The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of success. Change is good throughout the year if you’re running a business or organization. Changing up the environment for the summertime may in fact increase the enthusiasm and productivity of your employees. The following contributed post is entitled, Fun Features For The Office This Summer.
The office is the heart of the workplace, and the way we decorate and fill our office can have a profound effect on the happiness of our employees on a day to day basis. A boring old office with a blue carpet is what no one wants in their workspace, which is why today we are taking a look at some fun features you can add to the office to make it feel more exciting and fun this year.
A garden bar
Let’s start with a super fun idea: a garden bar. If you have an office which is singular and has its own car park and outdoor space, it would be a shame not to make the most of the fresh air in the summertime. One amazing idea for a Friday lunch treat would be to use a utility cart and fill it with ingredients for cocktails, and have this ready outside whenever your employees want to make a quick tipple on a Friday. You can also buy a utility cart cover with your company logo on which will keep the cart dry and will also act as some fun free advertising if you ever take it out!
A herb garden
One of the things you could do with your employees this summer is give everyone a pot and compost each, and they can all plant a herb seed of their choice and watch as it grows. Not only will this make the outside of the office smell amazing, but it will also allow you to use the fresh herbs for fresh soups and salads in the kitchen!
A coffee bar
If you have a flexible and fun workplace and you are off the philosophy that trusting your employees is key, a coffee bar is a wonderful addition to the office. This can be the ideal escape for anyone who wants to work on a project alone or have a quick brainstorming session with others, and it will act as a more comfortable and informal place for them to work for a little while. It can be an amazing idea and one which will give your workers a change of scenery and pace during their working day.
Events
If you have a policy of fun in the office, a great way to promote local businesses and also bring your employees together is to have people visit the office every month with new products to try or services to provide. It could be cake pops, cocktails, yoga… there are a wealth of things you can offer and this will be a great chance for your employees to try something new and bond a little as a team.
An art wall
If there is a prominent wall in the office which everyone can see, you can send out an email for employees to bring in one piece of art to create a collage on the space. They might choose their own paintings, photographs, movie posters or something different entirely. It will brighten up the space and also allow your workers to get to know each other in a new way.
Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Depending on the kind of business you’re running, a key to its success is hiring the right employees. The following contributed post discusses the types of employees your business needs and is entitled, Essential Employees Your Business Needs!
There are a lot of things that go into making a business truly successful. Everything from clear planning to the right levels of investment are necessary to ensure that your business succeeds. However, there’s one thing that your business needs above just about everything else. That thing is the right people. You might be the head of your business, the driving force behind it. But without the right employees, you’re never going to be able to actually turn your plans into a reality. With that in mind, here are just a few essential employees that your business really needs.
IT
The modern world is one that is run almost entirely on computers. Thanks to the right of computers, smartphones, and high-speed internet, many businesses look completely different from the way that they need even a decade ago. Because of that, you need to make sure that there are people in your business who know exactly how to handle the various challenges that can arise when trying to manage the IT of your business. Otherwise, you run a very high risk of making any problem even worse than it needs to be, wasting huge amounts of time, money, and productivity in the process.
Drivers
When your business gets to a decent enough size it becomes necessary to bring more of the various elements of your business in-house rather than outsourcing them. One of the most common things to start handling in-house is the logistics of transporting and delivering your products. Of course, to do that you’re going to need great drivers. The best thing to do is to contact a truck driver recruiting agency to make sure that you’re finding the best people. This kind of job is simply too important for you to not bring in the most reliable employees possible.
Marketing
One of the most common mistakes that a lot of business owners tend to make is that they assume that marketing isn’t going to be that much of a challenge. And on the surface, it looks pretty simple but thanks to the rise of the internet, digital marketing has become a massive force in the business world. Digital marketing can often be so complicated that it can be kind of overwhelming. That’s why having a dedicated marketing team in your business, even if it’s just a small one, is so important. After all, even the best business can’t survive if no one knows about it.
Of course, it’s not just a matter of finding the right employees who will do the job properly. You all need to think about what your responsibilities are. If you’re not taking proper care of your employees then you run the very serious risk of them becoming frustrated, resentful, and even burning out entirely. You need to make sure that you’re providing them with all of the help and support that they need. Remember, you need them just as much as they need you and only by creating that kind of balanced relationship can your business truly thrive.
