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Recruiting and retaining quality employees are essential to the success of your business.
Keeping your employees loyal, productive and happy means maintaining a positive work culture in your store, providing recognition and fostering engagement. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) shares four ways to boost employee morale in your business.
1). Listen to your employees.
Each of your workers is different, which means that what motivates and inspires each of them will also be different. Make yourself available and approachable be creating an open door policy that not only allows you to get to know your employees on a personal level, but to get their thoughts and feedback on the business.
“Giving [employees] a voice makes [them] feel more involved,” Alex Reichmann, CEO of iTestCash in Monsey, New York, says in the NFIB article. “It’s possible some of your employers may have good ideas about your business, too.”
2). Be positive, and celebrate.
If your employees only hear from you when something goes wrong, they’re likely to become discouraged and unhappy. To prevent this, make sure you’re engaging with and showing your employees appreciation on a regular basis. Maybe you can host a monthly staff pizza party or celebrate employee birthdays and work milestones. Regardless of your tactic, positively engaging with employees can boost attitudes and help your staff feel accomplished.
3). Create a relaxed environment.
“Employees are heavily influenced by their workspace,” NFIB explains. And when employees feel relaxed at work, morale is likely to be higher. One way you might create a relaxed environment would be to ensure that your store’s break room is equipped with necessities, as well as simple décor that sets a fun, positive mood.
4). Plan fun and interesting team building activities.
Team building activities can be great, but if you’re not creative with them, the exercises can become chores instead of morale boosters.
NFIB describes a creative team building activity from a company in New York. The business hosts what it calls its Office Olympics, which involves the staff making up a list of activities to do. Teams of employees then earn points and medals as rewards for completing the tasks on the list. Those tasks range from simple activities like saying “good morning” to the entire staff to bringing in baked goods to share, according to NFIB.
