When it comes to employee happiness, we sometimes can have a tough time keeping a balance. I’ve heard of people in HR refer to themselves as adult babysitters, while others have felt like they’re the odd ones out. In a lot of ways, this is like balancing a family, which, is never an easy task.
How people come into our work lives can vary. There are some cases where we hire people based strictly on an emotional response, while other times it’s completely strategic. The overall goal, though, is to maintain a balance between everyone that’s involved — but that can come with a cost. As the old cliche goes, “you can’t make everyone happy all the time,” but finding a status quo is important to your team and the future of your business. We’ve compiled a list of common mistakes, and tips on avoiding them to help you succeed in the talent acquisition process.
Not Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due
This can easily be one of the quickest ways for someone to want to leave firms. Not only does it say that you don’t care that much about the efforts that they’re putting in, but it can quickly lead to bad word of mouth, harboring you from other good candidates. Additionally, rewarding employees the right way will also make you feel better about your business practices, and can save money regarding turnover and hiring.
An excellent example of this is how companies treat your interns. According to the Wall Street Journal, paid interns are far more likely to gain employment after their terms than unpaid. A big reason for this is that not only do paid interns do more quality work, but they also gain a better knowledge base of the industry at hand. Even as some firms try to utilize unpaid internships as a way of cutting costs (which, is sometimes illegal), paying your interns will provide a better employee almost every time.
However, interns aside, the overall goal here is to treat your employees well in general, and they’ll return the favor tenfold.
Ignoring the World Outside Your Office
As many entrepreneurs know, what happens in the outside world significantly impacts your business nearly every day. From legislative changes to local news, the world outside our companies is regularly involved in a whirlwind of issues, which your employees are taking note on too.
One of the most direct correlations with this is healthcare and employment. As the new administration is trying as hard as they can to dismember and reinstate a new health insurance policy, this is something that almost every employer and employee is paying attention to (and for a good reason too.) For employers, the cost of giving everyone healthcare can be an expensive venture, especially when factoring turnover. On the flip side though, it’s a benefit that employees expect, especially when considering a long-term career move.
While this is just one example, there are numerous factors out there to consider when it comes to making your employees as happy as they can, which, is the key to maintaining talent.
Putting Work Over Life
In the cutthroat business world, it’s sometimes easy to neglect your employee’s lives outside of work. In fact, according to NPR, over half of food service workers go to work sick. Not only is this is an utterly disturbing statistic, but it proves one thing that is true (despite that it shouldn’t be): employers can sometimes make their employees feel disposable, which is a horrid way to run a business.
Take the time to genuinely get to know what’s going on in your employee’s lives and accommodate them accordingly. This includes factoring in the tough times when they might have to stay late, as well as the outside responsibilities and demands that affect them on a daily basis.
At the end of the day, the world will move on just fine without someone slaving away at whatever it is you need them to do. So, relax. Let life go on and focus more on helping your employees grow with your business. Doing so will not only bring them a better piece of mind, but it will also encourage them work harder and show more loyalty. I promise, caring about your employee’s lives will provide you with the absolute best employees for life.