As people progress in their careers, there are a wealth of things they will be considering, that could add further value to their job role. From salary to development, culture to brand values, employee happiness is routed within a wealth of different offerings that an employee can provide – here Shelby Neat of Team Tactics suggests some job perks to provide if you want your team to stay.
Many employers assume that money is the be all and end all of keeping team members happy to remain working for the company. Whilst financial incentives do bring some level of happiness and satisfaction, research from Glassdoor has discovered that it isn’t amongst the most important factors that encourage employees to stay.
Whether you’re a recruiter looking for ways to help improve your clients’ staff retention, or an employer reviewing their employee happiness levels, discover more about what employees are looking for from their role.
Team culture is of priority
The research carried out by Glassdoor discovered that, of the various workplace factors that impacts employee happiness, the culture and values of the team and the workplace was the most powerful driver of whether they chose to stay or go.
This was the response that the majority of employees gave, despite their differing levels of income. As such, it’s imperative that employees begin to consider their efforts towards improving team culture and brand values, if they would like to improve their staff retention.
Simple changes or additions are a great place to start. It could be the occasional social gathering that’s organised and funded by the business, or fun and exciting team building activities that have no relation to the everyday work, but allow the team to spend some quality time together. These are just a couple of ways to begin improving the team culture, in a way that is fun and motivational for your employees to stay.
Team culture can also be improved with smallest changes within the everyday efforts at work. Whether it’s gestures of appreciation for team members working together to solve a problem, or even birthday celebrations in the office, small gestures at work mean a lot.
Looking for leadership
Employees often find comfort in knowing that there is always someone there for them, to offer advice, support and a helping hand for when they might need it. It’s no wonder then, that leadership showed up as the second biggest driver for staff retention in the survey’s responses.
If the workplace is lacking various levels of leadership and seniority, it might be time to assess the situation and make changes to it. It can be difficult when a team only has one person of the highest seniority to turn to, either because of how busy you can be or because they’re worried their issue might not be important enough to bring to you.
Consider the individuals within a team and any promotions that could be instated. That way, the team will have a manager whose priority it is to support them with day to day tasks, as well as the manager themselves having you to turn to, should they need.
Limited development can be detrimental
Development is needed and required in order for an employee to pursue a career. Without development, their everyday role can become mundane and it can make anyone feel less valuable to the company. Development, whether it’s in the number of skills the person has, or the opportunity to progress into a more senior level, is crucial to ensure employees are happy working for your company.
Think about introducing some training and progression plans to your team’s monthly schedule. Not only will this boost employee happiness and satisfaction with their job, it will also provide you with a much stronger team, who together have a varied range of skills to carry out their roles.
Improve the work-life balance
Work-life balance is becoming a particular focus for many industries who have seen their employee happiness levels slip, as a result of late night and weekend working, for example. Marketing in particular, saw a cause for concern, as employees tend to feel overworked and spend many more hours working than they should, to make sure everything is completed on time.
As such, there are plenty of employers who are considering the likes of flexible working, in which employees are able to work from home on certain days, or have flexibility in the times that they work, as a way of catering to their lives and to improve productivity.
Are there any additional benefits you could be offering?
If there are two jobs that are relatively similar, with added benefits being the only difference between the two, of course the candidate is going to choose the role with benefits over the other.
The same goes for employees choosing whether to move on to a new role, or to stay where they are. Staff retention, employee happiness and motivation can be improved with a few additional incentives on offer.
From bonuses to child care vouchers, health insurance to retail discounts, there are plenty of ways in which you can entice your employees to stay with you for as long as possible. All you have to do is think about your employees, their own wants and needs, and how you could cater to them.
Employee happiness is crucial for staff retention, as well as how productive your team are. As such, it’s important to regularly review what you are offering your team, to see if there’s any way in which you could improve how happy they are and how likely they are to stay working for you.
Shelby Neat is a content writer for Team Tactics, who offer a range of corporate events and hospitality around the UK.
