For most companies, employees spend nearly as much time on the job as they do in their own homes. So providing a work environment in which your employees feel welcome and appreciated is an important part of maintaining employee morale.
Nobody wants to work someplace in which they aren’t made to feel welcome. Here are a few simple and inexpensive ways you can make your employees feel more at home while they are on the job:
1. Make Them Feel As Though Their Opinion Counts — One of the easiest things you can do to engage your employees is to install a suggestion box or find another way to gather their input. Studies have shown that workers who feel they have some say on how things are run in the workplace are happier and more satisfied in their work.
2. Provide a Clean and Comfortable Break Area — Your workers are most likely to be chatting with their co-workers during their breaks. To keep their conversations positive, provide a clean and comfortable break area. Some new cafeteria tables or break furniture is an excellent way to make your employees feel as if you genuinely care about their well-being.
3. Keep an Open Door Policy — The easiest way to create dissatisfaction between labor and management is to create an uncomfortable divide between the two. Make yourself and other managers available to listen to your employees opinions and complaints. Genuinely try to resolve problems and consider what your employees have to say. Because they are on the “front lines”, they often can provide an operational insight that management can’t see.
4. Provide Free Coffee and Water — Light refreshments such as coffee and purified water is an inexpensive benefit that your employees will appreciate. Some companies even offer subsidized soda and snack food vending machines which cost very little, but provide huge employee satisfaction dividends.
5. Offer Rewards and Recognition — When you employees do a good job or go the extra mile for you, celebrate it both informally and formally. A kind word or a pat on the back is a great motivational tool. Recognized outstanding employees with an Employee of the Month program or some other sort of formalized recognition tool. The cost of a plaque is minimal compared with the motivation and positive impressions it will cause among all of your work staff.
6.Consider Flextime If Possible — While rigid work times are necessary in some business environments, others offer opportunities for telecommuting, summer hours, four-day work weeks and other types of flexible schedules that in many cases cost little in terms of productivity but create a huge benefit in employee morale and reducing employee turnover.
For more ideas on how you can make your employees feel better about their job and your company, check out this article from Entrepreneur magazine.