It’s time that employers understood that creating a happy workforce is a key business priority. Not only is it important morally, but it’s clear from numerous studies and personal experiences that happy employees make productive employees.
If you’re looking at your business and you’re not sure that the people who work for you are happy, fulfilled, and supported, then you’ve come to the right place. In this article, you’ll learn about the different ways in which you can create a happy, inclusive and diverse place to work, meaning you’ll find it easier to hire and retain talent, boost productivity and feel proud of the place you’ve created.
1. Listen to your employees
It can be all too easy as the boss to dismiss the gripes or concerns of your employees, passing it off as standard grumbling. But if you take time to sit down with staff members, learn about them as individuals and listen when they have problems, then you’ll likely stop issues or problems from developing.
2. Look at the company culture
A lot of how an employee feels in the office (or their employees and social events, if your business relies on remote working) is down to the culture of the business. The culture of a business is based on your beliefs and behaviors. So, take a look at what your company stands for. Is there an emphasis on diversity and inclusion? Does the business encourage employees to find a good work/life balance? Is there a culture of personal development and career progression? It may be time for you to get thinking about what you can do to improve the company culture.
3. Support personal growth
After listening to your employees, now you can implement programs, training or other means for your employees to improve themselves. That doesn’t mean you immediately have to start offering MBAs to all managers, don’t worry. What it does mean is enabling your staff members to improve themselves. Always wanted to learn how to code? Help them get on a course. Planning to study for a degree that can help them be better at their job and gain confidence? Share helpful sample personal statements.
4. Create a sociable environment
In this present age of remote working, many employees crave a sociable, collaborative element to their roles. Consider what you can do to help your staff members make connections with each other – this can, in turn, improve the work employment and contribute to their happiness. Provide opportunities for social engagements beyond just water-cooler moments. That could mean office socials, or installing comfortable, considered seating to encourage break-out meetings or collaborative brainstorming.
5. Foster employee wellbeing
No matter how busy your work environment can get, it is important to offer personal support, build better peer-to-peer connections, ensure that your employees have suitable flexible working possibilities, practice gratitude among peers and make sure that your employees are well supported in their mental health. All this will go a long way to helping them to thrive and become the perfect advocates for your company to future potential employees in the future.
Hopefully, this article has provided you with some insight into how vital staff happiness is, for moral, productive and wellbeing reasons. While there are no quick fixes, there are simple, honest ways to ensure that you’re doing all you can to make sure that everyone who works for you is as happy and fulfilled as they can be.
