When running a business, many people often skimp on the management aspect. When this occurs, employees can become dissatisfied, and may even leave if a better opportunity arises. As a business owner, it is your job to prevent that. In order to do so, the most tried and true method is to foster a better work environment, and make people feel positive and appreciated. There are numerous ways to do this – although some methods certainty work better than other ones. With that in mind, here are several ways to better recognize your employees and make them feel as though they work for a great company that they’ll want to continue at for years to come.
Take Them Out for Lunch
If the organization is small enough, employees often feel as though they should have direct facetime with their superiors. Even if the organization is too big for the CEO to do this, perhaps a senior manager can take on the task. Employees want to feel like their voice is heard, and often like to put a face to the name of who they are working for. Taking them out to lunch, or even occasionally eating with them in the office, can improve retention and make employees feel like people are just people – and teach them to not be so intimidated about going to management with their questions and concerns.
Create an Employee Recognition Program
Employee recognition programs are one of the best ways to make employees feel appreciated, and that their hard work has been noticed. This can, of course, take many forms. Some companies like to go all out and recognize employees with award ceremonies akin to the Oscars, while other employers prefer to make it quieter and have managers have personal conversations with employees in order to make them feel good about their work and boost their morale. Regardless of how you go about it, employee recognition programs will make employees feel much better when you regularly communicate to them how much you appreciate their hard work and recognize them for it.
Make Work More Flexible
There’s nothing greater for employees than a flexible working environment. This means everything from being able to leave work early to pick up a kid, to being able to come in later than normal if no meetings are scheduled or immediate tasks need to be handled. However, with a flexible working schedule, employees will feel as though they can their work more efficiently, as they will not have to waste pointless hours at the office where their presence is not needed. If that is the case, then implementing a flexible work policy will help employees feel a better sense of trust toward your business, and will show that you recognize their efforts.
There are, of course, many other ways to recognize employees. But whether you use an employee recognition program, a flexible work policy, create more face-to-face meetings, or all of the above, employee recognition is about one thing and one thing alone – communication. Employees want to feel that they are treated like adults, and that their work is being properly recognized. Doing so will allow you run a more successful company and also create a better relationship with employees, thereby encouraging them to stay for as long as it makes sense for their careers.