As a business owner, one of your primary responsibilities is ensuring that the resources available to your business are being used efficiently. Your staff are the backbone of your company, and maximising the productivity of the people you work with is a great way to strengthen the foundation of your business and fuel its sustainable growth.
The techniques managers use to improve employee productivity change, with strategies gaining or losing favour depending on the prevailing thoughts about human resource management at the time. These days, many employers are banking on employee happiness to boost overall productivity in the workplace. Studies have found that happy employees are significantly more productive than unhappy ones, especially when it comes to sales. Also, the stocks of companies in Fortune’s ‘100 Best Companies to Work For’ rose by an average of 14% per year. This only shows that prioritising employee happiness has a positive impact on organisations.
How can you boost employee happiness in the workplace and earn the benefits that come with it? Below, we share 5 ways:
Invest in employee training.
People fear what they don’t know, and no one likes the feeling of not knowing what to do in the workplace. If your employees have doubts about how they should accomplish their goals, then they won’t be able to use their time and energy efficiently. Make sure that newly hired or promoted employees receive adequate training for the tasks they are expected to complete.
Do this by sending them to classes to improve workplace productivity or courses that will allow them to maximise the tools they are using. Training can also be given as an incentive to employees who have a drive for self-improvement. This not only gives them something to look forward to, but it also lets them know that the company values them enough to invest in their growth and development.
Get the right tools for your team.
It’s a challenge to finish anything when the tools that are supposed to aid you in your tasks, are instead, making the job more difficult for you. Pay special attention whenever you are updating or acquiring new software, hardware, or processes, and make it a point to ask your employees how these systems are affecting their productivity. More likely than not, your solutions provider can offer customisation options that will make it much easier for your staff to adopt these new tools.
If you can’t find a ‘workaround’ solution, consider if the benefits of replacing your current system with a more compatible one outweigh the price of doing so. If the answer is yes, then it might be worth it to invest in a system that your employees will be happier to use.
Emphasise the need for clear communication.
Clear communication is essential to improving productivity in the workplace and ensuring your employees’ happiness. This is why there are plenty of courses that specifically focus on creating effective emails and other modes of exchanging instructions and information in the workplace.
Start with yourself and clearly communicate your expectations and goals to your employees. At the same time, encourage them to express their ideas and concerns by listening to them and letting them speak their minds using proper channels. By reducing miscommunication and the problems it brings, you’re lessening the causes of stress in the office and making the place more conducive for productivity.
Know the value of self-care.
Occupational stress is a real problem for working Australians, and it causes employees to miss work, become less productive, and even experience burnout. To reduce its occurrence, it’s important to foster a company culture where self-care is a priority. Employers can contribute to this by having an open line of communication with employees, giving them constructive feedback, and being clear with your expectations of them.
Foster workplace morale.
Happy employees are more engaged with their work and less likely to be distracted by everyday stresses in the workplace. Employees who feel overworked and underappreciated are more likely to burn out and simply go through the motions.
There’s no need to spend much to improve morale. You can offer small incentives like subsidised gym membership, book allowance, or even movie ticket discounts, which can be a reminder to your employees that you appreciate the hard work that they do.
While it sounds counter intuitive, investing in your staff’s happiness is a tried-and-tested way of making them more productive at work. By taking your employees’ interests seriously, you encourage them to take your business seriously, too.
A little change of mindset can go a long way in helping you determine the steps you need to take to make sure your employees are satisfied with their jobs and happy with the work that they do. You can start by putting yourself in your employees’ shoes and then thinking of the improvements that your workplace still needs. Doing so gives you a better perspective of the challenges they face and how the management can help them spend challenging yet fulfilling days in the workplace.Â