Starting a business is normally no easy feat. If you have your own small business, you’ve probably put in your own blood, sweat and tears to get it off the ground. This is exactly why it’s so important to ensure that it continues to run successfully.
One of the main elements of business success is employee engagement. Engaging employees will encourage them to generally work harder and be more productive, which usually equates to high revenue and increased success.
In an ideal world, your employees would work as hard at their jobs, as you worked on your own business. This guide provides 12 tips to help engage your employees, increase employee engagement and ensure that your business thrives as a result.
7. Loosen up on a Friday afternoon
Almost anyone who’s worked for a long period of time in a Monday – Friday office job can relate to the “Friday” feeling. After all, how common are ‘Happy Friday’ mentions in emails sent on that day?
Employees often come to work on Friday invigorated and happy because they know they have a weekend of relaxation (or partying!) ahead of them. A company can adopt a relaxed Friday afternoon strategy in an effort to thank workers for their hard work all week.
A few ways to do this would be to make offer an extended lunch break, afternoon drinks or allow staff to dress more casually on Fridays. This should help to make employees feel valued.
8. Don’t underestimate a good onboarding process
The age-old sentiment says first impressions counts. And this rings true when it comes to employment. If an employee is given a thorough and positive onboarding process, they should enter the workforce in a positive frame of mind.
When going through the training process let the new employee, management should let them know expected what’s expected of them in a friendly way. Great managers will be able to communicate the job role and expectations to new employees while still making them feeling excited and happy about the role they are entering.
9. Know your employees
No two employees are the same, and this is particularly evident when running a small company. For this reason, it’s important to know each of your employees individually so that you can cater to their particular needs and ensure that they are fulfilled.
For example, perhaps one staff member works best when they are just left to do their things on their own, whereas another employee might thrive with most supervision and positive reinforcement. A good leader should be able to recognize this and identify what each employee needs in order to thrive.
10. Conduct a survey to see whether employees feel engaged
Conducting a survey is one of the clearest ways to find out whether or not employees feel engaged. By doing this, you can ask direct questions as to if something benefits their engagement in the work environment. With this knowledge, you can plan accordingly to see what needs to be changed.
11. Recognise your staff and reward their hard work
Most employees will agree that when their hard work is recognised and rewarded, they feel valued and respected. On the other hand, when an employee’s great work is ignored, it can feel demoralizing and cause them to wonder why they bother working so hard – which leads to lower engagement.
In order to avoid the latter scenario, leaders should stay vigilant about the amount of effort and hard work employees are putting in. If they notice an employee is doing a great job, they should either vocalise this or physically show their appreciation by rewarding the employee (eg a bonus, gift voucher or free lunch). This will help boos staff morale, as well as encourage professional development.
12. Celebrate birthdays and provide surprise treats
In an ideal work, employees would show up to work hard every day. However, to achieve this leaders should strive to add a personalised element to the work environment. An example of this is to celebrate an employee’s birthday by providing treats or a cake. Though it’s a small gesture, it shows that the company cares about them, which can lead to increased employee engagement. This is an example of striking a good work-life balance and can help to boost job satisfaction.
Some final thoughts on building employee engagement ideas for small companies
Having engaged staff is a very effective way to achieve maximum productivity from your staff while lowering turnover rates at the same time. You can do this by creating a strong employee engagement program. Practising the above points is a great start toward increasing engagement and helping to make your business thrive.