Making your employees feel comfortable and accepted is one of the most important things to reduce your talent abandonment and increase your talent appeal. Apart from this, employee motivation can drastically affect employee productivity and motivation in the workplace. Still, how do you make an employee feel appreciated and comfortable? Well, there are a lot of ways and here are our top five picks.
- Show them they’re needed
One of the biggest problems that the millennial workforce is facing is the idea that “they’re not making a difference”. The problem lies in the fact that when you first start on your entry-level position in a firm, you’re not supposed to make a difference. No one does. Still, this can be so disheartening, which is why you need to learn new ways to show everyone just how much you appreciate them. The first way to do so is to give them your time. One-on-one meetings are the best way to show them that they’re valuable enough for you to set aside some time in your busy schedule and talk to them.
- Invest in your office space
The conditions that your employees are working in are indicative of how you see them and what you feel about them. Buying all your office furniture on flea markets indicates that you’re starting a low-cost operation that is there simply to grind for you. Even if you do get them some quality equipment, they will see this as an investment towards the productivity of your enterprise.
So, to show appreciation, you might want to invest in luxury and lifestyle items on your office floor. In the kitchen, you could get them a bit more luxurious coffee maker to show them that you value their work. In the bathroom, other than keeping the place in mint condition, you might also want to think about adding extra features like a quality bidet or two.
- Fire troublemakers
Some people aren’t great at teamwork. That is completely fine. However, some people are actively making the lives of their coworkers miserable. The biggest difference between slackers and emotional vampires is the fact that slackers constantly underperform. In other words, you can identify and fire them simply based on their performance evaluation.
Emotional vampires are not necessarily missing deadlines. Backstabbers are usually overachievers. However, they’re making the rest of your team feel uncomfortable. They’re diminishing the overall productivity in your organization. Not to mention that a lot of nonprofit organizations lack traditional employee evaluation, to begin with. Since more and more of them are embracing remote work, troublemakers can become even harder to identify.
- Actions are louder than words
You can tell your employees that you value them all you want, but unless you learn how to show this, it will all be for nothing. So, make sure that you spend some resources to make them feel appreciated. Pay them their bonuses. Give your valuable employees an extra day off. When they do something good, praise them in front of their coworkers. Even more importantly, give them positive feedback yourself. When they’re doing a promotion, promote them. A meritocratic workplace is the most stimulating work environment.
- Make it mean something
A reward needs to be earned to be meaningful. You see, one of the reasons why fraternizing with your employees is such a horrible idea is because it makes all your kind words and positive feedback less meaningful. If they tell you what a great boss you are all the time and you tell them what a valuable addition they are to your team, this will start feeling empty and meaningless after a while. So, make sure that you give praise where praise is due but try not to overdo it.
In conclusion
The very last thing you need to keep in mind is the fact that making your employees feel comfortable may also depend on your staff, your industry and your behaviour. Overall, it takes a systemic effort to keep everyone happy, and even then, you might not make it. Just make sure that your workplace is stimulating and that you’re as supportive as possible. That’s all it takes.
