How To Thank Your Employees

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Employees|How To Thank Your EmployeesWhere would you – and your business – be without your hard-working employees? If it would be impossible to run your business without them, if you’re happy you have them, if they are the ones making the engine run, so to speak, then it’s a good idea to let them know and to thank them once in a while. Employees who know their bosses appreciate them and the work they do are much more likely to stay loyal, and they will be more productive, going above and beyond what would typically be expected of them. So it makes sense to thank you for a number of reasons. Here are some ways to do it.

A Thoughtful Gift

Getting someone a personal gift to say thank you is one of the best things you can do, but you need to ensure you get it right, or it could turn into a big mistake. Rather than generic flowers or chocolate, if you’re going to give a gift that shows how much you truly appreciate someone who works for you, it should be something personal to them. This means you need to know them well, or at least know their interests and passions outside of work. You might, for example, buy restaurant vouchers so that an employee can eat at a restaurant they’ve always wanted to go to, or you could find an autograph or other piece of memorabilia of their favorite movie star. The list goes on.

Get this right, and it’s an impressive feat that won’t go unnoticed. Get it wrong, and it will be a waste of money, and your employee will feel embarrassed. They might even decide that they need to look elsewhere for work as you don’t know them at all.

Do Up Their Workspace

Something you will know for sure about each and every one of your employees is where they work. You’ll know what their office looks like, you’ll know what the cafeteria is like, you’ll know what the outside spaces are like. If you really want to thank someone – or an entire team – making these spaces look and feel better is a great way to show how appreciative you are.

For an individual, a new office chair or computer, or even moving them from a small office into a large one might work well. For the whole team, organizing a renovation of the office itself or installing aluminum patio cover kits outside so they have a place to go to get some fresh air all year round are great ideas; there are many more.

Write Them A Recommendation

Although writing your employees a recommendation might make it seem as though you’re encouraging them to look elsewhere for work, the fact that you’ve done it – and perhaps posted it publicly on a site like LinkedIn – often has the opposite effect, and your employees will be more likely to stay with you.

A good recommendation is a great way to say thank you. It’s personal, it tells them exactly what you thought of the work they did, and it will make them want to do more to receive even better praise.

How to Build a Team for Your New Business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Build a Team|How to Build a Team for Your New BusinessStarting a business comes with many milestones, all as exciting as the last. You will make your first sale, rent your first workspace, and, eventually, hire your first team members. Giving new employees the responsibility of looking after your business can be daunting, especially if it is your first time, but it’s a crucial part of growth. Here’s how to build a team for your new business.

Consider Outsourcing

First of all, it is important to know that you don’t have to hire a person for every part of the business. For example, if you need an accountant, there’s no rule saying you need them to work in-house. There are plenty of companies offering accounting services for much cheaper than full-time staff, and if you want to save even more money, visit https://givingassistant.org/coupon-codes/legalzoom.com for Legal Zoom coupons.

Post Job Ads online

Most people look for jobs online, so write an inviting job ad to appeal to more talent. Make sure you include exactly what you are looking for, such as experience and education levels, and don’t be too vague about the job type. If you want an all-rounder, simply state that!

Know What You’re Looking for

One of the biggest mistakes new business owners make when hiring their first employee is not knowing what they’re looking for. This uncertainty could lead to confusion and an unhappy staff member, so make sure you determine what you want in an employee before you begin your search.

Decide on Interview Questions

Your interview questions don’t need to be deep or complicated; after all, your goal is to get an open conversation rolling. You want the interviews to have direction, though, so come up with interesting questions that are relevant to your business and will get the ball rolling.

Provide a Great Space

You want to give your team members a pleasant work environment, so make sure there is enough space and that it is well decorated before their first day. You should also consider natural light, break area, how much noise there is, and the temperature – no one wants to work in a cold, dark room! By providing a comfortable workspace, you increase employee retention.

Keep an Open Mind

Who you hire might not be who you envisioned when you first started the hiring process. Often, business owners have an image in their head of their ideal candidates, but in reality, the person who will perform the best won’t match your exact description. It is also worth considering giving someone with less experience a position, as they can learn and grow alongside your business.

Up Your Leadership Skills

As a business owner with a team, you have more responsibility than you did previously, which means increasing your leadership skills. Some points to focus on include your communication, empathy, listening skills, and influencing ability.
By giving thought to each step, you ensure that you save money, find great talent, and provide your team with a great place to work.

Getting Your Office Space Ready for Staff Members’ Return

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Pandemic|Getting Your Office Space Ready for Staff Members' ReturnThe coronavirus and Covid-19 pandemic has seen many businesses switch to working on a remote basis. This has been extremely useful in terms of slowing the spread of the virus and keeping staff members as well as possible. Now, many businesses have found that remote working has actually been completely fine for their business. Staff have managed to stay just as productive and video call software has meant we’ve all been able to keep in touch for events such as meetings that would usually be carried out on a face to face basis. It’s not all too surprising, then, that many businesses have decided to remain permanently remote. It cuts out office costs and other overheads, making businesses more cost effective. However, some business owners are still eager for the return to the office. They like having a set environment where staff must turn up, act professionally and can get their work done while being overseen by management.

If you fall into the latter category, you may be anticipating a return to the office at some point this year, as vaccines are being rolled out and as we are getting ready for a return to life as usual. Here are a few things you can do to get your office space ready!

Deep Clean

If your office has been uninhabited for a year or so now, you’re going to have to conduct a deep clean before your staff head back in. Not only will this make sure that your office space is sparkling and bright for when everyone gets back to work, but it will ensure that staff can feel that it’s Covid safe and secure too. Generally speaking, the best option is to use professional commercial cleaning services, which will get the job done to the highest standard.

