5 Simple Yet Powerful Ways To Keep Employees Happy

What do you think has the biggest impact on your bottom line?

If the state of the economy comes to mind, think again.  It’s your people – your employees.

In her book Make More Money by Making Your Employees Happy, author/clinical psychologist Dr. Noelle Nelson points to tripled stock prices for businesses in Fortune’s ‘100 Best Companies to Work For’ between 1998-2005, compared to the overall market.  Simply put: companies that put more emphasis on making employees feel valued make more money than the rest.

Happy Employees Lead To Higher Profits 

As Forbes contributor Steve Cooper cites from Nelson’s book:

“When employees feel that the company takes their interest to heart, then the employees will take company interests to heart.”

The efforts you make to improve employee happiness have an impact on the quality of productivity, performance and customer service for your company. Small yet powerful changes set the tone for mutual respect and value.  And from there, things can only get better.

Here are 5 of our favourite ways to keep employees happy:

1.    Give recognition

“People want to know when they are doing something right,” says The Next Web contributor Taro Fukuyama in his article “Making awesome people happy at work (and stopping them from quitting)”.

Fukuyama believes it’s as simple an act as saying thank you to your employees for their contributions.

“The psychological validation that comes from honest and thankful recognition works wonders,” he says. While you can always take it a step further with rewards and bonus systems, never underestimate the basic brilliance of “Thank you!”

2.    Keep your promises (even the small ones)

You want to attract top talent and make your company look desirable to work for. But don’t inflate the truth to boost your brand.

In your job descriptions, operations handbooks and contracts, keep your promises realizable and your language transparent.  Deliver on what you say you offer, such as bonuses, raises, vacation time and perks. Always, always follow through, or risk making your valuable people feel resentful and unappreciated.

3.    Show compassion

Reality check: medical appointments happen. Late-afternoon soccer games happen.  Children pick-up/drop-up coordination chaos happens. That’s life! And when life happens to your employees, show compassion.  Be understanding of their extra-curricular obligations. Offer as much work schedule flexibility as possible to accommodate their needs.

Start with an open heart; trust that your staff won’t take advantage of your flexibility, and chances are, they won’t.

4.    Buddy up

Here’s a new hire tip: kick-start the positive vibes by implementing a “buddy” system. Here’s how it works:

Create a workforce of volunteer veteran employees to pair up with new hires. Advise the long-standing employees to take newbies to lunch, introduce them to other staff members, and check in with them a couple times a week for the first few months on the job. The objective is to make the new people feel welcomed and familiar with fellow colleagues right away.

Get more tips for making new hires productive and happy from Day 1!

5.    Help them be their best

Remember the talents you hired your employees for? Somewhere between the emails and office errands, they’re fighting for time to do what they do best. And if the stress of extraneous tasks weighs them down, they’re bound to get weary.

So lift the weight for them.  Work with staffing agencies to bring on temp workers who can provide relief for administrative work and other duties. Ask your employees if there are any scheduling changes or resources needed to be more productive.  Your willingness to help them succeed is just the boost of energy they need to do their best.

Staffing agencies can help, too

When you partner up with a staffing agency, you gain access to a valuable resource for maintaining employee happiness. Staffing agencies can provide the short or long term staff assistance you need to prevent employee burnout, relieve seasonal business stress and reduce turnover.

Contact Stacey at Aspire Recruitment Solutions to learn more about getting started with a staffing agency!