How to Foster Employee Spirit in 5 Easy Steps
Less than one-third of workers in the U.S. were engaged in their jobs in 2014, according to a recent Gallup poll. It’s no surprise that managers, execs and officers reported the highest levels of engagement, while employees in sales, production and service jobs reported the lowest. But any good business owner knows happy employees—from the top all the way to the bottom of the chain—are the key to success. Here are five ways you can foster employee happiness in your workplace.
1. Embrace transparency
Transparency is the No. 1 factor contributing to employee happiness, according to a TINYpulse employee engagement survey. Employees need to understand exactly how their contributions fit in to the grand scheme of things in order to find meaning and pride in their work. Empower your employees to be the best they can be by keeping them in the loop with projects and initiatives both large and small, and make sure every employee is on board with your organization’s values, vision and mission from the get-go. You can use a workgroup community on GetAssist to help make this communication easier and quickly disseminate information. All communication on GetAssist is 100 percent private and only available to those your invite into your workplace community.
2. Care about their family
Being in the workplace consumes much of your employees’ days, weeks and years, but they all also have lives outside of work that present their own set of challenges. Providing family care services to your employees is the most dramatic way to reduce their stress levels and keep employees focused on producing for your company. And this doesn’t just mean for kids. Pets and aging parents count, too. Consider providing in-house childcare or back-up care through a third party. You can also make the workplace dog-friendly. Anything to make it easier for your employees to better do their work. Also, you’d be surprised at how much it helps just to simply ask employees how their home lives are going and show that you pay attention and care.
3. Stay flexible
If you thought employees are solely motivated by money, then you’d be dead wrong. Today’s employee landscape is drastically changing, and work groups want jobs that work well with their lifestyles, according to a PWC study. This notion is particularly important to the budding millennial generation. If the job can be completed off-site, consider giving employees the option to work from home at least part of the time. You can easily implement and manage a GetAssist work community to bring employees who are working remotely together and keep them fully engaged.
4. Offer a way to let off steam
Exercise is a proven stress-reliever, but many full-time workers find it difficult to fit any into their busy schedules. Start a workplace wellness program that will get your employees up and moving. The hard returns were proven for these programs in a study by Towers Watson and the National Business Group on Health, as organizations that utilize them see a lower voluntary attrition rate than those without.
5. Open up communications channels
Keeping the lines of communication open between all staff members is extremely important if you want to keep up workplace morale. GetAssist offers workgroups a one-stop-shop to stay connected and feel a sense of belonging. By creating a private community on GetAssist and inviting your employees to join, you open up a designated space for idea sharing, company-wide announcements, last-minute schedule changes and anything else your employees might need. Everyone benefits from GetAssist’s site features! Want to further improve employee morale? Listen to their individual thoughts and concerns on GetAssist! Check in to the online conversations and make it a point to personally address their questions and concerns. Take their suggestions to heart and begin implementing changes when you can. You’ll quickly see the conversation turning more positive once employees feel motivated, appreciated and part of something they can be proud of.
