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Getting your employees to do their fair share of work and more is not — and should not be — a function of how much you pay them. While employees undoubtedly are likely happy or thrilled after receiving a raise, that alone won’t be what influences them to show up to work every day, as well as be productive and happy in their job. The only way to achieve this is through job satisfaction and overall workplace happiness.
To promote a more happy and productive workplace, companies like Google provide employees with beanbag chairs and games as a way to encourage teamwork and stress relief. Of course, keeping your employees happy takes a bit of commitment and creativity, but it’s well worth the effort. Here are five easy ways to promote increased employee productivity across all industries.
1. Reward Good Work
Start by rewarding good work. You don’t have to use cash; in fact, your employees would prefer if you didn’t, as most would agree this type of incentive comes off as impersonal and thoughtless. Instead, recognize any stellar employees with a new set of luggage for hitting sales goals or, even more simply, write a heartfelt note of thanks when they do something well.
2. Focus On Training
For a good majority of your employees, acquiring new skill sets not only can help lead to a promotion, but also provide a sense of accomplishment. To that end, make it a point to encourage your employees to take a skills assessment, gain new skills, certifications and licenses through any number of seminars or online courses.
After all, your company may not have the time nor resources for such endeavors. Or, you may assume new employees will simply pick up and absorb everything they need to know on the job. That’s not always the case, though, and employees can easily become frustrated and complacent when they don’t get a sense that their employer is looking out for their best interests.
Ultimately, providing enhanced training — and generally promoting the concept of lifelong learning — will help your workers feel more confident and capable in their roles.
3. Communicate Effectively
Transparency and open communication are the keys to establishing an effective workplace. To that end, make it a point to keep your employees in the loop on matters of utmost importance to them and their roles through regular in-person communication.
Indeed, the more open and transparent your dialogue, the better you will understand the unique contributions your employees bring to the table, allowing you to give them work that leverages their innate talents. And, if you take the time to explain in detail what — and, more importantly, a sense of why — you need your employees to accomplish, you will empower them to do good work.
4. Mind Your Management
Even the best employees the world over would be ineffective and feel lost under poor leadership. Ideally, your managers should go through regular, intensive leadership coaching or training in order to be more effective in their jobs, as well as to get the most out of and inspire their subordinates.
Likewise, make sure your managers are leading by example; after all, if your employees cannot and don’t respect your management team, they may feel checked out, even demoralized, as well as less productive.
5. Provide Resources
Finally, keep in mind the more simple and comfortable you can make it for your employees to do their jobs, the happier and more productive they will be. While this often means providing them with the right tools, equipment and software to do their jobs, it goes beyond that.
Ever find it difficult to locate the contact information of certain companies large and small alike? Those daunting online searches can make it seem like you’ll never find the answers you need. Fortunately, you and your employees can turn to an online resource like 800-numbers.net, which contains a collection of toll-free numbers for common services for a slew of different companies, to help better streamline day-to-day work.
Workplace Happiness Begets Enhanced Productivity
Happy employees equals more productive employees. To that end, reward your employees who regularly perform well and knock it out of the park so they feel a sense of confidence and accomplishment. Additionally, try to engage with your employees in different ways, so they feel as though their time and contributions are valued. Finally, make sure your management team is leading by example and that you’re providing the right resources to your team. Because when your employees feel valued and happy, everyone wins.
