Running a business means focusing on countless different areas at once. You’ll have the final say on all sorts of projects and processes within your business and will find yourself looking over endless plans and ideas. You may also be putting your own thoughts and ideas into the hat here. Of course, this means that some areas of business management and operations can easily become overlooked and, unfortunately, one of the most common is the wellbeing and happiness of your staff. This is something to combat as quickly as possible, as your staff are the people who will keep your business up and running. Without them, nothing would work and you’d quickly fail. Staff dissatisfaction can also quickly turn into a high staff turnover and low staff retention rates, which can be expensive to manage through new recruitment and consistent new starter training. So, what can you do to take good care of your staff? Here are some suggestions to get the ball rolling.

Acceptable Workload

Remember that your team are only human. Nobody can work like a machine for an ongoing period of time – this will only result in mental health issues and burnout. Not only is this bad for your staff themselves, but it’s bad for your company, as it results in time off and lack of productivity. So, make sure that you are giving your team an acceptable workload that is genuinely achievable within their contracted, paid hours. Sure, some people might want to pick up overtime occasionally to earn a little extra cash. But this shouldn’t be something anyone is engaging with purely for the sake of hitting their set targets and deadlines. Make all KPIs SMART.

Bonuses and Incentives

People work hard for rewards. You need to make sure that you’re offering your team bonuses and incentives to provide them with a sense of achievement and fulfilment. These can work in a variety of different ways. You could provide cash bonuses, gift cards or vouchers, extra annual leave or other prizes and awards that will appeal to your team. Make the rules clear and make sure to provide any rewards that you’ve promised. It’s important to deliver.

Team Building

Your team will work better if they connect. This means that team building activities can prove extremely beneficial for your business, and can also help your team to feel more comfortable in the workplace and around one another. Team building activities can vary drastically, from small coffee break chats to full day planned activities.

Anonymous Surveys

Make sure that your team has a voice. They need to feel that they can express themselves when they are unhappy or feel that something isn’t right. This is why anonymous surveys are useful. They give your employees a platform to stand from that won’t have any repercussions. This gives more honest feedback and will help you to improve your company and working environment in a number of different areas, as and when required.

These are just a few steps towards taking better care of your team. Try it out and see how you get on!