10 Lessons Every Employer Needs To Learn To Keep Their Employees

What my first six years in the working world have taught me

Disclaimer: Not all of the below tips will apply to every employer. My tips are based on the experiences of having worked in office environments only.

“Happiness makes people more productive at work.”

This was the general result from a study carried out by the University of Warwick a couple of years ago. And I couldn’t agree more with this statement.

But why is it so important for an organisation to have happy employees? Well the answer is fairly simple.

Unhappy employee = poor performance and more likely to change jobs

Happy employee = better performance and less likely to change jobs

Employee’s happiness therefore benefits both parties in the long run and creates a win-win situation.

Each time I changed my job, I have taken some time to reflect on my experiences. As a result of that, I have put together a list of the 10 most important points, that I would consider having improved my well-being, productivity and performance.

#1 — Flexibility

While an organisation shows trust in their employees to manage their own time and working hours, stress levels generally go down.

Flexibility gives an employee the freedom to do their work when they function best. As we all know — some people work better in the early morning whereas others have a productive time in the afternoons or evenings.

Additionally it enables the employee to build the working day around their private life so it takes off the pressure of managing to pick up the kids from school or fitting in a doctor’s appointment.

I have always felt the positive impact of flexible hours, because I could fully focus on my work without being distracted. As a result I felt a heightened sense of responsibility to finish my work on time and could feel my productivity increase.

To introduce an element of flexibility, there are two options that are fairly common and well-known, namely remote working and core hours.

Lesson #1: Flexibility takes a lot of pressure off the employee and allows them to focus on their work and performance.

#2 — Recognition

For me personally it was always most important to feel like I had a purpose in my job. Knowing to be a valued colleague and an essential part of a team made me want to deliver my best work.

Recognition can come in form of a bottle of wine, a box of chocolate or a voucher. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive. A hand written ‘Thank you’ card can mean the world to someone.

Knowing to be valued can have a huge effect on how well someone carries out their work, which — again — will have an impact on their performance and productivity.

Lesson #2: Making an employee feel like they are needed and are continuing to be important for the overall success of the team increases someone’s wish to perform at their absolute best.

#3 — Catch-ups

Whether in person or remotely via a video conference, regular catch-ups with a manager can be helpful for an employee to review their progresses, but also to detect difficulties or concerns.

The earlier a problem is brought up, the more chances there are to stop it from getting out of hand.

What is most important for every employee is to fully understand their role, responsibilities, expectations but also limits within their position.

Two types of meetings that should be held regularly are individual chats and team meetings.

A) An individual chat with a line manager can reduce the risk for someone to feel too overwhelmed, because someone’s performance and well-being are closely interlinked. By having a chance to talk about potential concerns on a regular basis, there is an opportunity to adjust certain processes in order to make someone more comfortable.

B) Team meetings can be used to strengthen the team spirit by discussing strategies to reach important goals and milestones together. Having that connection with each other is important for the team members to fully support each other.

Discussing the workload of each individual might lead to a re-distribution of tasks in order to relieve those who are struggling with their amount of work. In general it is an opportunity to review as a team, which things are going well and which can still be improved.

Depending on the willingness of the team, the individuals might decide to also share some personal difficulties they are facing, which might affect their performance. That way everyone can be considerate about their circumstances.

Lesson #3: Frequent communication in form of catch-ups can eliminate problems from the beginning.

#4 — Team Building

While talking about the benefits of team meetings, team building should be mentioned as an inevitable component of it.

Many places have a committee within their departments that are in charge of organising regular team events. Those activities can take place both in person or virtually. Examples are: game nights, dinner and drinks, a competition, a trip to nature, bowling, mini golfing, solving an escape room, taking a cooking class, doing a scavenger hunt.

There are so many options for team building — you can be creative with it and involve the employees in the decision.

Lesson #4: A team achieves their best results , when the individuals trust each other and know that they can rely on their colleagues.

#5 — Breaks

Days can feel long and energy levels can fall after having stared at the screen for too long or when trying to work on a difficult project.

Creating a culture in which breaks are supported and promoted enables employees to take a step away from their desks without feeling guilty.

It is always a plus for an organisation to have facilities to allow their employees an enjoyable break. This can be in form of a nicely designed and comfortable room — a quiet space, where people can read or just close their eyes to meditate or relax. A canteen that is open throughout the day is also a great place for colleagues to spend their breaks together, having a chat and a coffee.

Lesson #5: If an organisation creates an environment in which it is okay to take regular breaks, it allows the employees to recharge their energy and get back to work with a fresh mind.

#6 — Role models

There can be a gap between the values, that an organisation is officially trying to promote and those, that are written in the book of ‘unspoken rules’.

If an employee is told, that it is perfectly fine to leave the office at 5 pm, but everyone else is staying until 6 pm every single day, the employee is not very likely to then actually leave on time.

Every line manager automatically becomes a role model and it is important to make sure that they

• don’t come in early and stay late every single day
• don’t send emails at 3 am and
• don’t spend their lunch break hunched over their desks.

if they don’t want to see this behaviour in everyone else. A functioning organisation needs good role models, who display the desired values for example by having regular breaks and leaving work on time.

Lesson #6: An organisation needs good role models to enforce their values in order to make their employees comfortable.

#7 — Technology

To max out the chances for a business to be as successful as possible it is important to have the prerequisites in place, by which I mean functioning systems and technology.

When too many technical issues arise on a regular basis it takes away a significant amount of valuable time, that the employee could otherwise spend working on their projects.

Therefore the provided tools should ideally be easy to use, practical and secure. Only when the programmes are user-friendly and tailored to the working environment, the employee is able to fully focus on their actual tasks.

Lesson #7: It is worth investing in good systems, so the employees don’t have to be distracted with reoccurring problems.

#8 — Management structure

Being a manager doesn’t only require to have good people skills, it also means that someone should have the relevant expertise and enough insight in the work of the employee they are supervising.

It is important for the employee to be able to rely on advice and guidance from their managers.

That implies, that one person shouldn’t be managing too many people at the same time.

Lesson #8: It is crucial for an organisation to make sure, that enough people are qualified and trained as managers and feel prepared to take on that role.

#9. Salary

Wolter Smit is the CEO of TOPdesk and has created a successful business with an incredibly high employee satisfaction.

When he talks about his secrets to having happy employees, he mentions the the importance of choosing the right people. Many people have a self-motivating attitude and are driven to achieve something, because they love what they do!

And I am convinced, that salary is not their number one concern.

It is important however, that there is a balance of someone’s working hours and their salary. Someone who works in a full time position and is struggling to pay their bills at the end of each month doesn’t seem fair and sustainable.

Lesson #9: An organisation needs to make sure, that there is a healthy and fair balance between an employees hours and their salary.

#10 — Fairness and Transparency

To maintain a good team spirit it is important for employees to be treated fairly compared to their colleagues on the same grade and with the same set of experience and skills.

There is one way to achieve fairness and transparency, which is open communication.

Lesson #10: There should be a consistency in the handling of salaries and promotions, so no employee feels left behind.

If I was CEO…

… I would try to implement as many of the above points as I possibly can.

We live in a time in which people change jobs more often. Therefore employees are unlikely to stay with one organisation throughout their whole working career.

If a company however shows initiative and makes an effort to keep their employees, they will definitely stay a little longer. I’d like to come back to my original point here, saying that this really is a win-win situation.

There is no major downside for an organisation to invest in their employee’s happiness.

And it’s not too difficult either.

So be creative, involve your employees in this project and start changing things!