The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success, and a key focus is Career Discussions. Regardless of whether you’re an employer or an employee, it’s critical to understand how to avoid conflicts at the workplace as they can both hinder productivity and hinder career advancement. The following contributed post is entitled, How to Avoid Conflict At the Workplace.
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If your employees are unhappy and disengaged, chances are that their productivity will suffer, and they will not represent your company and brand as well as possible in front of your customers. This will lead to reputation damage and conflict in the workplace, which can cause long term problems. Instead of dealing with conflict, you might want to prevent it and take a proactive approach to maintaining a positive work environment. Find a few tips below.
Clear Policies To avoid disagreements that are based on assumptions and misconceptions, it is important that your business has clear human resources and behavior policies. If you don’t have one at the moment, chances are that your employees are just guessing which one is the best approach, and this will lead to conflict and arguments. Talk to a human resources professional to get help with developing your workplace policies.
Value Alignment
When you recruit people to represent your brand, you will need to make sure that they share your values and your vision. If your employees couldn’t care less about customer service or quality, chances are that you are employing the wrong people. There are many ways you can check whether or not your applicants’ values are aligned with your company policy and brand philosophy, using online tools and personality tests.
If there is a block in the communication channels, you will find it hard to communicate your goals and get your employees to commit to them. Workplace communication should never be flowing in one direction only. If you haven’t studied democratic leadership yet, it might be time to find out how you can encourage debates and discussion and avoid value conflict in the workplace, so your employees can fully engage with your company mission and vision.
Shared Goals
To make your workplace run smoother and to encourage collaboration and support, you will need to create shared goals. If you hold monthly appraisal meetings, take your time to sit down with each individual and find out what their personal career goals and aspirations are, so you can find a common trait and goals you can work towards together.
Conflict Management Frameworks
It is crucial that you have a procedure map in case conflict happens in your company. There is no point trying to deny that there is a problem, and the sooner you deal with it, the better you can handle the situation. Mediation, disciplinary procedures, training, and development, as well as sitting down with a civil attorney to learn about the legal framework of dealing with conflict and ethical problems at the workplace might be some of the best options.
When you have employees from different walks of life, conflict is something that may seem inevitable. Create a company culture that values and respects diversity and find a way to align your mission and vision with your employees’ own aspiration. Open up channels of communication, so you can deal with conflict as soon as possible.
The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success and two focuses are Business/Entrepreneurship and Career Discussions. A great perk for many employees is being able to work remotely. Working remotely gives a lot of flexibility and can add to productivity. There’s a downside to it too, and management must consider how to get the most of teams of employees working remotely. The following contributed post is therefore entitled, Employee Engagement Ideas For Remote Teams.
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Ensuring your employees are engaged is not always an easy task, yet it can become even more difficult when dealing with remote teams. Nonetheless, the following employment engagement ideas from Unum should give you a helping hand…
When dealing with a remote team you should never take the ‘no news is good news’ stance. This is likely to lead to disengagement, as the team members may feel you don’t value them enough to tell them what’s going on. It is definitely a case of the more communication, the better.
Embrace Instant Messaging
A lot of managers believe it is more efficient for them to be the only point of contact. However, you risk alienating the team in question, and this is extremely damaging. Why? Well, information won’t flow effectively and work relationships won’t develop. Instead, promote healthy communication via the use of internal instant messaging.
Consider Various Communication Tools
When engaging with a remote team you need to make sure you use the right tool in relation to the message you are giving. If you merely need to rely on a simple message, an email will suffice. However, when something is more elaborate, or complex, or requires brainstorming, it will be more effective to use an advanced video tool. You can easily find these on the Internet, and some are even free to download. However, managed solutions come highly recommend, as they will be developed to suit your business.
Better Scheduling
Why should those on the other side of the world always have to take a conference call whilst they should be sound asleep? A lot of businesses schedule in relation to what is convenient for their home office. However, if you consider your remote teams and schedule for their benefit in some instances, you show that they are just as important and this keeps them engaged.
Give An Explanation
This is a simple yet effective engagement idea for remote teams. Often, everyone in the home office will know what is going on and consequently their reason for performing a particular task. However, remote teams may be asked to do something and they have no clue why. This may interrupt their current workflow and thus cause irritation. Moreover, it may lead them to feel disengaged because they are working on something without purpose. Therefore, all you need to do is explain why.
