When you run a business and hire people to work for you, specific facts will become evident. Your employees are not robots for a start, but people like you with independent thoughts, fears, and emotions. You’ll also discover they are valuable assets to your company just as much as machinery and equipment. But, employees shouldn’t just be thought of as business assets. They’re much more than that.
By Team Savant
Your staff is like your family, and you should care about their well-being similarly. With that in mind, how can you show your employees that you care about them and what they think? And how can you avoid treating them merely as your subordinates?
Here are a few examples of things you may wish to consider to promote a more family-esque workforce:
1. Give Them the Right Tools They Need for Their Work
One of the tools that can significantly enhance the performance of your employees and the overall success of your business is a knowledge management system (KMS). But what is a knowledge management system? It is a digital platform that captures, stores, sorts, and shares knowledge and information within an organisation. It enables your employees to access the information they need to perform their jobs more efficiently and effectively. Taking this step helps demonstrate support for your employees’ needs.
The ugly truth is that some business leaders are too focused on making a profit to see that their staff can’t perform at their best. Why? Because company bosses have paid little attention to the needs of their employees.
As you can imagine, when one of those needs is having the right tools for the job, it can cause morale to plummet. Spend time with your employees and learn about what frustrates them about completing their daily tasks.
You might find that some solutions are easily within your reach, while others may require investment but will pay for themselves quickly. If you want your business to succeed, your teams need the right tools to get the work done.
2. Give Your Staff a Voice On Health and Safety Matters
As an employer, you have a legal obligation to ensure your employees' health and welfare at your premises. As you can imagine, health and safety issues can sometimes crop up over time.
Your team must know they can convey any concerns related to the safety of their working environments. There are many ways you can make that happen. For example, you could give one employee health and safety representative training.
That team member can then act as a spokesperson for other staff and relay any current or potential future health and safety concerns to you.
Working with your HR to help provide the support and guidance they need is also important, so consider what public sector software is available to utilise for this purpose.
3. Give Them Practical Perks
Some of your team will likely need time off work when they have a newborn child to raise. Others might need support during bereavement or even therapy to deal with various issues that prevent them from conducting their work.
Be a caring and supportive employer by offering practical perks to all employees. Examples might include extended maternity and paternity leaves, bereavement leave, and access to a confidential counseling or therapy service.
Other ideas that could make your workplace an awesome one include a free canteen, a recreation room, and flexible working hours. You could even offer free first-aid training or other courses to help enhance each team member's skills.
Summary
Your employees want to feel like they’re valuable to your business. Treat them as you would one of your family members, rather than as ‘assets’!