Having employees can be a wonderful thing. It means that you no longer have to do absolutely everything in your business, and it allows you, therefore, to not only work on growing the business rather than simply maintaining it, but also to have a better work-life balance. It will take some time to reach a stage where you are ready to employ someone (or a number of people), but if your business can sustain their salaries and you feel it is worth doing, then it can be exactly the right thing to do.
However, when you do employ people you can’t just leave them to get on with their work and not have any input or engage with them in any way – this will simply leave them frustrated and confused, and they may choose to work elsewhere. Here are some of the best ways to keep your employees engaged and ensure that they stay loyal to you.
Keep Them Informed
One of the easiest ways to keep your employees engaged and happy is to let them know what is happening within the business. You don’t have to give them all the ins and outs of the separate negotiations you are going into, or the ideas that you are having, but a quick weekly meeting to update them on any new clients, processes, technology, or to ask for feedback can make all the difference. You might choose to send out a weekly email full of news if that is preferable, or write a blog about it all.
If you can keep your employees more informed, they will feel much more part of the company and will want to work harder for it. Being part of a larger team boosts confidence and makes people feel valued.
The Right Tools
No matter how invested an employee might be in your business, if they don’t have the right tools and equipment to do their job, they will soon feel frustrated and undervalued. Their engagement level will drop significantly because they just won’t be able to do their work to a high enough standard.
Buying the most up to date equipment and ensuring that your staff is trained in using it will help with productivity and engagement, and it will have the added benefit of ensuring that the work is done to a high standard, ensuring your customers are happy too. Training doesn’t have to take a long time, and might even come in the form of videos such as with Altium’s Circuit Studio, so could be done simply without having a negative effect on your workforce’s output.
Set Goals
Imagine going into work each day and not knowing what you are meant to be doing or having any goals set. That would be extremely difficult to deal with, and without any form of direction or guidance, you might not feel engaged with your workplace. In order for this not to be the experience of your employees, you should always ensure that they have goals to head towards.
Setting smaller goals that can be reached quickly – and surpassed – will improve your employees’ engagement levels and make them feel happier at work, especially if there are rewards for a job well done.
