The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
Employee Happiness – Keep Your Staff And Colleagues Smiling
The precedent of Monday mornings includes grey skies, traffic jams and general lethargy. It’s Monday morning. No other verbiage is required. So how do you turn those frowns into hardworking happy people? The answer is: You can’t. You’re not a miracle worker. But you can make your employees feel valued; you can make your colleagues smile!
Praise, Support and Assessment
The cardinal sin I see being made in the workplace is a culture of negativity. Rather than punishing or depriving your employees when something doesn’t go as it should; offer support for future endeavours. Ask the employee to assess themselves: Why do they think it went wrong? What can be improved upon in future? Don’t single the employee out for a ‘one-to-one’; confrontational meetings can cause feelings of anxiety and frontline vs. management separation.
Supporting your employees doesn’t just stop in the work place; employees suffering from depression have significantly higher rates of absenteeism, decreased levels of performance and health complications. Introduce an employee handbook, ask staff to contribute with what they think would be important including: family emergency, reporting absences, on site wardens/first aiders etc. Remember – it is important for the employees to know they have made a real contribution to THEIR workplace.
“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”; the proverb, popularized by Stanley Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’ (1980), bears great significance in all workplaces. Give your employees something to look forward to; combat the Monday Morning bug with the Monday Morning egg hunt. If you operate on weekends ensure your staff is fully catered for; have tea trollies and cake-walks. If you don’t work in an office pay for a trip to a bakery or a café for an early afternoon breakfast.
Another way of building office camaraderie is organising days out; to leisure parks, casinos, restaurants, golfing, bowling – the list continues. Just ensure that you take into consideration the age range and typical interests of your employees.
Play fair, Pay fair
The worst case of Us vs. Them I have ever experienced was when I was working at a now defunct high-street retailer. The unassailable issue was of course over pay. A large number of the front line staff were not paid in due time and those who had been paid had not been paid the correct amounts. The management staff was paid however, on time and in full. This caused a massive furore in the office; with threats of physical violence and termination.
Point-in-Case: You must pay your staff on time and in full. Of course accidents will happen and no payroll department is perfect. We suggest that small to medium sized businesses (and certainly large businesses) use an off-site payroll service bureau to ensure the professional and transparent running of your employee’s wages. There are many positives to this including not having to support payroll staff, provide training or separate office space and software, but as in the case above should there be a problem with the running and administration of wages then disgruntled employees will not be able to physically challenge their colleagues.
Whatever you decide to be the best course of action for developing relationships with your colleagues and employees try to remember that you’re all human, working and living together. To quote Bill and Ted: “Be excellent to each other.”
Robert Clark, writing on behalf of Trace Payroll, understands how to keep his staff happy. Ever striving for perfection, Robert intends to keep his eSports team (Pur3) away from sharp objects and small parts. Go Turtles!
