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How To Improve Employee Experience
Employees have more power these days to find new roles when they're unhappy with their working environment. This can make it a challenge for companies to retain the top talent that they need to thrive and grow.
Luckily, there are many ways that you can improve the employee experience and ensure great members of staff stay around. In this article, we'll go over our top tips for helping your employees feel valued, engaged with their work, and motivated to stay and work hard for your business.
Respond to feedback
One of the most important areas to focus on is inviting feedback, and listening to what your employees have to say. Even if you can't see a problem, there could be significant issues affecting your employees, and you should try to discover them as soon as possible so that you can find solutions. It can be worth providing options for anonymous feedback as well as direct feedback. There may be subjects that employees might feel shy about bringing up if they worry about a negative impact on them.
Avoid out-of-pocket expenses
Let's be honest, everything is getting more and more expensive, and many of us now have tight budgets. It can be distressing for employees if they have to pay for things out-of-pocket. It could mean their personal budget is disrupted and they have to rethink their spending until they get reimbursed by the company.
If your employees have to make work purchases, try getting business credit cards. They can stop your employees from worrying about where the funds for their business lunch will come from, or wondering when they'll get paid back for business travel.
"Business credit cards offer great flexibility when it comes to business expenses. They are not only convenient and fast, but using credit cards lets you track all your employee spending to see where you could cut back, or where you need to allocate additional budget. Credit cards offer full transparency and ease of use when it comes to business expenses."
–Damian Brychcy, COO and US MD of Capital on Tap
Be flexible
Everyone works in different ways, and it's time to embrace this. You should find out how your employees function best and try to work with them. This might mean work-from-home or hybrid working for some of the team. It might mean flextime. Or it could mean cutting down on meetings so that you don't break the workflow. Let your employees guide you when it comes to creating the best work protocols.
Offer additional training
Many workers want opportunities to learn and progress, and it's important to provide these. Even if you don't have a huge scope for advancement within the company, offering additional skills training can help keep your employees feeling like they are progressing. This could encompass tech skills, public speaking, or more industry-specific training.
Focus on communication
It's really important to develop clear communication with your employees. One of the main reasons that people can be dissatisfied at their jobs is if they feel like their bosses aren't listening. There are lots of ways to communicate effectively with employees, including active listening, keeping teams informed of changes, and checking that everyone understands a briefing.
Don't micromanage
If you've got good employees, you shouldn't need to check in with them every minute of every day, and it can be very disheartening for employees to feel like they aren't trusted. Once you know that your teams can handle the work that you assign them, be sure to show that you trust them by letting them handle their daily tasks without you checking up on them.
Damian Brychcy goes on to add: "Employees want to feel that they are trusted and thought of highly by their employers. Entrusting your employees with a business credit card can help improve morale just by showing that everyone is part of the same team, and is trusted not to mishandle funds. This helps show that your business focuses on the employees more than petty cash."
Create a positive workplace environment
If you work in an office, you should aim to make sure that the work environment is pleasant. There are plenty of office design tips that can help, including getting better lighting, creating open-plan areas, and having places for staff to relax and recharge on their breaks.
Conclusion
Employee experience is vital for making sure that you retain and attract top talent. It isn't difficult to improve employee experience. You just need to focus on making sure that your employees feel listened to, valued, and trusted. It's also a great idea to look at the office environment, flexible working, and how you communicate with staff. Above all, remember to get feedback and act on issues that your employees are asking you to improve.
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