Redecorating

The office can feel a bit drab. You want staff to feel glad to be back to work. So, why not add a fresh coat of paint to the walls and make things look nicer for their return? This will boost staff happiness and maximise productivity. Again, this job is often best left to the professionals, so make sure to use a Commercial Painting Company.

Implement Covid Safety Measures

Sure, staff may be able to return to work soon. But this doesn’t mean that Covid is necessarily going to just disappear. You need to make sure that you implement Covid safety measures in the space still. This is important for general hygiene and to make staff feel comfortable too. Make sure that there are screens between desks where staff have to work in close proximity to one another. Make sure that there are plenty of hand sanitiser dispensers available. Make sure that staff have masks and that they wear them when walking around the office.

These, of course, are just a few suggestions to get the ball rolling. There are all sorts of other steps that you can take to get your office space ready for staff members’ return. Hopefully, some of the advice will be able to help you and will prove useful!

5 Ways You Can Support Your Employee’s Mental Health

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Mental Health|5 Ways You Can Support Your Employee's Mental HealthIt’s so important for any business owner that they have employees who are coming to work every day feeling good about the work they are doing. The people working for you aren’t just your employees; they’re people, and they have lives outside of your business to run. Supporting the mental health of your employees should be one of the most important considerations when you are thinking about the best ways to manage your staff. The better you can support people, the more they will be willing to stay with you and be loyal to your brand.

Mental health isn’t a joke, and whether you are considering asking your human resources team to put a plan together to ensure your employees are happy, or you want to bring on Peter Sandhill for life coaching purposes for each member of the team, you need to know how to do this. Supporting your employee’s mental health is going to make a big difference to their performance, and your profitability and reputation as a result. So, with this in mind, here are some of the most important ways that you can support employee mental health at work.

  1. Ask. The best way to support your staff is to ask what they need. What one member of staff will need wll differ from another, and the more you understand about the people working for you, the better. If you can be candid with your staff and help them to better understand what you can offer, the happier they will be. People who work for you should be able to feel as if they can come to you for help and advice, and if you ask them what they will need the most, they’ll give you all the answers and pathways to help them that you need.
  2. Resources. Identifying the local resources that you can utilize to ensure that you support the mental health of others is important. If you offer your employees health insurance, make sure that it covers counseling or mental health support in their local area. You can even offer duvet days in the workplace. These are three or four days in the year – paid – that your staff can take at any time, no questions asked. These days are on offer as they need them, and it’s often the lifeline people need to know that they have your support.
  3. Self Care. Policies in the workplace that include self-care should be open to your employees to learn about. Encourage your staff to get away from their desks to eat and make sure that no one touches work on the weekends. If you do things like this, people are going to be more inclined to feel happier at work as they know that they have you supporting them.
  4. Workloads. It’s important that – as an employer – you stay on top of how much work your employees are actually doing. This means ensuring that you are monitoring when they are doing too much, rather than too little. When your employees are overloaded, they don’t work well. It’s not a good idea to give your team too much work, as all that will do is bury them in a load of stress that they can’t get back out of.Create Culture. You want everyone in your business to feel safe, able to ask questions, able to discuss issues and feel safe. Every single business is different, so work out what will work for your business and go from there!

How to Help Your Business Work Round the Clock

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Business Efficiency|How to Help Your Business Work Round the ClockImproving business efficiency and productivity should be one of your main aims as a business owner. It is entirely possible, providing you do sufficient research in line with your trade. For many of us, it can often feel like there are not enough hours in the day to finish every single detail on our to-do lists. However, it is possible if you work out how to maximise efficiency in the workplace. Keep reading to find out how you can help your business work round the clock.

Offer flexible working time

When doing research surrounding this topic, you probably want to learn how to completely maximise your time and add an extra hour to every day of the week. Whilst it is important to stay productive, every single industry has created the illusion that worth is measured upon productivity. Sadly, this isn’t beneficial for your physical or mental health.

Therefore, experts recommend that you recruit and hire employees within your means to help you run the business and keep everything in check. When it comes to the crunch, many business owners often see their products and services diminishing in quality as a result of doing everything themselves. A few extra pairs of hands will provide you with the opportunity to expand your business.

When it comes to timekeeping and rota creation, experts believe that offering flexible working time is a fantastic, manageable way to ensure your business works round the clock. No matter what contract you create, there will be something suited for everyone – even night-time work. Keep this in mind when hiring.

Look after your employees

As well as offering flexible working time for your employees, we also recommend that you do all you can to take care of them and provide them with adequate management. Research has shown that employees will work more productively and efficiently if they are happy within their role at work. This also benefits their mental and physical health as a result. With this, it is your responsibility to put measures in place to ensure they have exactly what they need. Happy and content employees will boost productivity in no time.

Invest in useful technology

Thirdly, you can help your business work round the clock by investing in useful tech. Thanks to the wonderful expansion and development of technology, we can use this to our advantage with businesses and increase productivity levels. For example, many businesses have jumped at the opportunity to use items like automated packaging machines from BluePrint Automation. There are so many benefits to industrial packaging machines – perhaps the best advantage is that they improve production speed.

Furthermore, when it comes to manual labour, there are legal requirements regarding breaks and downtime for employees. Choosing to use technology such as automated packaging machines eliminates this downtime and keeps your business working round the clock.

Choose an effective marketing strategy

Your business will remain efficient and profitable if you consistently attempt to widen and increase your audience and customer focus. Therefore, we recommend that you should attempt to choose an effective marketing strategy that draws customers to your products and services. There is an endless list of marketing services available and most are very affordable.

Opting for services such as email marketing and social media marketing will help you advertise your company around the clock. You can schedule posts on email providers as well as social media platforms. It is very important that you engage your customers where possible, and it’s useful if you make this recurring at all times of the day.

How do you increase business productivity and efficiency?