Create Personal Connections
It doesn’t hurt to ask someone how he or she is and what is going on in their life. A lot of managers neglect to do this because they feel they are wasting time. However, creating a human connection is time well spent. If you can’t spare five minutes of your time to get to know an employee, no matter where they are located, they won’t feel valued. Instead, they will feel overlooked.
So there you have it, six easy yet highly effective employee engagement ideas for your remote teams. As soon as these practices are implemented you will immediately notice a difference. Start today by making a personal connection when you next communicate with someone in a remote team.
The first principal of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success and a key focus is Health/Wellness. No matter which kind of organization you’re running, a key component will be the wellness of your employees and staff. Helping them stay in top shape will all but assure that you will get maximum productivity out of them. The following contributed post is thus entitled, Encourage Healthy Employees With These Wellness Strategies.
Did you know that healthy employees are one of the best assets that any business can have? It makes a lot of sense when you think about it – healthier employees won’t get as sick quite as often and so won’t have to take as many days off to recover from illnesses. That means that you won’t waste any money paying for employees to take days off. But that isn’t the only reason why you need to encourage good health amongst your employees. You will find that fit and healthy workers are a lot more productive, as they have plenty of energy and drive.
There are lots of employers who already know just how beneficial healthy staff are, and so have stepped up measures to encourage healthy choices both in the office and at home. Here are a few popular wellness strategies that work well with employees. Perhaps you will want to try some out with your own staff.
I’m sure that a lot of your employees will drive to the office. This may be the most time-efficient option for people, but it won’t be doing their health any good. It’s worth trying to motivate the employees who live close enough to the office to walk or cycle to work. There are a few ways you can incentivize these choices. For instance, you might want to install some bike racks outside your office so that cyclists have somewhere to keep their bikes safe and secure while they are working. To try to get their workers walking to work, some companies offer their employees wearable devices, like Fitbits to track their daily steps. Running weekly or monthly step competitions within your office will certainly encourage your workers to walk more!
No matter how fit we may be, it can still be possible to end up in accidents and injured. If an employee does end up injured, they may be forced to take a considerable length of time off work. There are ways you can help them speed up their recovery, thankfully. One thing some companies do is build a relationship with a personal injury attorney who they can then get to represent their employee in court. You can contact Sachs Waldman for more information about these kinds of attorneys. Getting a good lawyer on board will greatly improve their chances of winning compensation which they can then use to invest in their rehabilitation and healthcare. Before you know it, the employee will have returned to a full bill of health and will be back in the office.
Encourage Healthy Snack Choices In The Office
Healthy eating goes a long way to helping us maintain good physical and mental health, so you should try to encourage your employees to opt for healthy snacks whenever they feel a pang of hunger. The best way to make sure that everyone reaches for a piece of fruit instead of a chocolate bar is to offer some free healthy snacks and drinks in the office kitchen. A large bowl of fresh fruit will go down really well, especially with those workers who want to satisfy their sweet tooth. It’s also a good idea to offer some cereal bars and other healthy snacks that aren’t too calorific, sugary, or fatty. As well as offering the usual teas and coffee, make sure there is some bottled water and fruit juice for your employees as well.
Lots of research has suggested that employees who make friends with their colleagues and coworkers often enjoy being at work than those who don’t. It makes working together a lot easier, and employees who are friends will often support and help their friends a lot as well. So, it will be really beneficial for you if you promote the creation of social connections between your workforce. There are many ways you can do this, but one of the easiest is organizing office drinks on a Friday evening every so often. Most companies host these drinks every two weeks or on a monthly basis.
Offer Support To Staff With Mental Health Troubles
These days, we all know how difficult it can be to maintain good mental health. Some studies have shown that employees who are emotionally supported in the workplace often find it a lot easier to maintain better mental health than those that aren’t. So, it’s really worth rolling out some top support strategies to all of your employees, especially those who really struggle with serious issues like depression. For instance, some companies like to welcome a councillor into their office once a month, and offer their employees the chance to book a session with them. You should also prevent the development of any workplace bullying and make sure that no one is ever overstretched with their workload.
