How small businesses can increase employee morale and job satisfaction

Employee morale and job satisfaction should be important to every business, but if you are a small to medium-sized enterprise it is crucial. The strength of your business is closely related to the morale of your employees. The more engaged they are with the success of your company, the more successful it will be.

Offer Better Benefits
Workplace incentives and employee benefits are simple and effective ways to boost employee morale and job satisfaction. They can also help you to retain your existing workforce. Small and simple benefits such as discount offers, the opportunity to increase pension payments, or rewarding consistent attendance with small gifts all boost morale.

With the help of Zest Benefits, you can empower your employees with the ability to track their benefits and engage with your business. This simple and easy to use system can be customised to suit your company and your employees, while also controlling and even reducing your costs.

Make Salaries Competitive
Your employees know their value. If your business is not offering competitive salaries that are as good or better than your rivals in the marketplace, they will know. This can be detrimental to job satisfaction and the dedication of your workforce to your business. Do some market research to get a better idea of the financial compensation that workers receive at competing businesses.

The salary a worker receives contributes a lot to their sense of job satisfaction. You do not have to offer wildly excessive wages to retain employees, but you do need to ensure that the salaries you pay compete. By increasing a small wage increase to your payment structure, you can yield big rewards.

Training And Development
Most employees expect to develop their skills and learn new ones over time. This gives them a sense of progression which leads to job satisfaction, and increased morale, while also helping you to retain your workforce. Many employers think that developing an employee will encourage them to take their new skills elsewhere, but this is not the case.

By creating a staff development programme and giving every member of your workforce the opportunity to increase their skill set, you are investing your time and money in them. Employees respond positively to this level of commitment to them and will repay you with loyalty.

Flexible Working Schedules
Balancing the demands of employment and life can be difficult for anyone. By implementing flexible working initiatives you can give your employees more opportunities to balance their commitments to you and their families. This has a massively positive effect on employee morale and job satisfaction.

Depending on the sector your business operates in, your options for offering flexible hours may be limited. If you are considering offering workers flexible work schedules you should include them in your plans. Use informal meetings to generate feedback and ideas for how you can implement flexibility.

Small Is Beautiful
Running a small business is demanding but rewarding. It is much better than being a small cog in a larger machine. Embrace the smallness of your business and create a culture of community within your workforce. You are all in this together, taking on the big boys at their own game.

Many consumers are passionate about supporting small businesses, and your employees are consumers too. Tap into this support, and let your employees know that they are a big part of a small business and that their work matters. It is much better to be a big part of a small business than the opposite.

Use these tools to supercharge your employee morale and satisfaction. With a workforce that is engaged with the business and understands that their success is linked to the success of the business, nothing can get in the way of your growth.