How to Get the Most Out of Your Employees

How to Get the Most Out of Your Employees.

You can have all the computers in the world in your office, you can have the latest tech and spend your entire budget on competing with the business next door. At the end of the day, productivity comes from the human work force.

In order to be the best of the best, your employees have to strive to do their best. However, if they’re worked to breaking point with very little reward, they aren’t going to stay with you. Or, if they do stay, they won’t be producing what they’re capable of.

It’s important to encourage your employees to work as well as they can by creating a productive atmosphere. So, how do you do that?

A Mission Statement

The purpose of creating a mission statement is to inspire everyone that works for you. It should be something that people can read and be encouraged from.

Your mission statement must be relevant to your work but it must be able to spur people on when they’re having a difficult day. It should also be something that creates a team environment instead of a competitive one. After all, you’re all in the same boat and you’re all working towards the same goal.

It’s up to you to find the words that will rally your employees to work hard and enjoy what they do.

Rewards

Rewards are an incentive to work harder. Asking your employees to work harder for nothing isn’t likely to get you the results that you want. However, if they’re rewarded for their time and effort they’re far more likely to put in the work.

If an employee reaches a certain goal, whether it’s collecting more clients, selling more products or putting more hours in, reward him/her. It may be that they’re given a financial bonus or you could give your employees vouchers or a free lunch. You’ll be surprised by how something as small as a box of chocolates and bottle of wine will get people hustling.

Create Rules

Your employees aren’t going to do their best work if they think they can bend the rules whenever they wish. Your rules should be clear to your employees from the first day they start work for you.

It’s up to you how much leeway you give to your employees but rules are there for a reason. For example, if an employee is constantly coming into work late and you don’t make that employee accountable, what’s to say that others won’t start doing it as well?

If you’re having trouble with shift-planning, you may want to find some employee shift software.

A Healthy Work Place

If your work place is a nice environment to work in, that’s half the battle won. If your employees can come to work and enjoy natural sunlight all day and you have air conditioning when temperatures are soaring, they’ll be comfortable. Make sure you provide a clean kitchen and clean toilets, along with an organised work space where possible.

If it’s within your budget to do, try providing your staff with healthy snacks and drinks, like fruit and juices. And, encourage your staff to get up and walk around every so often if they’re sat down for extended periods of time. You may even want to look into office exercise. The healthier your employees, the more work will get done.

Boosting Morale

There may be times where your employees need a boost because they’re having a particularly unmotivated period. It may be that they just need a break, but there aren’t often times when you can send everyone home.

Instead, you may want to consider planning a group activity. This may be a meal out one evening as a thank you for hard work, or you could do something like paintballing or clay pigeon shooting to bond further.

Continue Training

You may notice that certain employees need to develop in certain areas. It’s a good idea to be able to offer employees additional training to make sure everyone is working to the same standard.

Make sure your employees know that the training courses you put them on are not a form punishment. They should be aware that your choice to train them further is a way of having faith that they have the ability to do more. Encouragement is always key to building your employees up.

Use Their Strengths

Often, when an employee is good at something, it’s because they enjoy it. If you’re down to the wire and you have to get work done by a deadline, use your employee’s strengths. If one of your employees is better at doing something that anyone else, assign him/her that task. If it’s a task that takes more than one person, let that employee choose a team to delegate to. It’s also an ideal way of watching how your employees can handle extra responsibility for the future.

Ask for Feedback

Remember when you were an employee and you wished someone would listen to you. Sometimes, employees can have fantastic solutions to problems. Talk to your employees and find out if there’s anything they think needs improving on.

You could even have an anonymous feedback poll, where employees write their thoughts but don’t have to own them. If you’re working with a good bunch of people, you could get some insightful tips.

Let People Climb the Ladder

Hiring from your existing staff can save you time and money. Consider hiring someone for a position with more responsibility from your existing employees. They may need additional training, but they’re often in a unique position to offer insight into things an outsider would not know about.

If they already know how the company runs, they’re likely to have the majority of the knowledge they need. An employee that climbs up the ladder is often one you can rely on to be loyal to your company.

Put yourself in your employee’s shoes. What would it take to motivate you to work harder? Respect and incentive aren’t difficult to produce.