How to keep your employees happy

We have often noticed cases where employees are not happy with the company. At times they are right however most of the time it’s just a case of over-expectation or the case of not understanding the company strategy for long-term growth. Handling such team members is tough, time-consuming, and takes lots of your energy. Moreover, it can easily distract you from your focus and business goals. This small seed of over-expectation or dissatisfaction can lead to multiple issues like mass absenteeism, mass attrition, less focused employees, etc. Plus the chaos all around will add fuel to motivate people negatively who are well on track so far.

The worst part – This happens with all the companies irrespective of size, service, country, and brand. The best part – It has a solution.

Let’s check out few strategies that we apply. We are successful so far and doing great, however, we are open to learning more. Feel free to share all your strategies in the comments…

1) Communication – Talk to them: I don’t even need to explain this point. We all are aware that miscommunication leads to negativity everywhere and the weapon here is PROPER COMMUNICATION. Communicate with transparency with your employees. Tell them everything and give them the right information.

Wrong information might make them happy however will lead to over-expectation and miscommunication. It’s just a temporary solution. Instead, be honest with your employees and explain to them your plans and future goals. Tell them where you are right now and where you are planning to reach. Avoid building castles in the air and stay grounded, it will help.

Of course, you don’t need to open all the information like strategies, etc. however be honest and turn it down politely by saying “We will share this when the time comes” instead of giving wrong information to make them happy. We often try to make our employees happy by giving them temporary solutions however we forget that it will give you temporary results. After few weeks or few months, the situation will be bad again and you will have to work on it again to resolve it. Remember your main focus along with business should be happy employees.

2) Communication – Listen to them: It’s very much possible that we misunderstand need as over- expectations. At times we are not in the position to solve their problems. Instead of accepting that they are right, we tag the issues with lines like “They are asking too much”, “Remember the competitors don’t give their employees such things”, “This will never happen” A smart person has a different routine – They listen to the request first and then ask for time to think about it.

If possible they implement and if not they commit to the deadline. If something is against the company policy then they explain the reason to employees in detail. Who will listen to your employee except you? Not listening to them and avoiding them is a pure insult to the time that they spend working in your company. Remember they need a job but it’s also you who needs them and thousands like them. If you can’t keep 1 or 10 of them happy please don’t expect to have a team of thousands of happy employees. Their growth is in your hand but it’s a double-edged sword – even your growth is in their hand.

3) Appreciation and Honors: Appreciation is the biggest source of motivation. It pushes them to cross their limits and get out of their comfort zone. When they are down but appreciated they rise. Breaking the barriers of embossment and helplessness during the tough phase becomes easy for employees with small appreciation.

It comes in different formats – like R & R (Rewards and Recognition), Personal emails from the CEO, Appreciation for them during team meetings, etc. Let’s not forget that everyone goes through the bad phase many times during their work life. Who knows your Star performer is also going through the same? It’s preferred and appreciated to honor the Star performer however you should not neglect the people who are going through the bad phase.

The calculation is pretty simple. They are like your business – at times in profit and at times in loss. If you don’t appreciate them you will miss a beautiful link to keep them happy when they need it most. They might leave the company after being demotivated. Two things might happen during this transition – (a) You will lose a great employee who could be the backbone of your company in the future. (b) The immediate effect – You will have to recruit the best replacement, train them, give your time and most importantly others will have to work till the new employee is ready.

Making someone else work extra hours to get the job done because of your problem also leads to exhaustion, demotivation, and a monotonous schedule for someone who is doing great in your company.

Apart from that we also keep focusing on Employee Grooming which keeps the momentum going.

We at Task Papa strictly promote keeping your employee happy and satisfied. A happy employee is 50% of the job done. After all, who wants to work in an unhappy atmosphere?