If you own a business, you should know that your employees’ state of mind has big impact on your bottom line. A 2009 study at the University of Kansas proves that employees that doing well psychologically exhibit higher job performance. It was found that happy employees perform at a rate that is consistently 10% higher than unhappy employees. Bosses take note – a grumpy staff means bad things for the bottom line!
If you’re looking for ways to make your staff meetings happier and more productive, give these strategies a go:
- Use your heart. If you act compassionate to the needs of your employees, they will respond to this. Be genuine in your management techniques and people will respond. A little bit of charisma never hurt.
- Play by the rules. Even if you are the boss, showing up late and acting “above the law” is a sure way to make your employees unhappy, particularly if they have to follow the rules. Pro Tip: show up to work on time.
- Make it traditional. Having monthly or yearly traditions can help make an office more like a community. The corporate softball game shouldn’t become a relic of the past!
- Handwritten notes still work. Sounds corny, but leaving personally written notes for your employees does help build warmth and camaraderie. Try to remember birthdays, and try to remember information about your employees’ families and personal lives. Congratulating employees on their birthdays makes employees feel valued, which in turn will make them happier.
- Make room for fun. It’s okay to spend a couple of hours on fun and games. Occasionally hosting things like work-wide murder mysteries and game days will allow your employees to mentally unwind. Work shouldn’t always be stressful – an occasional bout of fun during work hours will go a long way toward securing the happiness of your staff.
- Give employees the control. Creating corporate culture shouldn’t be entirely up to the bosses. Consider involving your employees – perhaps somebody can be in charge of the monthly trivia game, or somebody else can work on making the break room a comfortable place to be. Giving employees control over corporate culture helps them make it their own – and when people feel like they belong, happiness goes up.
- Career paths matter. People want to feel as though they are going there and they love to see indicators along the way. Make sure that you give your employees a sense of progress – both for their personal career paths as well as company wide. You’re all working together to get somewhere – let your employees know that their hard work is paying off.
- Recognize excellence. Think about it: do you reward employees for doing a good job? If somebody exhibits excellence, make sure that you recognize it right away. You don’t even have to give cash out to reward – even a kind word and a free candy bar can be enough to let somebody know that they are appreciated.
- Compensate fairly. Don’t hog all of the profit for yourself. If you’re having a record-breaking month, make sure that you parcel out the reward accordingly. One of the fastest ways to create a disgruntled employee is to pay him less than what he is worth. One of the fastest ways to make an employee happy? End of year bonus!
- Listen. Give your employees a voice. No matter how good of a manager you are, there will be bumps along the way. Make sure that your corporate culture includes room for the employee to speak – this way you’ll be able to correct problems as they arise, rather than having them build up and build up until you have a morale crisis on your hands.
Happy employees are productive employees, and productive employees are profitable ones. When you’re working to build your business, also work to cultivate your culture – it will pay off in spades later!