Offer Gym Memberships As A Perk Of The Job
You will already be offering your employees plenty of perks of the job, but do you already offer them a free monthly gym membership? More and more businesses are now offering this to employees, as most gym memberships are too expensive for individuals to buy on their own. Once you do offer a membership, you will find that your workers are a lot more likely to go to the gym on a regular basis. As a result, they will quickly get fitter and their overall health should also improve.
If you have the space in your office, you should think about installing some showers. This should encourage more employees to run or cycle to work. Lots of people are put off from getting to work in these ways because they will have to spend the day sweaty at their desk. But once showers have been installed, they will be able to take a quick wash so they are fresh for the day ahead.
Once you use these wellness strategies, you should notice a difference in your staff!
The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success and two key focuses are Financial Literacy/Money. Whether you’re running a business or another class of organization, taking care of your employees is critical. Creating an environment where they feel as though their best interests are being considered will assure their loyalty to management. The following contribute post is therefore entitled, Your Most Valuable Resource: People & How To Take Care Of Them.
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The idea that you can have a successful company with happy customers and not treat your employees well is ridiculous. In fact, the whole systems works on a trickle-down effect, with happy employees supplying the best productivity and service, and so pleasing customers. Something that then leads to better profits. Happily, even if you haven’t thought of your business in these terms before you can significantly improve how you treat your employees with the advice elbow. Read on to find out more.
Leadership
Great leadership can make all the difference in how your employees feel about their work. Such leadership may not always be what you think it is either. In fact, it’s not about striding around the place barking orders or even having the ability to do all the tasks from top to bottom yourself. Instead, it’s about having a strong vision for your company both inside and out.
What this means so that you need to have an accurate idea of how you want your company to run internally and balance this with the successes and profit you make. You need to draw a line in the sand and decide that you will treat your employee with respect no matter what their role, and insist that they treat each other this way as well.
In fact, bullying, intimidation, and unpleasantness is often something that can degrade an employee’s work experience and job satisfaction. To that end, you need to have up to date policies that deal fairly with any instances of this as well. If you want our employees to feel happy and safe at work that is.
Safety
Of course, your employee’s safety is also crucial in terms of the task you are asking them to do. In fact, businesses have a responsibility to those that work for them. What that means is it’s crucial to be aware of any laws and guidelines concerning the type of tasks you need them to do.
In fact, even in an office environment, there is plenty to be aware of such as desk height and ergonomics as well as manual handling training. Where employees are shows how to move boxes correctly, so they don’t end up injuring themselves.
However, in more specific environments there are even more safety issues to be aware of. For example, when working with machinery the risk of employee harm is much higher, but it can be reduced by using items like cable housing and protective carriers. Something that you can visit Dynatect Manufacturing for more information on. A place where you can also find help with others ways that you can improve your machine process to increase its safe use and productivity.
The same is true when your workers are using construction equipment and heavy machinery too because these things have a partially high risk of causing harm or damage if they are not operated properly.
To that end, proper induction training courses for each piece of specialized equipment are needed, as well as regular refreshers at appropriate intervals as well. Clear signage to remind those that are working around such machines of the danger they pose, as well as the safety gear they need to wear are also vital aspects of looking after your employee’s safety in such environments.
Another way that you can show your employees that you care about their well being is by encouraging them to be as healthy and fit at work as possible. In fact, this is something of a new idea that is taking off, with many business offering exercise classes within work time. Some companies are even choosing to offer meditation or power nap breaks that allow people to rest and recuperate, as well, something that is also good for reducing stress levels.
Another way that many businesses can show concern for the physical well being of their employees is to install office furniture that encourages movement while working. This may include a standing desk, treadmills, and even balance ball chairs which are known to be excellent for posture and core strength.
Of course, all of these items do cost money, but what most smart employers realize is that if their workforce is physically more healthy, they are likely to be more productive as well. In fact, integrating such programs in a work environment can significantly reduce sick days and so boost company productivity, and save on cover over the long term as well.
Salary and Wages
People don’t tend to work for free, not unless they are lottery winners or secret millionaires that is, and that is why to show your care about your employees you need to offer them a decent salary and benefits package.
