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Business owners have to juggle a lot of different balls. They need to keep their office running smoothly, attract new clients, keep their current clients happy, and much more.
However, there’s one thing that if business owners focus on, it will have a positive effect throughout the rest of the business. And that is employee experience.
Employee experience is how happy and engaged your employees are with your organization. Are they looking forward to coming to work every day? Are they engaged with their work and providing you with their best efforts? If not, your business is likely not growing as fast as it could.
Below, we’ll outline the importance of employee experience and how you can begin to improve it.
Importance of Employee Experience
Too many businesses have employees that aren’t fully engaged. In fact, according to one report, only 53% of employees say they are engaged at work. This number is way too low when you consider that engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave for another job opportunity.
In addition, companies with engaged employees reported revenues that were 2.5 times higher compared to their competitors with lower engagement from their teams.
Luckily, it’s not hard to improve employee engagement and happiness. It may seem like you just have to pay everyone more, but in fact, only 12 percent of employees leave their jobs because of money. This means there are other things you can improve, allowing you to get the benefits of happier employees without having to spend a significantly higher amount.
Compile a Comprehensive Onboarding Process
Start by reviewing your current onboarding process. Your onboarding process is a big part of an employee’s first impression of you. If you make a good impression during their introduction to the company, this impression will stay with them for a long time.
Your onboarding process should cover everything that new employees need to know. For example, you should include information such as how to log onto their computer, where and when to take their breaks, how to use the office printer, and who to ask if they have any questions.
Compile all this information in a useful employee handbook or onboarding guide so that your new employees have something to refer back to. Another good strategy is to assign new employees a partner who works in their department, who takes on the responsibility of answering questions and introducing the new employee to their role.
While making a good first impression is important, you also have to make sure your employees retain this high position of your organization. One way to accomplish this is through team-building exercises.
Team-building exercises help your team members get to know one another better which helps to improve communication. It also helps employees feel like they are a part of something bigger and they’ll enjoy their time at work more if they get along with their coworkers.
There are plenty of team-building events you can utilize. You could take everyone out for lunch one day or set up an afternoon to play some games. If you want to spend the time a little more productively, consider using this lunch and learn idea from Hoppier, in which you provide training during a casual lunch. The goal is to get your team in a more relaxed environment and bonding with their coworkers, as these are the people they’ll spend most of their days with.
Gather, Implement and Give Feedback
Lastly, don’t underestimate the importance of feedback. Specifically, you should look to gather feedback from your employees, implement this feedback, and provide feedback of your own to your team.
For starters, schedule time to talk to your employees and learn what they like about their jobs, what they dislike, and what improvements they would like to see. If you have a large team and not enough time to talk to everyone individually, consider sending out an employee survey. Then, once you’ve gathered this feedback, look to implement some of the solutions. Employees like to feel like their opinions matter and by acting upon their feedback, you show that you care about their work environment.
The last thing to do is give out positive feedback. When someone on your team accomplishes something, or reaches an important milestone, make an announcement to the team. This public recognition of a big sale or anniversary with the company says that you appreciate their efforts and that you’re glad they work there. If you want to make your employee even happier, consider giving out some rewards or gifts, such as a gift card or cash bonus.
Focus on Your Employees for Long-Term Results
Your employees drive everything that your business does. If you have happy employees, they’ll stick around longer, produce better work and make your customers happier. With the simple strategies above you can implement some tactics for making your employees happy and engaged. The sooner you do it, the sooner you’ll start to see the benefits throughout your organization.
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