A 2015 survey by AHRI1, showed some interesting trends in staff turnover rates. Their findings showed that the average employee turnover had moved up from 13% to 16% since the previous survey in 2012.
One of the reasons they believe for the increase in staff turnover are the number of opportunities that employees now have to network. Networking has become a normal part of career mobility.
It has enabled both employers and employees to scope the workforce much more broadly as a way of finding new work, career or staff opportunities.
Most of these moves appear to be rather than vertical. A lot of this movement in the workforce can be attributed to the rise of professional networking websites such as LinkedIn. LinkedIn, along with other social media sites give employees access to a wide range of career possibilities and consequently, career mobility.
One of the results of this increase in career mobility is the pressure placed on employers to keep and retain good quality staff.
Employers have to work smarter than ever before to take care of their employees, or they will soon find their investment in training and on the job discipleship soon returning a net loss on productivity.
One of the ways employers can reduce the loss of their own staff is by maintaining the morale of the people who work for the company or small business through effective team building.
Here are a few ways you can boost morale and stave off the competition, as well as the temptation, for staff to move on.
Pay Tribute to Staff Milestones
One simple way to boost the morale of your employees is to acknowledge their milestones.
These milestones could be personal. For example, they could be a wedding, a birthday, or the birth of a new child. Milestones can also include health and fitness goals or educational goals that the employee has been reaching for.
For you to boost the morale of your stuff in this way, you need to know what those milestones are. That means getting up alongside your staff and finding out what they are achieving not only in their work life but their personal lives as well.
Ask yourself, what work-related goals have they accomplish lately and consider how might you reward those accomplishments.
Share a Meal, Eat Together
Hunter294 Function and Event Centre says that as many as 3.8 million Australian workers admit to regularly skipping a lunch break.
This means there is a large sector of the small business community that doesn’t even take the time to eat, much less time to come together and build one another up.
So, perhaps another way of building morale amongst your small business crew would be to set aside one day a month where you go out and enjoy lunch together.
This could be combined with a conference event or other related gathering. Eating and working together side by side is powerful as a motivator and bonding exercise among co-workers.
Make time to get together with your team and share in a meal. A lot of things can be discussed over a meal, and a lot of problems solved that cannot be solved or even discussed in the heat and pressures of daily work.
Not only does sharing a meal help Focus Bond but it also provides employees with the chance to break up the usual routine and communicate in a different environment.
Professional Development
One of the ways to really inspire your staff is to provide them with the opportunity and incentive to further their own professional development.
Staff training is an excellent way to create motivation within your team. These kinds of events help form bonds and develop an effective network of support, which also happens to be a great way to motivate a small business team.
As an employer or a small business owner, it’s your task to know what training is available and what opportunities for professional development courses are available for your staff.
If you are willing to invest the money needed to have them trained what might the return on your investment be?
Look at the range of skills and the range of training available.Do you have employees in your team who could benefit from further
Do you have employees in your team who could benefit from further development? Be prepared to invest in that development.
One way to do this is to establish an annual training calendar. Make yourself aware of the kinds of educational and vocational training that are available and consider which staff might be appropriate to receive the benefits of that for the training.
Change Up the Schedule Now and Again
While routines are important for productivity, flexibility and change often create an atmosphere for new developments within a small business organisation.
Look at the ways you could change up the schedule now and again. Perhaps you could provide some at-home days for some of your staff.
Perhaps you could structure employees with some field trips and fact-finding days.
Breaking up the routine not only brings fresh air and fresh creativity to the task it also alleviates stress.
There may be opportunities for job swaps or partnering with other work teams. Sometimes just doing something unexpected is enough to motivate your team and keep them committed to your business goals.
It can also give your staff the opportunity to appreciate the work that others do.
Sharing the Vision
Establishing a positive environment for your staff is achieved by a large number of factors.
Those factors involve recognition of staff milestones and compensation. Management that is willing to become innovative, engaged employees in the creative process.
Small regular meetings that engage staff in day-to-day operations without distracting them from their main task is also helpful.
The positive impact of regular team meetings among team members is often greater than the interaction between small business owners and their staff.
Staff should be given opportunity each week to discuss their own skill development and their own progress on the job.
In order to get the best return on the investment you put into your employees, make sure that they are given everything to not only complete the job but enjoy it.
In one recent survey2 10,000 people, 15% of the respondents cited technical training as well as intelligence skills as contributing factors in their workplace success and job satisfaction.
85% of those who were surveyed said that the major factor in their job satisfaction was, in fact, the personality traits of those they worked with.
It seems that their ability to relate and communicate effectively with those people working around them was a major factor in overall staff morale.
Here, communication is key. The ability to develop relationships with those in your care and the employees of a small business is essential to good morale.
For small business who want to improve morale among staff, communicating the vision of the company on a regular basis is key.
Bringing your vision and mission to bear in the lives and work of your employees you’re going to see a sense of attachment and commitment to that vision.
It is not only going to improve productivity but it is going to go a long way in improving staff retention and job satisfaction.
Additional Sources
1https://www.ahri.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/52344/PULSE_retention-and-turnover-2015.pdf
2 http://www.barrettrose.com/the-high-cost-of-low-morale-and-what-to-do-about-it/
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