2. Prevent burnout
Overworked employees do not have the time or energy to develop. Excessively loading your employees also negatively affects their output quality and customer service. The American Institute of Stress® has highlighted that businesses lose about $300 billion per year because of key factors like poor employee performance, accidents, absenteeism, and more. So investing in your employees doesn’t only benefit them, but it also benefits you and boosts productivity.
A healthy work-life balance helps employees grow their skills and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Excessively rigorous schedules will inevitably affect your business. Employees are unlikely to consider working at your business as a long-term option if it impairs their wellness and personal lives. This means that you will have a high employee turnover, which will inflate your expenses in the long run.
Introducing employee assistance programs, expanding access to activities like yoga, and limiting overtime are some of the ways that you can use to avoid burnout. Conducting surveys will also help to reveal patterns that cause burnouts and ways to break those patterns.
3. Enable employees to invest in the company
Staff that profit directly from your company’s success is more motivated to contribute to your business growth. This translates to more dedication, better decision-making, and improved output. Enabling your employees to invest in your business will help you retain more long-term talent. This translates into a low turnover, which in turn saves you money in the long run.
You can get inspiration from several successful businesses that apply this strategy.
GoDaddy®, for example, has offered opportunities to employees to buy and sell stock options every 6 months since the company started offering shares to the public in 2016.
Recognizing employees as “the beating heart” of the organization, TextMagic® offers stock options to its team to promote a working environment of satisfaction and happiness. As CEO Mr. Vaikmaa explained, “Just like other tech companies, a strong team is crucial to our success. To ensure the company’s continued growth, we want to engage and motivate our people by offering stock options, not only to the management but to all team members.”
SalesForce® allows employees to buy stock options at a discounted price. Employees are only required to pay the offering date or the purchase date price depending on which is lower at the time. They also get a 15% discount on shares and can use up to 15% of their income to buy stock.
4. Offer more flexible working
Offering a remote work option and flexible scheduling that fosters a favorable work-life balance is an invaluable investment that will show excellent returns in the long run. Ensure that your employees do not have to carry excessive workloads consistently. They might need to bite off a little more here and there, but it should not be the norm.
You have probably already expanded your remote and flexible working options due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, instead of coming in daily, perhaps employees work in the office once a week and follow a schedule that allows them to work remotely and still have a social life at the end of the working day.
More than half of employees want to continue with their hybrid work arrangements even after the crisis is over, and 9 out of 10 workers strongly prefer flexible work schedules. Accommodating the needs and preferences of your workforce and creating schedules that allow them to do so on agreed weekdays will enable you to build loyalty in response and improve retention.
5. Remote worker perks
In-office workers often have access to job perks that remote workers do not. This includes wellness programs, excellent work equipment, employee recognition and appreciation, fitness tools, and workout gear for leisure activities.
Investing in similar perks for remote employees ensures they do not feel secondary to the rest of your teams. Help your employees create an efficient workstation in their homes by providing them with chairs, desks, and other equipment that will make their work more manageable.
A workspace promoting creativity and productivity with all the necessary equipment will motivate them and cause a spike in the quality of output. Flatfile® is a good illustration of this point. They provide fully-equipped home offices for their remote staff, creating personalized and comfortable work conditions enhancing their workers’ satisfaction and productivity.
Also, always make sure your remote employees are not excluded from any kind of seminars or workshops. You can provide them with premium online courses to not be left behind.
Ensuring fair play for both on-premises and remote employees will promote a company culture of equal opportunities and unity.
Takeaways
The backbone of any company is its workforce. As we progress in the business year, make it a point to invest in your employees and help expand their skills and enhance their performance.
We’ve discussed some of the ways to enrich your employees’ work experience, such as enabling them to share in the company’s success, offering a more flexible working arrangement, and giving them opportunities for professional development. Allocating financial resources to support your workforce’s well-being, upskilling, and motivation is a far-sighted investment that can help your business stay competitive and thrive in the challenging today’s market.