Several months ago I wrote that labor is like a hotel room – you have a certain number of productive, i.e. billable, hours each day. If you don’t use them they vanish. You have the same opportunity to use another 8 productive hours tomorrow. If you don’t, they vanish.
Labor is a precious commodity. Use your employees’ talents profitably.
People, i.e. your employees, provide your products and services to your customers. Its critical to ensure they are profitably and productively taking care of your customers.
Some of you may be thinking, “It’s a job. Employees just need to do their jobs.”
Yes, they need to do their jobs. However, your employees must be HAPPY and contented performing their jobs. If they are not, they will start looking for a “job” elsewhere. Turnover is expensive. Not taking care of your customers profitably is expensive and leads to going out of business.
In honor of Labor Day in the United States, here are five things you can do to increase employee satisfaction and company profitability.
1.Your employees must know:
- The purpose of their job – why they are important to the company
- How they impact customer retention
- How they impact the company’s bottom line.
If they know these things and feel that what they are doing is important, then they are likely to perform better.
2.Catch them doing something right and complement them publicly.
Everyone likes to be praised, even people who say they don’t need it. Better yet, send a note home to their spouse or significant other. If a customer sent in a testimonial praising one of your employees, post it somewhere everyone can see it. And, send the testimonial home to the spouse or significant other with a note. This way the spouse sees that their loved one is appreciated. Then, when the employee comes home grumbling that he had a bad day, the spouse, who is more objective and less emotional, can point out all the good things that have happened too.
3.Know what makes them tick.
Why do they come to work? What do they do outside of work? If they say what motivates them is time off or money. Your question should be time off for what? Or, money to do what? Time and money are the tools that give them what really motivates them. Once you know what motivates an employee you can plan incentives around that motivation.
4.Know how to communicate with your employees.
Research has shown that humans exhibit four major personality styles and substyles within each major style. Managers need to communicate with their teams based on how their teams like to be communicated with. Sometimes you can be direct. Sometimes you have to be subtle. Sometimes you have to ask questions to get to the ultimate goal you want.
The better you communicate, the less frustrated you will be with performance.
You can take a class to better understand personality styles (I use them in my on-line and in person management classes (next week I’ll announce fall/spring classes).
5.Have contests and other company wide activities.
Contests bring everyone together – have a revenue or profit contest where every employee can contribute. The prize for winning could be cash or it could be a sporting event or another activity where employees and their families can participate.
Happy employees lead to long-term customers which leads to increased company profitability (as long as you’ve priced your products and services correctly).
Enjoy Labor Day and tell your employees “Thank You.”