Time and time again, studies have shown that employee satisfaction and employee morale have a major impact on business productivity. A happy worker is a busy worker, and you will get a lot more production out of employees who are satisfied than ones that are miserable. Here are four simple steps you can take to boost employee satisfaction.
1. Have an Employee Appreciation Day
Studies also show that what employees respond to the most from an employer is often not the salary, benefits or even job security. Rather, it’s the feeling that their work is valued and appreciated.
A day where you take employees aside for some fun activities, refreshments and prizes to show your appreciation will certainly go along way. However, even simply thanking your employees on a regular basis for their hard work and pointing it out when you’ve noticed them doing a good job or going the extra mile is a great way to keep them working hard for you week in and week out.
2. Flexible Scheduling
It’s not always feasible, especially in manufacturing, to give employees a lot of flexibility with their shifts. If you are able to, however, it can dramatically increase satisfaction.
Allowing an employee to work from home once a week or to choose a schedule where they come in an hour or two earlier or later and make up for it on the other side is another way you can give employees some feeling of control and appreciation in their jobs.
3. Feedback
One of the most important tools in your arsenal as a manager is feedback. It is very important to employees that they feel listened to and that their concerns and ideas are heard by management.
It is also important for you as a manager to know what your employees are responding to or not appreciating with respect to your management style.
You’re not going to let the employees run the show, but letting them know that you are hearing and considering their feelings and suggestions will make them feel more connected to the business and more motivated to make sure it succeeds.
4. Ownership
If you can give some stock in your company to your employees, even if it is just a little bit, you have a fantastic tool for increasing employee engagement and productivity. After all, once they have a piece of the company, they’re working for themselves, not just for you, and no one works harder than when they are working for themselves.
If giving out pieces of your company is not feasible, tying bonuses into achieving certain milestones can have a similar effect. You want your employees to feel like the company’s success is everyone’s. If an employee gets the same salary, benefits, and perks whether the company makes $100,000 or a million dollars, why should they work that much harder?
Try implementing some of these ideas in your workplace and see if you do not notice a fast uptick in employee attitude, morale, and productivity.