There are many different influences in the workplace that affect the health of your employees and their overall enthusiasm for attending work in general.
Knowing what these influences are and understanding how you can tweak them for the betterment of your business could mean the difference between holding on to valued employees instead of watching them seek employment elsewhere.
As an employer, this is well and truly within your grasp; however, there are a few important steps that you may need to take in order to achieve this goal and have a much more productive workforce.
1. Keep your employees informed
Most employees will suffer from workplace-induced stress at one time or another. This can result in longer periods when your employees are off sick or simply unable to face coming into work.
It could also manifest as your employee losing concentration while performing their tasks, resulting in mistakes, poor quality work, and low productivity.
Most employees rely heavily on their wage checks to pay their bills and provide them with a basic quality of life. It stands to reason, then, that the biggest stressor at work is not being in control of their financial future or even knowing what is going on in the company that they work for.
You can help reduce this stress by holding or organizing regular meetings, which will include all of your employees. Let them know about the scheduled orders, new clients that have been gained, any customer feedback, and how the company is moving forward.
This gives them insights into their job security, which will help settle nerves, lower stress levels, and quash any bad, disruptive rumors that may have been floating around.
2. Deal with employee grievances promptly
Of course, stress in the workplace doesn’t just encompass job security; it can also come in the form of bullying or lack of employee knowledge. When it comes to a lack of job knowledge, this can be sorted out relatively easily by providing regular additional training for all employees.
Training should be an ongoing affair regardless of what type of business you run, as it shows your employees that you are investing in their future with the company. It will also help reinforce good working habits and reduce the likelihood of corner-cutting or bad habits taking a hold.
Undoubtedly, when it comes to bullying within the workplace, you will have to take a very serious stance. Slapping the ‘bully’ on the wrist and saying don’t do it again will not stop the issue nor make the victim feel safe or supported within your business.
Instead, you should make sure that you have a quality disciplinary and grievance policy in place to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. If a certain known bully’s name keeps coming up, then you should be able to know the steps and complete them to remove the problem from your business.
3. Be flexible with working hours and conditions
From time to time, it may be that one or more of your employees require a more flexible approach to their working arrangements. This could be due to a child in their care being ill or issues with transport.
Offering alternative working arrangements, such as working from home or even a change of hours to accommodate this, will be seen by your employees as a highly flexible approach.
However, you have to understand that once you have offered this to one employee, you ought to offer it to others should they have the same or similar issue.
Of course, this will hinge mainly on whether or not their job roles can be completed offsite or whether they will need to be on your business premises to perform their daily tasks.
4. Provide an incentive program
You need to incorporate an incentive program into your business, as this will help your employees hit targets, increase their performance levels, and potentially increase their commitment to their jobs and your business.
Although you may feel that your employees’ target is to complete their daily workloads, some may have different ideas. They may well get a sense of achievement once their lists are empty, but as this is a status that will not last for long, their sense of achievement (if they have one) will be a fleeting one.
However, by endorsing their achievements and commitment to your business, you should consider presenting them with rewards.
The odd verbal ‘thank you for your hard work’ will certainly help, but nothing speaks louder than a personal gift (that the recipient would like) or a gift voucher that will be used.
