As the superstars of your business, your employees need to know that they are appreciated and looked after. It’s not just to show that you’re a kickass boss who only deserves the best kind of team, however, although this also may be a part of your reasoning.
By taking better care of your employees, you are also benefiting your business and may be able to attract the best kinds of talents when it’s time to hire someone new.
Start by having a look at the guide below to how you can be the ultimate boss and show some love for those who work for you every day. That way, you can at least feel a bit more confident that your company is in caring and professional hands.
#1 Get to know them
The image we used to have of a boss who is controlling, busy, and snappy is long gone – today, it’s all about taking your time to actually get to know them. It is, after all, hard to like someone unless you’re able to talk to them and know who they are.
As their boss, you should focus on understanding that they have a personal life as well as a professional one. Set some time aside during the day to catch up with them, chat with them by the coffee machine, and try to be friendly rather than busy and snappy.
While the main benefit to this is, of course, that you’re gaining a team who appreciated who you are and is able to be on friendly terms with their boss, you’re also ensuring that they feel a bit more at home when they’re at work.
This increases their general work satisfaction and they might even be less likely to call in sick – just have a look at this article if you need any more proof. A likable boss is, in short, one that takes times out of his or her day to catch up with their team and even spend some time outside of work together with them.
How about inviting your team out for a lunch once in a while? Treat them to some team-building experiences, go for a beer after work, and notice how much the atmosphere in the office is changing when everyone knows each other a bit better.
#2 Praise hard work with incentives
Talking and catching up is great and all that, but you need some actionable steps as well if you’re going to improve your business by caring for your employees. This means that any hard work should be recognized and any employee who puts in a bit more effort should be appreciated.
You don’t have to make them stand up to a round of applause, though, as this would be awkward for everyone involved. In fact, it would be better if you were able to praise them as a team instead and thereby boost their sense of teamwork and achievement together.
Different incentives for a well-completed project may involve a team lunch, a couple of gift cards, a surprise cake at the end of a long Friday – or any of the other great ideas in this article.
Avoid going over the top and stick to something that seems appropriate for the work they’ve put in so that you’re able to repeat the process when they put in some extra effort on the next project you have in the pipeline.
#3 Foster a healthy company culture
Being a boss means that you’re in charge of leading the culture of the company. If the atmosphere is a bit too tense or a bit too relaxed, it’s up to you to change the course and set a new standard as nobody else is going to take the lead.
It is definitely a heavy burden to bear so read up a bit more on how you can work on changing an unhealthy company culture for the better. It might take a bit of time but if you get the team going, they will do their best to change the culture as well.
A good place to start is to make sure that you have a set of rules and guidelines to follow. This is a great thing to start already when you’re interviewing the candidates; explain how you’d like the culture to be, how active you’re hoping they will be during the morning meetings, and exactly what they can do to perform their best.
Make sure that they understand the company policy on drug use and drinking, and look into a fingerprinting service for their own as well as the company’s safety. You can click here for more information on the latter, by the way, so that you find a service that won’t take up your entire day.
As long as you’re able to step up and lead the way towards the kind of culture you have in mind, the rest of the business will surely follow.
#4 Offer flexible hours
If you have put some effort into becoming familiar with your employees, you should know by now that they care about their personal lives as well. That’s why so many companies these days offer their employees flexible hours or even telecommuting so that they’re able to build their days at work around their lives rather than building their lives around their work.
Plus, employees with access to flexible hours and telecommuting tend to be more productive at work, have a higher work satisfaction, in general, and might stick with your business for much longer since they are so happy there.
This kind of program is only going to benefit your company, in other words, and you will definitely notice a difference in their moods as well as their productivity.
Being the best boss ever means that you need to know what it takes for them to enjoy their days at work. This is, as you know by now, only done by being friendly with them and showing that you really do care about their wellbeing at work. They will pay you back in spades, in any way, so you might as well get started right away.