7 Ways to Show Your Employees You Care

 

Showing your employees a little bit of extra love can go a long way towards increasing productivity, reducing staff turnover, and spurring innovation. In addition, employees will be happier and more likely to stay with your company long-term. Our whole mission is to make people happy, so take it from us and check out some methods to best show your employees how much you appreciate them.

Go Above and Beyond Yourself

According to a recent study by Office Vibe, 42% of employees feel their leadership does not contribute to a positive company culture. If you want staff who will go above and beyond, make sure you lead by example. If an employee is having trouble or is swamped with work—offer to help them out. Did someone’s tire blow on the way to work? Offer to come lend a hand or call a tow service. Whatever the problem is— take the time to develop a solution.

Make Time and Lift Burdens

Hard working employees are busy. Even when an employee clocks out for the day, they may have a lot of chores and errands to run. Cleaning the house, cooking dinner—these activities can eat up a lot of free time.

Many cutting-edge companies now offer maid services, dry cleaning, and assistance with other personal tasks. For example, Errand Solutions provides a concierge service solution to help with all of that. Taking care of your employees’ personal to-do list will help them free up time and get some much needed R&R.

Throw a (Surprise?) Party

According to recent studies, 60% of employees eat alone at their desk, working. Kind of depressing, right?

There’s no such thing as a free lunch, but spread the word about “free” food in the office and watch your team come running. Throw a pizza party or an ice cream social. Even something small will make a big impact.

Depending on the situation, social events can be a great way to break the ice. Organize a potluck, an afternoon at the park or a happy hour. (Just make sure you don’t go too far by staying out all night drinking!) By creating fun events, your staff will realize how much you care about them as people, not just employees.

Need help organizing a celebration? Get in touch with our team! We’ve helped plan countless awesome parties.

Get to Know Your Team on a Personal Level

Ask your employees a bit about their personal life. You don’t have to get into details; often, it’s best to keep things simple. What’s the best movie or book they’ve enjoyed recently? How’s the family? Any pets?

Also, make sure you respect any personal space and don’t badger someone to more share anything they don’t want to.

Don’t know what experience to offer? Again, get in touch. We’ll find the best venues and opportunities.

Do the Little Things

Did an employee perform above and beyond last week? Send them a thank you email, or stop by the desk to let them know how much you appreciate their hard work. Consider rewards too, even if it’s just a $10 gift card (we sell them on-site!). You don’t have to hand out compliments like candy on Halloween, but some occasional nice words or a small gift can go a long way.

Write Personalized Thank You Notes

Skip the form letters. Write a thank you note by hand, or type a personalized message and put your John Hancock on it. Personalized birthday cards and other notes are also a nice touch.

Set Proper Expectations

Don’t demand the impossible out of your employees. They’ll get discouraged, and might think that you regard them as a cog in the machine. This mindset breeds low engagement.

Let your employees provide feedback when setting expectations. By being reasonable and asking for input, you will signal to your employees that you trust and respect them.

Care For Your Employees and They Will Care For Your Company

If you want your employees to care about your company, then you need to care about your employees. It’s really that simple! Once your employees know you care, they’ll start to care more about the company and its performance. Then they’ll strive harder to pursue its vision. They’ll be more creative, innovative, and engaged—and you’ll see the results.

7 Ways Employers are Boosting Office Morale

Did you know that happy employees are 31% more productive?

Salaries aren’t enough anymore. These days, people are just as concerned with living a “good life” as they’re worried about cashing big checks. As a result, many companies have found that by offering perks and benefits, they can greatly increase morale and productivity. We’ve seen it with our own eyes! So even if the upfront costs of these perks seem undesirable, the long-term payoff could easily outweigh the expenditures.

Provide In-Home Cleaning to Reduce Chores

Nobody likes doing chores. Keeping the house clean, mowing the grass, all of these basic tasks can become a burden for people who are already working 40-plus hours a week. Tired workers are less likely to be engaged, creative, and innovative.

That’s why some employers are now offering free or discounted cleaning and other household services. This way, when employees aren’t in the office, they can relax, enjoy hobbies, or do pretty much anything else besides chores.

This will help your employees get some true R&R. As a result, company morale will improve, and productivity will increase as employees are more well rested.

Make it Easy to Hit the Gym

Offering employees free gym memberships or installing a gym facility in your office is a great way to encourage physical health. Gym memberships are relatively cheap in many areas, and group discounts may also be possible.

Meanwhile, a good workout will ensure that your employees are physically healthy. This will lower the risk of injuries, such as pulling out your back. Some studies have even linked working out to reducing the risk of catching a cold. Hitting the gym can reduce stress as well.

Consider letting employees take some time off from work to hit the gym as well. This is an especially feasible option if the gym is on-site or nearby. Letting an employee get in a twenty-minute workout at the gym can increase their productivity through the rest of the day, and improve their creative energy.

Offer a Night Out

A night out is always fun, but it can be hard to justify spending our hard earned cash when Netflix is cheaper than going to a theatre. Why pay for dinner and a movie when you can eat something frozen and watch TV? A lot of people end up skipping date night, especially during the winter.