What that means is that the salary you pay needs to be comparable, if not better to your closest competitors in the market. Although, if you can’t match them in terms of cold hard cash, you may wish to consider introducing an excellent employee benefits scheme that includes discounted or free gym membership and other perks. Something that you will be able to purchase as a compare documented price and so will work economically for your business as well as for boosting morale.
Social
Lastly, if you want your employees to enjoy work and feel valued and so stay with you for as long as possible, creating a community atmosphere in the workplace is essential.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that you ignore sensible guidelines about appropriate behavior at work, but instead it’s about introducing opportunities for workmates to spend quality time together outside of the office.
Some firms do this with regular social evenings, while others prefer team building activities like adventure weekends away. The idea being that not only does this strengthen bonds between individual employees and help them to communicate and get on better at work, but also allows people to feel more integrated and valued as well.
Something that can contribute to a feeling of belonging, and so help to boost your employees’ overall job satisfaction. It can even reduce your worker attrition rate, and so work out better for your budget as well.
After all, if people are your most essential resource, it’s crucial that you look after them in the best way that you can.
The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success, and two key focuses are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Whichever kind of organization you’re running, taking care of your employees is key. If you do that, they’ll continue to give maximum effort. The following contributed post is thus entitled, More That a Cog: Show Your Employees That You Care.
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These days, employees want more than a paycheck from their employers; they want to feel like they’re part of something more important, to believe that they’re not just slogging away at a job so that a salary ends up in their bank account each month. Of course, money is a factor – a big factor – but there are others, such as knowing that their boss sees them as more than a cog in their machine. Showing a more caring approach doesn’t just affect your employees, either – it’ll be good for you, too, and the culture of the company. Below, we take a look at a number of ways you can become a more caring boss.
You’ve hired your employee to do a job for you, but that doesn’t mean that all of your interactions have to be solely about business. If they are, then you can’t have any complaints if they think you just see them as an expendable employee. Get to know your staff on a deeper level. No, that doesn’t mean you should spend every Friday night bar-hopping; it just means getting to know what makes them tick, what they want to achieve in life, what their dreams are, things like that. Their chief aim in life isn’t to work for you — but maybe you can help them along on their journey to wherever they want to go.
Give Trust
There are some bosses who really shouldn’t have hired any employees at all, since all they want their employees to do is whatever they’re told to do. They’re micromanaged to death, and when that happens, there’s no amount of personal chit-chat that can make up for what is painfully obvious — that the professional side of the employee’s life is of no importance. As such, one of the best ways to foster a deeper relationship is to give the employee the opportunity to do the job they were hired to do, without looking over their shoulder. It’ll be a big step along their professional journey, and you’ll have been responsible.
Sympathy
In the cold-hearted corporate world, you’re told to park your personal problems at the door when you arrive at work. This might work if the human switched to robot mode once they entered the workplace, but it’s not realistic if that’s not an option. If you’ve got a huge personal problem in your life, then there’s not much you can do about the influence it has on your life, nor should you need to. No-one likes a boss who puts the company’s profits above an employee’s personal problems. Show some sympathy, and do what you can to alleviate any problems that they may have, such as giving them extra time off from work.
Look After Their Health
Employees are working longer hours than ever before, and it’s beginning to take its toll. There’s been a sharp rise in work-related health conditions, especially those connected to mental illness and prolonged periods of sitting. This, of course, does nobody any good — not the employee nor the company. So put making sure your employees are fit and healthy at the heart of your employee wellness programs. If someone’s feeling the mental strain from work, give them a few paid days off. You can also initiate a telemedicine system at the office, so your employees can get their health virtually assessed by a professional. These types of workplace initiatives will, primarily, show that you care about your staff’s wellbeing, but also boost morale and reduce sick days, too.
Take Their Side
If you’re in business for long enough, eventually you’re going to have to deal with a rude or hostile client. Or, to put it another way, your staff may have to deal with such a client. Now, in business, it’s generally recommended to make believe that the customer is always right, but to do this, this may sometimes mean throwing your employee under the bus. Once you side with a client who was rude and in the wrong, you’ll have lost the trust, and most likely respect, of your employee. You do not have to take the side of a customer who is rude and insulting towards your staff — side with your employee, and tell the client that their business is no longer welcome.
