What's The Point Of My Job? Answering This One Question Can Boost Employee Productivity And Your Business!
Just as the sun sets on Sunday, a feeling of uneasiness grips you. You know you’ve got just a few more hours until… MONDAY!
What drives an employee to work five or six days a week, every week, week after week? The security of receiving a salary at the end of the month is, of course, a given. But other than that, what prompts them to choose a job and stick with it?
More often than not, if your employees ask, ‘What is the point of my job?’ and don’t get a convincing reply from the universe (i.e. your company), they may want to explore greener pastures.
Of course, the answer to this question ain’t that simple! The solution is built day after day with the way you execute your company culture and build your employer brand.
Here’s how you can answer your employees, not with words, but with actions!
Here’s How You Can Rekindle An Employee’s Passion For Work!
Here are a few ways you can make your employees feel wanted and important in the grand scheme of things!
1. Build A Company Culture Around Employee Happiness
It is a universal truth that happy employees are more likely to work hard to get satisfied customers. Companies that put their employees first usually follow similar practices.
Excellent benefits, good pay, a culture of meritocracy and prioritizing work-life balance is something each of these companies describes as a part of their core values. To them, their people are their world and a happy world is proven to increase profits, attract talent and become of aspirational value.
A great work culture is essential for employees to feel worthy and reinforce their faith in the organization.
2. Go Heavy On Benefits And At Par On Salary
According to a survey by Glassdoor, 4 out of 5 employees will prefer better benefits and perks against a pay raise. Rest assured, if your employee is switching to a competitor, a better pay cannot be the only reason. From extended maternity and paternity leaves to paid vacations to remote work options, employees feel thankful to the organization which encourages them to work hard and play harder.
Being a cool employer doesn’t mean that you install a Foosball table in the office. It means tangible benefits that the employee can enjoy personally and professionally. Employees must be convinced that their efforts are being recognized.
3. Allow Them To Focus On Their Strengths
Each employee comes with a core strength. If it is leadership, extend autonomy to the employee without criticizing failure. If it is innovation, allow them to express their ideas and equip them with the tools to make it a reality. If it is building strategy, allow them to run the show for a quarter and guide the team to achieving targets.
In the end, whether they succeed or fail, you will have an experienced and knowledgeable employee on your side who is willing to take more calculated risks to help the organization meet its goals. Additionally, they will be far more confident of their skills as well as their position in the organization.
4. Decide On Smart Goals
Coming to goals, it is vital to set and manage expectations. If the target is too high and hard to achieve, the employee will feel disappointed with himself. If it is too easy, the employee won’t find it challenging.
There is a formula for setting goals right called SMART which stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. Have an open discussion with the employee what they think about the purpose and motivate them to believe that they can not only meet but exceed expectations with the team’s and your support.
Open, and regular communication also helps you keep in touch with the employee’s own aspirations. This is especially necessary to ensure that the employee’s career graph is progressing along with the company’s growth.
5. Encourage A Respectful Relationship Amongst Team Members
If you hire a bad manager, you are not only setting up the unit for failure but also creating setbacks for the company. The only way to ensure that managers work well is by taking a top-down approach and have the top management decide the rules of engagement.
They should treat the team members with respect, maintain a productive environment in the office and project an impeccable employer brand through their words and actions.
A good manager also encourages those under him to grow and find purpose in their work.
6. Actively Collect Feedback
While you may plan to execute a lot of activities to keep your employees happy, it is important to measure and analyse which of these worked to match up to their expectations.
Collecting qualitative feedback across the board will help determine which category of employees are the most or least happy and then custom design programs to help them do better.
7. Celebrate Service Tenure Milestones And Other Achievements
It is generally acknowledged that an employee, these days, does not stay on the same job for over four years.
Some people have continued to stick with your company through thick and thin. They have, time and again, proven themselves to be an asset to the organization and have been willing to stay back even when their colleagues jumped ship.
By rewarding loyalty and service tenure, you can let all your employees know that it will be beneficial for their career and overall well-being to remain a part of your company instead of worrying and switching jobs often.
Reviewing and rewarding their achievements periodically is also an effective way of letting them know that their efforts matter to the organization!
8. Add A New Level Of Meaning To Their Work
In general, we all aspire to give back to the society and help those not as privileged as us. But we blame the daily grind in coming in our way.
As an employer, you can connect with a few NGOs and facilitate the provision of voluntary services by your employees, taking care of the cost.
Working for a cause higher than themselves is bound to keep employees motivated and happy.
If you treat all employees as equal and break down bureaucracy barriers within the organisation, your employees will experience a sense of belonging and will automatically become brand ambassadors for you.