One of the best things that you can do as a manager, or a business owner, is to ensure that your employees feel valued. Employees who feel valued are happier and, therefore, more likely to be productive. This has a significant impact on the bottom line of your business. Businesses that prioritise their employee’s satisfaction are more likely to have higher levels of employee retention. Conversely, businesses that do not make this a priority are much more likely to see lower levels of productivity and higher levels of staff turnover. There are a few strategies that you can implement to communicate your employee’s standing and the value that they hold, and while it might seem like a chore or a challenge, it is pretty easily done. So, let’s get into it.
Ensuring Open & Honest Communication
The very first thing that you should do is to take a look at your communicative processes. Does the business prioritise open and honest communication with all members of staff? Transparency is key to increasing engagement this is because it allows you to build a certain level of trust with your employees. Also, by allowing them to be privy to conversations and developments that you would otherwise keep from them, you are missing out on their input which could be invaluable.
In a business where the employees don’t feel listened to or don’t trust their management, then they are not going to feel valued, their job satisfaction is lower, and productivity takes a dip. Communication should not be one-sided; whilst you want to begin to communicate with your employees more frequently and make an effort to be transparent and honest, you also need to think about how you can encourage them to communicate with you.
Communicating effectively requires both parties to make an effort to listen and respond to one another. Failing to communicate well leads to assumptions being made, and you know what they say about assumptions. It is not an effective way to communicate, and more often than not, employees will spend their time speculating or second-guessing, which again impedes productivity.
Encourage the Team to Bond
Employees who feel isolated within the business and their teams are far less likely to feel valued. This is why you should be doing everything you can to create a cohesive workforce. Luckily, encouraging the team to bond is pretty easy, even for remote working teams. If all of your employees work within the same environment, then you could think about hosting small events during lunch times like team lunches or utilising other events like Halloween, Christmas or Easter and turn them into opportunities to socialise, network and bond.
For remote teams, it is a little more difficult, but you could think about digital get-togethers over Zoom or other things that can be done online, whether that is a sweepstake for a sporting event or fantasy league draft or even a game of bingo or a quiz. Otherwise, it is worth trying to organise regular in-person meetings a couple of times a year to allow the team to bond outside of the confines and restrictions of the business. They don’t need to be too frequent or even too expensive, all you would need to do is hire a function room – or even choose a central location for everyone to meet at, if you aren’t sure where to choose then you could use word cloud polls by Vevox, provide a few options and have the team vote.
The aim is to create a sense of belonging within the team, and in doing so, the business benefits from closer peer relationships which improve collaboration. This is especially important for a business that relies on collaborative work. This could also lead to more recognition which again helps to make employees feel valued. They can receive praise and recognition from other members of the team as well as the managerial team. The company culture becomes richer when peer-to-peer recognition is encouraged, and it can also be used to create a little healthy competition too.
Take an Interest
You need to demonstrate to your employees that you do indeed care about them as fully realised people and not simply as workers or cogs in the machine. They cannot feel valued if they don’t feel seen or recognised as an individual and not just a faceless worker. This is why you should strive to take an interest in your employees on an individual level. Think about what you know about them outside of work. Do they have a partner or children or pets? What hobbies do they have? When are their birthdays? Are they going on holiday this year? If you can’t answer any of those questions, then you have dropped the ball here because most of those things are incredibly surface-level.
Demonstrating that you have taken an interest in them doesn’t have to be difficult. All you need to do is remember the things that they have said to you. Try to remember the little details and use them to check in, enquiring about the people or pets in their lives. Asking about their hobbies and other interests or whatever the case may be. Try to remember their birthdays or put them all in your calendar to provide you with reminders. It might be nice if the business were to make a gesture on their birthdays – if it is feasible to do so, like a gift card or paid leave or whatever.
Make them Feel Seen
If you want to encourage a little healthy competition between your staff whilst also ensuring that their contributions are recognised and rewarded, then you need to make the staff feel seen. Most businesses do choose to implement goals or aims for their workers, and if they achieve those aims or do other things which are worthy of recognition, then they should have it. Of course, rewards should be earnt, but an acknowledgement of achievement and effort can also help to buoy your staff and increase morale which is key to improving and sustaining productivity.
Remember that recognition can take different forms, from public to private praise and tangible rewards too. Think about the metrics for success within the business and how you want to reward the efforts made by the employees. It is often worth developing the goals with your employees during their annual reviews so that they have a deeper understanding of them and what they need to do to reach them.
The Bottom Line
What it comes down to in the end is simply that happy and valued employees are much more likely to work harder and want to remain within the business as opposed to seeking employment elsewhere. Working to ensure that your employees feel valued is a worthwhile endeavour for any business. There are so many ways in which you can make your employees feel more valued, most of which are outlined above. Varying their workload and allowing them to do what they know whilst also taking on interesting new challenges communicates the trust that you have in them. You should also strive to create a positive company culture that centres around uplifting its workers and recognising them for their contributions. Make it a habit to demonstrate your gratitude and reward a job well done to make sure that the employees do indeed feel valued by you and the business as a whole.
