When you first start up your business, it’s highly likely that you’ll be working independently. But as time goes on, you’ll find that you need helping hands to get your business up and growing. When you do take on staff, however, you have to make sure that you make a consistent effort to keep them working to their highest standard. Here are just a few different things you can do to achieve this!
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Ensure Everyone Has Sufficient Breaks
People aren’t machines. They need breaks for a good reason. This isn’t only an opportunity for them to eat and refuel, so they have sufficient energy to tide them through the working day, but it’s a break from their work too. This allows their minds to recuperate, gives them a chance to collect their thoughts, and to head back to their desk feeling productive and ready to go again. Sure, your employees probably already have a half an hour or hour-long lunch break. But consider giving them an extra fifteen-minute coffee break at some point throughout the day too.
Making Sure Everyone Has Proper Training
We tend to train staff up before they start their role and during the first few months of their employment. This makes sense. They’ll need an introduction to your company, its values, its aims and its operations. They’ll also need to become familiar with what’s expected of them in their role. But after this point, most companies never go back to training their staff. This is a big mistake. Roles often change, equipment and software being used can change and other factors can change, so your staff should have constant training to keep on top of things. There are various different training programmes out there and virtual reality is supporting employee training, so make sure your workers don’t miss out.
Rewarding Achievements
The most productive employees are those who feel appreciated. People can work really hard, but if their efforts aren’t acknowledged, they’ll often question what the point is in going above and beyond and will return to the basic level of effort required to keep themselves in a job. It’s absolutely essential that you recognise employees’ achievements and accomplishments. There are a number of ways to do this. Sometimes, a simple “thank you” is enough. In other instances, you might want to provide an actual reward. Perhaps an email detailing their achievement to the rest of the company, a cash bonus, or vouchers of some sort. Not only will this help your employee who’s achieving well to feel appreciated (making them want to continue their efforts), but it can inspire other employees to work hard and achieve greater goals too!
These are just a few changes you can make to the way you run your business to ensure that your employees are productive at all times. Implement them as soon as possible to start reaping the results!
