Giving employees a raise is of course a great way of keeping them happy and motivated, but few companies can afford to up everyone’s wages. Thankfully, there are several other options to ensure your workers remain content and focused. Here are some of the best ideas.
Enable Career Pathways for Your Employees
Some employees will be happy doing the same tasks for years, but others will want to have the opportunity to develop new skills and move upwards or sideways in your organization. If employees are not supported in potential career pathways, they will soon become unmotivated and unhappy, and you could eventually lose valuable workers. So, provide developmental support like training and career mentoring regularly so that your employees know what options they have for the future. In addition to promotions, you could offer relocation packages to your employees. That enables you to place the best workers in the right roles and it gives your employees the opportunity to make a significant change in their working lives and environment. One specific way in which you can help relocating employees is to use the relocation tax gross-up method. It means you increase the amount of the relocation package so your employee can cover the cost of his or her income tax bill.
Make Changes to Your Employees’ Working Environment
From the way the office looks and feels to the equipment your employees use, the working environment can have a huge impact on the happiness and motivation of your workers. Most employees will spend the majority of their time at work, so it is vital the environment promotes positivity. Major global firms like Google have completely transformed the way businesses consider their working environments. If you have not yet considered yours, it is about time you did. You could paint the walls, bring in more comfortable chairs, provide free coffee and snacks, place artworks in the office, or even introduce a table-tennis table. The more inspiring you make your workplace, the more inspired your employees will be.
Provide Flexibility
If there is one thing employees value as much as a raise, it is flexible work options that provide a better work/life balance. If you want your workforce to be more focused and engaged with their tasks, it is no longer sufficient to provide benefits alone. By offering employees things like flexible time, work-from-home days, holiday trading, and full-time remote working opportunities, not only will employees have a better work/life balance, their performance will also become enhanced. Remote working is beginning to become the norm, and it allows employees to spend more time with their families and to choose their own hours, so if your company is able to offer remote working roles, it is certainly one area of flexibility that you should provide to your workers.
Actively Support Your Employees’ Health and Wellbeing
From an employee’s point of view, having support for health and wellbeing allows him or her to feel valued and be happier and more motivated at work. From your company’s point of view, you not only gain improved performance from the employee. You also ensure workers are not absent from work as much due to illness. Consider implementing health and wellbeing benefits like an employee assistance program. Wellbeing is not solely about physical health, of course. It is also about mental happiness. So, think of ways in which you can reduce employees’ stress. One way that you could help would be to implement a financial education program to help workers’ get on top of their debts and financial concerns, such as debt consolidation advice. When employees are not worried about their finances and their health, they will be much more focused on their work.
Offer Benefits and Discounts
Following on from the last point, you can help your employees’ pay go further, and therefore help them to avoid debts and financial worries, by providing a number of benefits. They could include healthcare cash plans, a green car scheme, a cycle-to-work scheme, or dental insurance. You could also provide a range of discounts for things like dining out and grocery shopping. When you provide employees with regular benefits and discounts and ensure they all know precisely what they are entitled to, you can foster good company culture and not only retain and motivate the employees you have, but also attract the best new candidates.
Offer Incentives
Forget Employee of the Month schemes. In reality, few workers become happier or more motivated when such cheap tactics are used. However, that does not mean you cannot reward your highest-performing employees; and by doing so, you will create a work environment in which everyone is performing at the top of their games. One of the best rewards you can give other than money is time. So, consider offering more vacation time or other incentives to your very best employees each month.
Listen to Your Employees
Many employees all over the world feel undervalued, unhappy, and stressed not because of their pay rate but because their employers do not listen to their concerns. If your company does not actively listen to and address the concerns of workers, it is a surefire way for employees to become unhappy and unmotivated. Not only do you need to implement a regular method for gaining employee feedback. You also need to make sure you listen to the concerns and actually make changes. It is not good enough to simply collect feedback forms if nothing changes as a result. Always be transparent and honest in what you have learned from your workers’ comments and issues and what course of action you will take. Honesty and two-way communication are key factors for keeping your employees motivated and happy.
Say Thank You
Lastly, the simplest and one of the most effective ways to motivate your employees and keep them happy is to simply make sure you say thank you. A word of thanks goes a long way. Sometimes all employees need to stay positive and focused is recognition for a job well done and a pat on the back.
