One of the greatest challenges every business owner or team leader faces is to keep their employees satisfied. In order to rise up to this challenge, they need to consider many aspects and respond well to the needs of their employees. If you’re one of those in charge of a team of employees, we recommend you take a look at the following list of tips aimed at helping you keep your colleagues satisfied and motivated.

Why is happiness important?

Let’s start by stating the reasons for doing something. To begin with, happy employees are more creative and productive. Also, they are less likely to quit. That means you will spend less on recruitment and training, and you’ll have a team you can truly rely on.

Help them achieve work-life balance

You can’t expect people to be happy if their workload is constantly great. They will soon feel exhausted, demotivated and will start looking for a new job. You need to make sure that your employees are given enough time to pursue their individual interests and rest. Only then can you expect them to perform well at work.

Be honest

Every manager needs to give feedback to their employees, but it’s what you do after that’s critical to retention. You shouldn’t only focus on reporting your findings, but also suggest a course of action for the future. At the same time, you should keep employees in the loop when it comes to the big picture, i.e. how your company/team is doing. Being honest and transparent will help everyone understand the situation better and they will be much more likely to get involved in finding the best solution for future actions.

Let them learn

While there is no denying everyone likes to get a pay rise or bonus, it’s not only through financial rewards that you can show your appreciation for everything your employees are doing. One of the efficient ways to achieve the same result is to provide learning opportunities to managers and employees. This will provide benefits to both your company and each person. For example, hiring a business coach providing business innovation consulting services can help your organization become more agile and efficient.

More vacation time

Many surveys have shown that employees would rather have more days off than a bit more money on their account. So, reward your highest performers with incremental vacation days. By allowing them to spend more time with friends and family will make them even more motivated to continue working hard.

Facilitate communication

It’s your job to create spaces where employees can easily communicate and share ideas. It’s amazing how beneficial a simple, casual conversation in the breakroom can turn into a collaborative one. That is why you should furnish common rooms with nice furniture, tables, snacks and beverages.

Enable career pathways

Apart from opportunities for professional and personal development, you need to create a career pathway for each employee. Namely, people need to know that there are attractive career opportunities for them within the company. Otherwise, they’ll soon leave. So, have regular career planning discussions with your employees and make sure they are aware of the different career paths and job opportunities throughout the company.

Be polite

Most people leave companies not because of money, but because of the atmosphere at the workplace, their relationship with the boss or because they feel they are stuck in the rut. Having a positive culture and workplace environment fosters teamwork and communication, which in turn boosts engagements and opportunities for people to learn from each other. Being polite to everyone, saying “thank you” and treating people nicely will go a long way towards keeping your employees happy.

Go the extra mile

Companies from all over the world supplement salaries by assisting employees in other areas of their lives. What you could do to make your employees more satisfied is offer an extra level of life insurance or disability insurance for employees to protect their incomes. Additionally, you can offer dental, optical or wellness benefits, as well as gym memberships and transit benefits, as great perks to keep employees both happy and healthy.

While the list of all things you can do to help your employees feel better and more motivated is much longer, the tips offered here should be sufficient to help you get thinking in the right direction. What is most important is to take some action to show them you care about their well-being, which will undoubtedly make them happier, because only a happy employee is a productive employee.