Research shows that over 50% of American workers are unhappy with their jobs. There are many reasons for this such as low salaries, long working hours, and bad management. In other companies, employees fear automation; computers and robots taking over their jobs. As a result, workers have no sense of job security and stability.
No matter the reasons, the results are astounding, and we should take them seriously. High turnover is not only costly for an organization but also a severe hit to its credibility and reputation.
So how can a company keep employees happy? The easy answer is money. Everybody likes money, the more the better. But making more money isn’t enough. Employees also want other things. They want in-house benefits, growth opportunities, and training.
In-house Benefits
In-house benefits are facilities located in or very close to a company. For young working parents, it is access to daycare centers. If inside the company, they can drop their kids off in the morning but still keep an eye on them throughout the day. For singles, an in-house facility could be a company gym or rest area.
In both of them, the company is showing it not only cares about output but also its employees’ well-being. Rest areas could include showers, video game lounges, ping-pong tables, etc.
Another example is access to an onsite psychologist. When companies give employees the room to openly express their ideas and concerns, their performance will also improve. Keep in mind though that before hiring an in-house psychologist, the stigma behind mental health should be eliminated.
Growth Opportunities
Some employees like doing the same thing over and over again. Routine work provides a sense of comfort and stability. Most don’t. People enjoy new challenges, more responsibilities, diversity of work. Ways in which organizations can give employees growth opportunities include:
- Promoting high-performance staff to supervisory and managerial positions.
- If these are not available, have employees lead teams within their departments.
- Increasing workloads and responsibilities with a matching financial incentive.
- Allowing employees to change departments where skills match.
- Creating mentor positions for employees to assist new staff.
- Offering inter-branch transfers when available. Even if the position is similar, a change of atmosphere will often re-energize employees and increase their motivation.
These are some ways in which businesses can expand and increase the scope of work of their staff.
Multi-Functional Training
A new accountant will certainly benefit from more training in statistics and managing large databases. Someone working in marketing will find great use in advertising, sales, and promotion courses. These are obvious approaches in line with specific jobs. However, companies can also provide their staff with extra options.
For example, employees could have access to voluntary management courses bi-monthly or once a quarter. Another idea is to put in place inter-department training sessions where employees of one department can teach their skills and knowledge to the staff of another. A third could be to provide training unrelated to the job. Classes could include survival skills, IT, and language courses on weekends. The important thing is that courses vary and employees can learn skills valuable to them in many areas of their personal and professional lives.
There are many things enterprises can do to ensure employees are happy and motivated to work. In-house benefits, growth opportunities, and multi-functional training are three examples of them. By providing in-house benefits, companies can reduce the burden of work and make it more fun. Growth opportunities will show employees the company cares. As a result, employees will strive to perform at their best. Finally, multi-functional training will allow staff to expand their horizons, thus becoming much more useful and productive to the organization.
These are all affordable ideas worth trying; ideas that will yield great results.
