school district, about 20 people in the Tech dept, split into two groups.
I’ve been there for 18 years largely because of #1, 2, 3 and 6 – not so much 4 and 5.
Everybody loves the occassional B-day lunch or pizza get together – and it brings us all together in ways that are hard to do otherwise. When all communication is done over email or phone, people start to lose the feeling that the person on the other end of the line is also a person.
I would also say flexibility is a key piece – I’m not sure I’ve gotten to work on time for more than maybe 10% of my time there, but because they don’t watch the clock on that, I put in extra hours often when needed to help fix critical things and do my long-winded emailing
, among other things.
Another thing I think worth mentioning – if an employee is not happy, s/he is unhappy. And that can result in a whole lot of other problems that may sabatoge the team as a whole, whether it’s a small business, or a dept. in a larger business/org.
My boss and my boss’s boss have been wonderful at letting me, and helping me, grow over the past 18 years, and that has kept me challenged and interested.
But my boss’s boss just retired in December, and my boss is tentatively retiring next October. And what I’m seeing in management above the tech dept. is micromanagement in ways that don’t match very well how I do things.
So I’m looking to clean up loose ends and be on my way if I can find a good option.
Had an unofficial ‘bring your dog to work’ day after my boss’s boss’s (please forgive me if I didn’t get the s’s and quotes right on that – never can figure out what I’m supposed to do there…) retirement lunch, so I had to share
.
http://www.gthomson.us/graphics/chipper/bydtwp.jpg
And no, he didn’t pee on any of the servers.
And yes, I did it while I wasn’t on the clock for tax payer dollars
Interesting topic RB40, because everybody’s motivations can be so unique in what keeps them happy. I would also guess what keeps people happy may even vary based on industry sector?
Greg