It becomes more noticeable every day that employees are not just coming to work for a paycheck. A job is so much more than an exchange of money for effort put forth by the employee. What businesses are learning is that this old way of thinking doesn’t work anymore. In order to compete for the best employee talent, businesses (especially small companies that may not be able to offer the highest salaries or biggest perks) must manage not only their employee’s time, but also their energy.
Take a look around your organization. Does your workforce need to be re-energized? A recent article from Inc. gives seven ways to add unlimited energy to your employee team.
Make sure everyone knows the company’s goals.
Employees who understand why they are working hard will be more game for putting in the extra effort needed to reach the company goals. Employees want to be able to see how their contribution leads to the overall success of the organization.
Be flexible in your polices whenever possible.
Encourage employees to challenge the status quo and understand why things are done a certain way. This means being careful of falling into the trap of saying “because we’ve always done it this way.” If you have the ability to be flexible, your employees are more apt to respect your polices. Our HR Advisors can help you find areas where you can be a little more lenient and areas you may not want to bend.
Match employee interests with business needs.
Find ways to allow employees to take on projects they enjoy. If you know one of your customer service representatives also enjoys writing, allow him to write a guest blog every once in a while. Or maybe your receptionist enjoys event planning. Allow her to plan the next company or client event. This can be great growth and professional development opportunities and helps keep employees happy and engaged.
Let employees decide what to do when problems arise.
Encourage your employees to come up with their own solutions rather coming to you with every problem. Again this empowers employees and provides opportunities for growth and development. It also allows for some creativity in problem solving, with fresh ideas being brought to the table. When employees come to you with a problem, ask them how they think it should be solved. Then help them choose the best solution and allow them implement it with your full support.
Find out what skills employees are interested in learning.
This goes along with number three and requires that you really get to know your employees. Find out what things they would be interested in learning and then sponsor that learning when possible. Whether it is buying them a book on a topic of interest or paying for an educational seminar or class, encouraging personal and professional growth keeps employees active and engaged. Even if the topic doesn’t directly relate back to their job, there may be ways they can use the skills they learn in the future.
Learn where employees want to go with their careers.
Just as you want your employees to understand the company’s goals, it is important that you understand your employee’s professional goals. What areas interest them? What does their “dream job” look like? From there you can help them focus their professional development in a way that will help them get there. Along the way you will benefit from an employee gaining the skills you will need to promote them in the future.
Create a fun committee.
We have also heard this called a “culture club.” This is a group of people responsible for making sure that employees have a little bit of fun. As a leader it can be difficult to take time out to plan these types of events and the employees on the committees will gain valuable skills and spend time doing things they enjoy. It really is a win-win.
The leadership in an organization has a huge impact on employee energy. Employees who work for leaders who promote more sustainable ways of working are 51% more engaged, 68% more satisfied at work, and 100% more likely to stay at the company.
These seven easy tips can be a great way to start re-energizing your workforce if you see they are falling flat.