5 ways to keep your staff motivated and on board

Hanging on to employees is the biggest headache for directors. Alice Porter offers tips

As an employer, knowing the value of your employees stretches far beyond common courtesy. Your employees are the well-oiled cogs who make up the machine of your business and without them, your business would be nothing but an idea. It’s important to make them feel valued and make their happiness and job satisfaction a priority.

As an employer, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is allowing your employees to feel like a number. Failing to prioritise your employees’ job satisfaction leads to them looking for jobs elsewhere.

It’s important to make sure that you are doing everything that you can to engage your employees, by offering them your trust, support and appreciation. Failing to do so could lead to low morale and low employee retention. Shape your business around your employees’ wellbeing and success will be sure to follow.

Recognise your team’s strengths

In order to improve employee approach, it’s important to make sure that you hone in on their strengths and build on this. Praise is a powerful tool. It can be the difference between a satisfied and an underappreciated workforce.

Set achievable goals

It’s easy to continually get results from your employees. However, if you fail to recognise their hard work and expect more from them each time, morale can quickly dip. It’s easy to expect your employees to invest in the future of your business; however, it’s important to show them that you are also invested in their professional future.

Many professionals flourish when they have a goal to reach, as it gives them something to work towards. Setting a development plan and monitoring your employees’ success and progress can give them the incentive they need. Job satisfaction stems from accomplishing something, so if you set clear and achievable goals, it will set your employees up for success.

Build a career ladder

Comfort can often breed complacency in the workplace; employees become unmotivated and uninterested in the role they are responsible for filling. It’s important to create a work environment where people can progress upwards and outwards. Rather than looking for new talent, it’s important to make sure that you are interested in watching your existing team develop. This will reveal those who want to do well within your company and will help incentivise your employees throughout their professional career.

Recruiting from within shows your employees that you have trust in them, which will in turn help to increase employee retention.

However, not all employees will not be seeking to progress the same way, becoming a manager for example. You need to create a bespoke path for your individual employees, helping to keep them motivated and engaged.

Offer treats and perks

For most professionals, money is one of the biggest motivators. Many industries are becoming saturated with companies who offer the same products and services and are now competing for suitable candidates. If a candidate is offered the same position from two different companies, with the same salary, it’s often the additional perks that are the deciding factor.

This is also applicable with your existing employees. If somebody is offered a new position, which offers more employee perks, then it can be tempting to jump ship. So, what sort of perks really get employees feeling engaged in a company?

Be open to flexi-working

The most common and well-received work perks are offering things such as a monthly bonus offer, flexible working hours (great for employees who have children), the opportunity to work from home and team building fun days. Many employers shy away from letting their employees work from home; however, this indicates a level of trust that your employees will appreciate greatly.

Alice Porter is a freelance journalist who works closely with Manchester-based solicitor Gorvins