Creative Ways to Keep Your Employees Happy
Something that isn’t often a regular discussion among decision makers in most companies is employee happiness. Of course, most places do their best to meet the standard of a good workplace; but in today’s nation-wide situation of employee shortages, businesses must go beyond that.
As a leader within your organization, when was the last time that you looked into new ways to boost employee happiness and gain a reputation of one of the best companies to work for?
Right now, many businesses in the Light Industrial and Warehouse sectors are concerned because they can’t offer the new trends of working remotely or start time flexibility, due to specific deadlines and operational equipment being necessary to do the job(s).
These factors give them the impression that they have no chance of making their employees as happy as organizations that can provide those options, discouraging them from even trying.
However, in a 2021 analysis of employee surveys and feedback, Costco and H.E.B., two places that require both in-person work and manual labor made the list of the year’s Top 25 Major U.S. Companies with the Happiest Employees.
It just goes to show that any company can be a good place to work if you are listening to the needs of your employees and offering them a good wage, benefits, and working environment.
Here is a list of our recommendations on how to create a happy workplace for your employees:
1. Encourage Camaraderie and Relationship Building at Work
One of the things consistently mentioned by employees of the happiest companies to work for is engagement between team members. In past times, employees were discouraged from getting to know each other too well and from having idle conversations during the work day. Present times are different. Employees who feel comfortable with one another and know each other’s work styles and habits will work better together. This will also lead to more employee retention and fewer call outs, as employees will enjoy coming to work every day.
Some ways you can encourage camaraderie are: hosting daily team-wide coffee breaks, setting aside time each week to host fun activities, and even just being ok with chit-chat throughout the day.
2. Address All Employees Individually
At times, it can feel like giving recognition to an entire department is enough; but if you want to ensure your employees are happy, you must see all employees as individuals. If someone regularly keeps to themselves, or doesn’t ever complain/offer feedback, it’s easy to assume they must be perfectly content. However, this is how many managers end up surprised when someone on their team quits unexpectedly.
Make time to check-in with each of your employees 1:1, even if it’s just for a few minutes every few weeks. Also be sure to praise each person personally when something has been accomplished. All employees deserve to be noticed and will remember that you set aside time for them.
3. Implement Resolve
From an employee perspective, it is very frustrating when an issue comes up and nothing is done to ensure it doesn’t happen again. As an employer, you’re not expected to have all of the answers or come up with a solution on-the-spot. But, it’s important that you give your employees a timeline for when you will address the problem and follow up with them when that time comes.
Many times, this means that new policies or standard operating procedures need to be implemented. Putting something in place will reassure your employees that you care about them and that all situations will be handled accordingly.
4. Offer In-House Perks
This especially applies to companies that don’t have the ability to offer remote work. If you want to keep the employees you do have, they must have reasons to want to come in.
Consider integrating things such as a healthy snack and beverage bar that is unlimited and available to employees at all times. Some companies have gone as far as building in a kombucha on tap bar.
Other options could be having an in-house gym for employees to use or putting massage chairs in the break room. Perks like this may seem like a big investment, but are likely necessary if you want to compete with other companies.
It’s important to note that if you choose to provide these things, they must be maintained. This means snacks always fully stocked, the gym regularly cleaned, and the massage chairs in good condition and fixed right away if they get broken.
All employees will be excited when you initially offer these perks, but that excitement will quickly dwindle if they are not consistently maintained.
If your company is in need of employees, we at Award are here to help. Contact us with your staffing needs here.
