r seen a Pizza outlet waiter wearing the ‘Best Performer’ badge while serving? Or ever spotted ‘Three Cheers to HR’ written on a sticky note of an office bulletin board? These are signals that the people working there are happy.
For a small business, it is all the more possible to have a happier workforce. Here’s how:
- Hire positive people: A happier workplace in a small business begins right from the stage of recruitment. Apart from the desired qualifications, HR personnel must take the pain of finding out the fun side of candidates. Are they happy people? Can they take a criticism well? Are they motivators? Make them fill in a special form that answers some of these questions and you will have hired the happiest lot for your office.
- Celebrate together: A clear advantage for a small business is that everyone knows everyone. As a result, it is much easier to include the entire team in celebrating small and big successes of the business. Small birthday bashes and achievement parties must be organized from time to time to. These little things keep the team motivated to do better and feel special while working.
- Relax formality: While discipline and rules are crucial for success of a small business, an extremely formal environment must be done away. Keep Fridays casual-wear days, allow employees to keep photo frames and coffee mugs on desks, allow them to stick notes and thoughts around the office. These physical things create an informal and happier environment. Thus, a small business workplace seizes to look like office and becomes a fun place where people love their work.
- Office fitness: Make your workers feel they are important by taking care of their health and fitness. The HR cell of a small business can encourage this by starting stretching exercises during breaks. Organize short health workshops and educate them on how they can exercise even while at work. Remember that health plays a key role in keeping people happy.
- Give team challenges not tasks: Every tedious work in the office can be made to look exciting and challenging just by the way it is communicated. Management can keep a track of the specific tasks of employees and send them personalized ‘Best luck’ or ‘Well done’ messages. Similarly, team leaders must hand out responsibilities by pointing out the specific qualities the team members have that made them fit for the task. These little gestures will keep them challenged and happier at workplace.
- Rewards and Records: Apart from rewarding workers with fun coupons, gifts, perks, financial motivation etc, make sure the HR department keeps a record of achievements. For example, if an employee is chosen as the best performer of the month, the team must be informed that it is his second or third time in getting the title.
The best thing about small business is these small things can be arranged and organized without many hassles. A happier workplace can become a reality only when small details are taken care of.
