You should always interact with employees in ways that make them feel truly valued and appreciated. Your employees should be truly valued and appreciated because they are what allows your company to exist. You want them to feel like their contributions are noticed, so they’ll stick around and continue to work hard for your company’s success. Here are five ways to show how much you value your employees.
Have Some Flexibility
Work-life balance is important. Your employees have lives outside of the office, and if they don’t feel like they can manage the responsibilities of those lives, or like they have any time for themselves to unwind, they’re going to get stressed. Stressed and unhappy employees can’t give their best at work. And one of the best ways to support your employees’ work-life balance is to have some flexibility.
For example, give your employees the ability to flex their schedules once in a while so they can handle personal matters. Perhaps they can stay later in order to compensate for coming in later after a dentist or doctor appointment. Perhaps employees could even work from home a few days a week, or every day. That kind of flexibility can mean a lot to your employees.
Recognize Milestones and Achievements
It’s always appropriate to recognize your employees’ professional achievements as well as their personal milestones. Celebrating milestones shows your employees that you care about them as people – people who have birthdays and babies, who buy new houses, or who adopt children or pets. It’s just as meaningful to recognize employees’ professional contributions – employees will feel appreciated when you celebrate their successes, and that will foster morale and keep employees in their jobs.
You don’t have to go all out on all of your celebrations. Employee anniversary recognition is important, but it needn’t be more elaborate than a card and a mass email letting everyone know to congratulate Bob on his five years of service. Group celebrations, for when the whole office works together to meet an organizational goal, are also appropriate – they could include catered lunch, a cake, gift cards, or an extra day off.
Give Fair Compensation
If you want to truly make employees feel valued and appreciated, you have to say it from the wallet. Telling your employees how much you appreciate them is just talk – giving them more money, better benefits, more time off, and other perks shows that you really do value them.
- Plenty of time off;
- Health, dental, vision, and life insurance;
- Access to a retirement plan and plan contribution matches from the company;
- Health and wellness programs;
- Parking and/or transportation reimbursement;
- Bonuses and holiday pay; and
- Performance incentives.
A competitive compensation package is the best way to attract and keep the best candidates.
Check-in Once in a While
You’d be surprised at how much rapport you can build with employees just by popping into their cubicles for a quick chat every couple of days – and you don’t even have to stay and talk that long. You can say hello and ask employees how their families or pets are doing – taking the time to get to know them will build feelings of trust and connection in the relationship.
Your check-ins don’t always have to be about personal matters. Don’t be afraid to check in with employees about their opinions and experiences in the office. Have you implemented new processes recently? Keep your finger on the pulse of the adjustment by asking your employees how it’s going. Maybe someone has a great new idea to make things even better – but you’ll never know if you don’t ask.
Provide Opportunities for Advancement and Development
Employees who aren’t offered chances to advance in their careers are employees with one foot out the door already. If you want to keep down turnover, make sure employees are moving forward with your company, not looking for ways to move forward with another one. Provide professional development opportunities in the form of in-house courses, online courses, tuition reimbursement, mentoring opportunities, and cross-departmental training. Clearly define a career trajectory for every employee, and help them map out the steps they need to take to adhere to their plans.
Employees need to know they feel valued, or they might not stick around that long. Make sure yours know just how much you appreciate their valuable contributions to your company, so you can build the kind of trust and loyalty that keeps employees around for years.
