A lot of my freelance writing work these days is relating to what it’s like to work a regular job and how to actually enjoy it.
If you’re one of these employees then it won’t come as any sort of suprise that how your employer acts and what they provide is pretty much key to workplace satisfaction.
But even if you’re not in a traditional j-o-b there are still things you can do to make your work environment more tolerable and—dare I say—fun.
How to keep employees happy (even if you’re your own boss)
We spend most of our lives at work so I encourage you to find ways to make your work environment more suitable to your needs (it can be so much more than a paycheque). Here are just a few of the strategies I’ve seen to be effective in increasing happiness.
1. Take frequent breaks
Employees aren’t machines, and more often than not, breaks stimulate creativity and productivity. they shouldn’t be treated as such. A work environment where people feel like they can’t take breaks isn’t healthy. Let’s go for healthy!
While there’s a definite limit to how many breaks (and how long they are) is an effective amount, there is science behind taking a screen break every 60 minutes or so, even if it’s just for a few minutes to get a quick change of scenery.
2. Include Extensive Benefits
Fair compensation is one of those things things that matters a lot, but it’s not the only thing. In fact, many employees or freelancers would gladly take a pay cut in favour of *other* benefits, such as a generous benefits backage, unlimited paid time off (but actually unlimited), etc. If you only offer employees a base salary, they may be satisfied for a while, but this will only last until they outgrow their position or the cost of living rises beyond what they earn.
3. Prioritize Work/Life Balance
Alright, so maybe there’s no such thing as work/life balance. But what about prioritizing work that supports your employee’s lives? (Or, your own?)
Ask questions, be curious, find out what would be meaningful and then do your best to make it happen. Flexible work can be great for this. And workplace scheduling software makes asynchronous work pretty straightforward.
4. Listen!
One of the worst things an employer can do is dismiss their employee’s concerns. Just because something isn’t a big deal to you doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter. And, what they’re asking for may not even be that difficult to achieve. In fact, it could make all the difference to someone else’s life and happiness.
Encourage your employees to share their concerns and actively listen to them when they speak up. You’ll have a much healthier work environment when the lines of communication go two ways.
5. Be Transparent
That whole “need to know” thing? Yeah, let’s leave that in the past. Keep your team informed of decisions you make, and how you came to them. The more transparent you are about, well, everything, the better your employees will feel about, well, everything. Why? Because they’re part of the team.
6. Recognize and Reward Hard Work
When hard work and achievement isn’t noticed or appreciated, people tend to put in less effort over time. Take time to acknowledge the work your team is doing and remember that it’s often worth rewarding them for putting in effort and continually showing up. These gestures don’t have to be over-the-top either. Just make sure you’re genuinely showing your team how you appreciate the work they do.
7. Get to know your team
Taking the time to get to know your employees can make much more of a difference in how happy they are than you’d think. By doing it, you’ll show that you’re interested in them as people, which they’ll be sure to appreciate. They’ll feel less like a cog in a machine, and more like actual people.
By using a few of these intentional and practical strategies, you’ll find your workplace culture changing for the better.
One more thing. I think you’ll like my free resource library. This is where I keep my files, downloads, ebooks, worksheets and whatever else I manage to create. I love sharing what I learn and want to keep adding to this library so it becomes a wealth of helpful goodness.
This is a free resource but I do require a password to access the library itself. You can get access by popping your email address into the form below.