Employee Perks
You are, of course, paying your employees a salary, which is hopefully relatively generous in the first place. But just think about how much money they’re making for you; it likely greatly exceeds their salary. While your staff will know that this is part of the deal of a job, a few employee perks that go beyond their pay are always appreciated. Even small things, like buying a few drinks at Friday happy hour, will be a good start. Treat them well, and they’ll treat you well — it’s the same in business as it is in life.
Tell The Truth
An employee will always be skeptical of a boss who says nothing but good things. And why wouldn’t they be? There are problems in every aspect of life, including business. If the boss isn’t mentioning anything contrary at all, then what’s the deal? Get into the habit of telling it to your employees straight. This could be about the health of the company, your expectations for their work, or any mistakes the employee has made. It’ll make the praise all the more believable. And talking of which….
Genuine Praise
Let’s never forget that employees are human, and, like all humans, like praise! So if one of your workers does something praise-worthy, then tell them. And don’t just say “good job” and punch them on the shoulder; tell them specifically what they’re being praised for, including what it was about their work that impressed you.
All In It Together
Finally, work hard to avoid any divisions between you and your employees. You do not exist on a higher plane to your “regular” workers, you’re just the leader of the team. Emphasize that you’re all in it together!
A key focus of my blog is Health and Wellness. While employers seek to get the maximum productivity out of their employees, it’s also important to take care of workers as much as possible. A key time when employees need flexibility from their employers is during bereavement. The following contributed post is therefore entitled, Tips For Employers: Employee Bereavement.
When business owners think about the need to manage their employees and provide assistance wherever possible, they – quite naturally – tend to focus on matters related to the workplace. However, as time passes, most business owners will come to realize that employee management extends far beyond the basics of the work itself.
Perhaps most challengingly of all, most employers will at some point find themselves needing to manage an employee who has recently been bereaved. Given that death is such a sensitive subject, and everyone reacts to the topic differently, managing such a scenario can feel almost impossible.
However, there is one, simple way to manage employee bereavement as effectively as possible: let the employee dictate what happens next.
What does this mean?
As we touched on above, everyone grieves differently. Some people will actively want to immerse themselves in work, seeing it as a welcome distraction. Others will find work burdensome and difficult to cope with when grieving, and would thus prefer their workload to be reduced.
Essentially, there is no blanket “managing an employee who is grieving” policy that you can apply to your company. Instead, you have to manage each case on an ad-hoc basis.
How can this be achieved?
Most business owners will discover the sad news that an employee has been bereaved through direct communication, often in conjunction with a request for time off. It is often tempting to just reply to this communication with agreement, and a few kind words.
However, the first communication is your opportunity to ask for more information. You can gently ask how they are doing, and – most importantly – what they need from your company over the next few weeks. Do they only want to take a day off work for the funeral, and otherwise continue as normal? Or do they need more time off, perhaps due to having to go through probate, speak with the likes of Winer, McKenna, Burritt & Tillis regarding legal proceedings, or arrange a house clearance? The latter point is particularly important: bereavement is often a complicated process in terms of simple bureaucracy as well as the emotional impact, but your employee may feel they cannot request time off to deal with these matters, so you have to extend the offer instead.
Ensure that your employee knows they can take the time they need; it’s the right thing to do, and it’s better for your company; after all, a distracted employee who is juggling a lengthy probate case is unlikely to be at their most efficient. By ensuring your employee has adequate time off, the return-to-work process should be simpler for both of you.
How should return-to-work be managed?
Whether your employee has taken a day off or an entire month, you’ll still need to manage the return-to-work process. The best way to approach this is to take each day as it comes. Spend a little time with the employee each day just asking how they are and if there is anything they need, but trust their response: if they say they’re fine to continue as normal, believe them, even if you suspect otherwise. Grief is different for everyone, so all you can do is let each employee be your guide while ensuring they know that you will provide any assistance should it be required.
In conclusion
Managing a bereaved employee is undoubtedly difficult, but by ensuring you provide opportunities for employees to ask for more time off, and allowing the employee to judge their preferred workflow after returning to work, the process should be as smooth as it possibly can be.
The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success and two of its key focuses are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. No matter what kind of business or organization you’re running, it will be very important for your operations to keep your employees happy and continually dedicated to your mission. The following contributed post is likewise entitled, Keeping Your Employees Happy.
