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Businesses like to believe they’re doing everything they can to take care of their staff. But when you look into their operations and practices, it’s not always clear they are. Things might look good on the surface, but there could be problems below.
Fortunately, this post is here to help. We look at some of the clever ways you look after the people who work for you and put their interests first. Here’s what to do.
Taking care of your staff: six strategies
1. Provide them with meaningful work
The priority should be to provide the people who work for you with something meaningful to do. Most employees are looking for an occupation that adds meaning to their lives and doesn’t feel like a drag.
Taking care of your staff means giving meaningful work to everyone all the time is challenging, but simply adding it in small quantities can have a significant effect on worker well-being. People who feel like their working lives have a meaningful direction are more likely to stick with your company long-term.
You never quite know what form meaningful work will take, and it can change through time. Therefore, experiment and see what employees like. Get them to give you feedback on what motivates them to get up in the morning, and what doesn’t.
2. Offer open communication
Open communication can also be an excellent way to take care of your staff. Providing them with a forum where they can come forward is helpful and prevents unexpected meltdowns and crises that can happen otherwise.
Open communication doesn’t necessarily mean you have to cater to their every need. That’s not realistic in the workplace. But people should feel confident coming forward and sharing problems with you if they think they’re important.
You might also want to encourage feedback to audiences and be more receptive to their needs. Getting staff to tell you what the problems at work are helps you make changes that ultimately encourage them to stay with you longer. You don’t want high staff turnover, especially if replacing people is challenging.
3. Show respect
While it might sound basic, showing respect to employees can also have a profound effect on their well-being. Simple things that recognize their contributions and achievements can have a positive impact.
A lot of companies hire bad managers who keep talented people away. Don’t do this. Monitor your middle management to check they are affording employees the respect they deserve. The better you treat people, the more you’re likely to get out of them.
Sometimes a simple thank you or letting staff know you’re on their side can help. Even if your team isn’t perfect, people need to know they can count on you for fairness.
4. Offer items that support their health
Taking care of your staff also means supporting their health and well-being. The more vibrant people you have working for you, the better it is for your enterprise as a whole.
But what does this support look like in practice?
The obvious item is medical coverage. Providing employees with some sort of insurance can be enormously beneficial.
However, there are other things you can do. For example, you might offer basic life-saving (BLS). These courses help employees take care of themselves and each other in challenging health-related situations.
Finding a BLS near me could help in my business. Staff knowing what to do when an emergency strikes is essential. But it could also assist you too.
There are plenty of other things you could do to support your staff’s well-being besides this. Options include things like offering on-site wellness classes and meditation facilities. You could promote stress management techniques and set an example by performing them yourself.
5. Establish a work-life balance
Establishing a proper work-life balance is another essential element of taking care of your staff. The more you can give them lives that combine work with pleasure, the more likely they are to stick with you and fear going to other firms.
Work-life balance is hard to achieve in most companies because of cultural issues. A lot of firms believe in doing extra work (mainly because it is convenient for the owners). However taking care of your staff, that approach is more likely to come back to bite you in the long term as talented individuals get burnt out.
Establishing a work-life balance often means changing the culture. If there are people in your organization beating the drum that say four hours of sleep after twelve hours of work is okay, change the conversation. If necessary, physically send people home once they’ve been in the office for eight hours. Turn off their computers and tell them they’re not allowed to come back until 9 am the following morning.
Other strategies include:
- Offering flexible working options that let workers come into the office whenever they want
- Providing in-office services for work management
- Strategically employ people who can calm down team members who might feel overwhelmed
- Improve time off policies, including “emergency days” staff can take besides their holidays at short notice when emergencies come in their private lives
If you notice anyone overworking, try to find out why. If it is about pay or financial circumstances, you might be able to change their arrangements and give them a helping hand. Likewise, if it has to do with work pressure, try to find out why. Caseloads could be too high.
6. Prioritize professional development
Finally, taking care of your staff also means investing in their professional development. Increasing their market value and providing them with a trajectory they can use to advance their career helps them get out of the doldrums and into prosperity.
Professional development is also something you can use to generate a sense of reciprocity. Instead of staff doing the bare minimum, they go above and beyond because they know you’re there supporting them. They also know you don’t have to do it – most firms don’t bother.
So there you have it: what it means to really take care of your staff. You don’t have to implement all the measures on this list, but applying a few of them will make it easier to get talented individuals to stick around.
