One of the main losses that is not often counted properly in the statistics of successful businesses versus failed businesses is the employees. Believe it or not, no one is going to be very productive in a place where they are unhappy. Employee unhappiness equals loss of cohesiveness and leads to just average productivity. There are important reasons why this should be every business owners concern. The old mindset of I pay your wages, and therefore this fact equals loyalty to you the employer is dead. There are a plethora of jobs floating around in this new gig economy. The employees who are dissatisfied will go to test the waters somewhere else.
This leads to a monetary loss for a business based on the fact of the time spent on orientation plus training that employee to fit your organizational puzzle. The economy is no longer stagnate. This is not the 2008 meltdown to where we saw mid-level career people having to settle for a job at McDonald’s to pay the bills. The thing being the economy has become so good that human resources are setting up interviews and are experiencing slightly new phenomena called ghosting. Ghosting is when a prospective employee is scheduled for an interview, and they just don’t show up, nor do they bother to call to cancel.
The turnover could’ve probably been prevented just by measuring employee satisfaction. This could have been done simply by getting anonymous feedback conducted by a neutral outside of the company resource. The feedback doesn’t have to be a super analytics-based study, but it can be just as simple as a few questions on a survey. The Millenials are a different breed of jobseekers. Gone are the days of expecting a company to be around for the long haul for your offspring to have a chance to work there, and move up in the ranks of the company.
The recession of 2008 opened their eyes when they saw their parents despair of being laid off after working for a company for a number of years. The job seekers of today are looking for a work-life balance. This is different from the two week vacation time that their parents earned. They want to be happy and satisfied on both fronts of their lives. This means the personal life isn’t put on the backburner due to long hours at work.
The digital age has afforded employers to be able to offer work from home alternatives in some companies this is the new normal. The digital nomads as this group of young happy new workers are better at communicating through email or video conference. The work from home model saves the company money and increases employee happiness. This can lead to a possibly more productive employee who because of the work-life balance will stay longer with the employer. The companies who are not able to give this option can come up with other ways to show appreciation for their employees by having some reward for when a milestone is met.
Let’s just say if an employee makes a year with the company they get a bonus of some dollar amount. The business owner could make a deal with a restaurant that their employees get a discount. These are only some minor adjustments, but on the major side of the job is benefits like 401k matching program, or better than average health benefits. These things all depend on the size of your business if you are able to swing the cost of these upgrades. If you say in your mind that you can’t afford any of it. Think to yourself what would Martha Stewart do? How hard is it to put together a do it yourself party for your employees. All you have to do is ask for volunteers and let the employees take charge. The alternative for small businesses is a simple birthday party.
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