How to get your employees pumped about working for you in less than a month
Boosting employee engagement and morale in your firm might seem like an impossible task. Once workers have made their mind up about you, it can be difficult to change.
However, the ice isn’t as thick as you might imagine. While changing an entire company culture is difficult, there are many simple ways that you move the needle in your favor.
It’s important, too. Employee engagement is critical for a number of reasons. For instance, engaged employees:
- Tend to outperform their non-engaged counterparts
- Have a higher level of trust in management
- Are more committed to the business and its goals
- Help shareholders achieve a higher return
- Are more productive
Adopting an employee engagement model can also help boost staff retention rates and attract talent to your firm. Once prospective employees know that you operate a healthy working environment, they are often significantly more interested in working for you.
So what can you do to get your employees pumped about working for you in less than a month? Let’s take a look.
Get to know them personally
The technology sector invented the cloud more than ten years ago. Yet, despite its ability to facilitate remote work, hardly any firms actually implemented it. But why?
The reason has to do with the value associated with getting to know employees on a personal level. Once you invest the time in finding out who they are outside of work, it totally changes their attitude to work. They’re not just there because of the money. Instead, they’re part of a caring team of people who want to support them and learn from them.
What’s more, it’s easy to get to know people: just strike up a conversation. In five minutes, you gather a huge amount of information about them.
Give them the tools they need to succeed
For many employees, going to work feels like perpetually banging their heads against a brick wall. They want to progress, but they find it almost impossible to do so.
Usually, the issue isn’t with them. Instead, it has to do with a lack of tools, equipment or staff to get the job done.
Therefore, as a business owner or leader, your job is to show your team that you’re doing your bit and providing them with support. You can do this by providing them with the physical capital that they require, or investing in their professional development.
Tell them how the company is getting on
Employees don’t like it when you leave them in the dark about the performance of the company. It makes them feel insecure and they always have one eye on other jobs.
Being transparent about the performance of the company is often better than saying nothing about it at all, even if you are struggling. Often, bringing them into the loop can provide the impetus for them to try new things and improve their performance. Over time, you may find that a policy of transparency is actually extremely helpful for the overall performance of your firm.
Act on employee feedback
Don’t just listen to employee feedback; act on it as well. If you know that there is an issue causing grief, deal with it as a gesture of goodwill. Employees will soon learn that you run a responsive employer that is willing to listen to and address their concerns.
Look for employees who actually care about the customer
For many employees, the purpose of work is to get a paycheck at the end of it. And while that might be the way things are in many firms, it’s not great for you, your team or your customers.
Therefore, always be on the lookout for employees who show genuine concern for the customer. Avoid anyone who appears apathetic when hiring. Make sure that you have people on your team who can offer a high level of customer service at all times.
Create a safe workplace
While physical safety is important, the most critical factor for engaging employees is psychological safety. Workers need to feel confident sharing their ideas with you and the rest of the team. They need to be free to be themselves.
The trick here is to give workers leeway and trust them to do the right thing. Avoid situations where people must ask permission and go all the way up the chain of command for every small thing that they want to try.
Coach your employees personally
Coaching your employees personally can be a great way to inspire them and show them how to become more competent in their roles.
For instance, if you see a worker struggling with a task, ask them if they need any assistance. Avoid saying things like, “you should be able to do this. That’s what I am paying you for.” Instead, encourage them by saying “you can do it quicker this way” or “you can improve your processes by filing online instead of manually.”
In many ways, it doesn’t actually matter whether what you say provides any direct practical help. What’s important is that you show genuine concern. If you do this, employees will feel valued and will be much more likely to stay at your firm.
Recognize hard work
When employees work hard, they want to see that you care. After all, many go above and beyond, particularly during unpaid overtime.
Therefore, always recognize their efforts. Thank them regularly for all the hard work that they do and show them how it makes a big difference in the overall performance of your firm.
Give them space to grow
Because employees perform their roles, day in, day out, they learn a huge amount on the job. At the start, they might be timid, but as time goes by, they eventually get into the swing of it and become more competent.
Unfortunately, bosses can sometimes stifle their employees and prevent them from growing by putting limits on what they can do. Avoid this if you can. Instead, expand the employee’s job definition as their capabilities increase. Add new, more challenging roles and remove the easier ones to give to new recruits.
