Any business is only as good as the people that work for it. If your team is stressed and overworked they are much more likely to make mistakes, be rude to customers and to each other. A negative working environment can quickly destroy your reputation and bring down all your hard work.
When you think of those potential consequences it is obvious that your employees are not just a cost, they are in fact perhaps your most important asset. And like any asset, without continuous care and investment, they will become a liability.
If you do not already have a staff investment policy it is time to get started. The good news is that it doesn’t necessarily need to cost a lot and the productivity gains are likely to more than makeup for any financial investment you make.
Let’s look at a few of the ways in which your business might invest in its staff.
Training
The most obvious way to invest in staff is with effective training and development. The exact shape of the training you provide might differ depending on the makeup and circumstances of your organisation, and of the individuals in question. For example, if you’re running a business that depends heavily on computers, you might offer courses in basic digital security to all staff members, and thereby safeguard yourself against phishing attacks.
HR Software
The right HR management software will allow you to track employees progress more accurately, and lower your administrative costs in the process. It’ll make life easier and more productive for your existing workers, and make it easy for you to recruit the skilled workers you need to make your business thrive. You will also be able to look back at the previous developments of staff and look to how they can grow even further.
More Flexible Hours
After the coronavirus pandemic, workers across the country may come to expect a greater degree of flexibility when it comes to home-working arrangements and more flexible hours. This has always been more important to women with caring responsibilities and many jobs can be done perfectly well on a part-time or flexible basis. By offering these things, you’ll be able to hugely increase worker happiness and retention.
Health Insurance & Pensions
If you invest directly in the safety nets that will protect your employees against medical mishaps, then you’ll be signaling to them that you care about their wellbeing. This will help to foment the feelings of goodwill that will get your workers to give their all to the company. You’ll be improving productivity, and helping your workers to recover strongly after a health problem.
Wages
Research shows that above all employees want to be paid fairly. So make sure that the wages you offer are in line with industry standards at the very least. If employees take on more responsibility or deliver to an outstanding level, then that should be acknowledged in their pay packet or with a bonus. It’s also important to provide clear pay information, such as the detail provided in the QuickBooks annotated wage slip so that employees fully understand all the details of their salary payments. Beyond fairness, money is surprisingly not a great motivator and can only compensate for poor management for a limited time. The main reason that people leave companies is that they do not respect their boss. Make sure that you are not paying people to put up with you!
Bonding Events
Feeling good about your colleagues is an important element of a productive workplace. But without a proactive strategy to foster camaraderie a workplace can easily slip into negativity. For example, if you’re working in one department, then you might not ever see someone from another – unless, of course, something has gone wrong. Team bonding events, even if they’re simple nights out, can provide a social environment that’s removed from the context of work. You’ll give employees the chance to get to know one another, and make it more difficult for them to harbour feelings of ill-will. That’s even more so if you elect to pick up the tab.