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When it comes to running a business, the most important thing besides making money should be keeping your employees happy. At the end of the day, they help your business tick over, improve and become more successful. So what ways can you keep your own staff happy?
We all want to have an equal amount of work-life in our lives. And not all businesses focus on this when it comes to their employees. By overworking employees and giving them little time for their own lives can end up having a huge effect on their mental wellbeing. They also might be more likely to leave the organization if they don’t feel like their lives outside of work are considered.
Find ways of bringing work-life balance into the business whether that’s through flexible working or offering overtime or lieu for hours worked outside of their contract.
Reward And Give Employees Incentives
Respect between the employer and employee can only lead to good things. So be sure to reward your staff when they’ve worked hard and offer employees incentives for projects and work that needs to be done. These don’t necessarily have to be cash related, but any sort of reward can have a great effect on your staff’s productivity and keeps them happy within the organization.
One example would be to offer bonuses in return for completing a project before the initial deadline or by completing a certain amount of tasks. You might also be in the position to offer a promotion, so always consider this as a reward or incentive to staff members.
Listen To Their Worries
Good communication between staff members and those in higher positions is hugely beneficial to employment mediation. Listen to staff concerns and do your best to recommend solutions or fix them if you can. It’s important to make staff feel valued, and if they don’t, then they’re more likely to leave. Being honest with them is also appreciated so if something is going on that affects them, let them know. Be transparent and open with your staff, and they’ll do the same if they have anything they’re concerned about.
Encourage Socialising With Staff
A strong team of staff is more beneficial than one who doesn’t spend any time with each other outside of working hours. That being said, it’s useful to organize staff parties and days out that can help staff members socialize with one another, especially if it’s a big organization.
Make sure your office space provides an opportunity for socializing too whether that’s in the form of a canteen or breakout space. If you can’t offer that, then maybe have a budget to organize a group lunch every so often.
A happy organization is a productive one so it’s always ideal to keep tabs on your staff and what can make them happier. If you don’t care about your employees enough, they’ll feel the same, and that can have a negative effect on the company.
The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success and to of its key focuses are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. A major part of growing and maintaining your organization is hiring and then properly developing your staff. Doing so will be advantageous while not doing so will have an adverse effect on your overall operations. The following contributed post is thus entitled; Ensuring Your Employees Give An A Star Performance.
When hiring your employees, you should understand by now the importance of not rushing the process. There are so many things that you need to look out for in order to make sure that you’re choosing the right candidates for the job. You need to ask the right questions, be a good judge of character, and follow up references given to you so that you can essentially have a second opinion on what you’re already thinking. But it doesn’t stop there. Once you have decided who is going to be part of the team, you need to turn them into your business warriors, as they are now the face of what your business, and any mistakes they make will not only reflect it, but it’ll reflect you too. Your faith lies in their hands, so while small errors happen from time to time, you want to avoid all disasters so that you stand a good chance at having the success you want and deserve.
Here are some ideas of how to ensure that your employees are giving an A star performance every single day.
Train them to perfection If for any reason your employee’s aren’t up to scratch with the latest software or tools, then it is down to you to make sure they learn, and properly. Fortunately, you can offer them all the Onsite Microsoft Excel Training they need, without them even having to leave the office and miss out on anything else that’s happening. So whether you opt for group training, one on one, or taking a complete beginner and turning them into an expert – you don’t have to worry about wasting any valuable time as you will have what you need right at your very fingertips.
Give them the support Sometimes we can wake up on the wrong side of the bed and be in an awful mood for the rest of the day. Sometimes it can be a lot more severe than that, and yet you may not be able to tell the difference when it’s happening to someone else other than yourself. This is why you need to be a supportive boss that gives their staff all the help they need and require when times get hard. Keep your office door open when you’re not busy, and let everyone know that you’re there to help or even just listen when they need it. While professionalism should always be in your mind and working attitude, we’re still human.
Create weekly or monthly incentives There is nothing wrong with creating a little more incentive when it comes to your employees finishing and completing tasks to the best of their ability. Of course, one could argue that they’re there to do the job brilliantly regardless of what’s on offer, and while this is true, having an incentive gives people that extra kick up the bum they may need to motivate themselves and be a force to be reckoned with. What you offer doesn’t have to be huge – it can be as simple as a nice bottle of wine up for grabs, or cinema tickets.