Getting out of the house can help people relax and focus! So why not lend a hand and give them a night out for less? Offer your employees a gift certificate to a restaurant, or free movie tickets. These little perks can go a long way towards creating appreciation among your employees.

Make Vacation Mandatory

The vast majority of companies offer some type of vacation package. Sometimes the days are set per year. Other companies, such as Netflix, offer unlimited vacation time. However, many employees are often hesitant to take vacation days. Instead, the days just accrue unused.

Believe it or not, unused vacation time can actually hurt companies. Productivity and morale can be hurt as employees become overworked and stressed. Some time away from the office can help employees get some much needed R&R.

That’s why some companies have begun to mandate vacation. “Take your days or else we’ll send you home to get some rest.” This might sound extreme, however, in many cases, a “mandatory” policy simply reinforces how important vacation time is and how serious your company is about honoring it. That’s often enough to get employees to take days off.

Give Your Employees a Full-Time Concierge

Nothing says the “good life” more than having a concierge. Believe it or not, you can provide your employees with 24/7 services through Errand Solutions. Through our app, employees can contact us, and we can help them with just about anything. Seriously. Anything.

A lot of companies deliver their products and services with the utmost professionalism. We do too, but we throw a lot of passion and love into the mix as well. We’ve saved a choking iguana, found the best vegan birthday cake in town, and hosted an ice-fishing theme party. We even helped a customer track down their birth parents and hooked up a nervous child with a therapeutic bunny.

Good Benefits Lead to a Stable, Productive Workforce

The grass is always greener on the other side. Except when it isn’t. Make benefits an experience rather than an add-on. By using these employee retention strategies, you can make the grass greenest right in your office. This way, employees will have every reason to stay, and won’t be tempted by opportunities to leave.

 

Engaged To Be Married But Not Engaged

Wedding season is in full swing, which means over a million couples will be tying the knot throughout the next 6 months.

As any current or past bride (or groom) will tell you, wedding planning these days can be a full-time job. Studies have found that the average wedding takes 250 hours to plan. And when someone has a full-time job, how do they do it? Well 90% of brides have admitted to wedding planning while at work. Between emailing vendors, shopping for dresses, picking out the invitations and just staring at their new, shiny, engagement ring, there’s a lot to do and only so many hours in the day to do it.

As someone who’s currently planning my own wedding, I’m definitely in that boat. Vendors only respond during normal business hours, emails are coming in constantly reminding you of new tasks to get done and all the research you should be doing is just a click away. The distractions and temptations are real, and I’m sure it’s only going to get worse the closer to the wedding it becomes.

So what’s an employer to do? The first step is to simply keep them engaged (pun intended). Meet with them weekly to discuss what’s on their to-do list, give them consistent feedback on what they’ve accomplished and make sure they have resources and support. If your employee continues to feel motivated and appreciated, it will be easier for them to stay focused on work-related tasks.

In addition to keeping them engaged, remember to keep them happy. The occasional free lunch, fun outing or after-work happy hour can do wonders. And don’t forget to acknowledge and celebrate their big occasion! After they get engaged, a nice card and a bottle of champagne will be sure to put a smile on their face. Ask them how wedding planning is going, hook them up with connections you may have in the wedding industry, or even throw them a small wedding shower. Feeling loved and supported will make them happy to be at work, and happy employees=productive employees.

Errand Solutions is made for situations like this. Not only do we save employees hours of time, but we can even help plan their wedding! One of our concierges is currently assisting a customer with just that. So far, they’ve helped address the invitations, researched and scheduled hair and makeup vendors, and picked up bridesmaid dresses. By letting us take care of their personal to-do list, employees can better focus on their work.

To learn more about our services, including those of the wedding planning variety, send an email to info@errandsolutions.com.

How to Motivate Your Employees

Errand Solutions’ corporate office is located in downtown Chicago, so it’s no surprise that many of us happen to be Blackhawks fans. And with our team winning the coveted Stanley Cup this year, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about winning performances. The fact is: every successful business is dependent on their employees. But even if you have an outstanding lineup, without motivation, those players aren’t going to win an MVP award anytime soon. So how do you motivate your team members to win? Let’s break it down into three simple periods:

Period 1: Communication
Just like on the ice, a well-powered team needs communication. Even the most skilled player needs constant communication with its teammates to succeed. If your only communication with your employee is through emails, they won’t have the motivation to meet the goals you’ve set for them. Discussing goals face-to-face on a frequent basis is key. However, if your business is like Errand Solutions and has many remote locations, having weekly meetings and daily huddles over the phone is also effective. Wherever you are, your team should feel valued and constant communication is the best way to get that across.

Period 2: Empower them
How could Keith or Kane have made their winning goals if no one had given them the puck? To truly motivate your employees, they need to feel empowered. Whether you let them take over a project or ask for their suggestions and then implement them, there are simple things you can do to give them more authority. For example, in just my first couple months at Errand Solutions, I’ve been given full responsibility for a number of important tasks, including this website. The trust that my supervisors have for my abilities has allowed me to thrive in this new environment.

Period 3: Opportunities for advancement
The Blackhawks continued to dominate because they had a goal in mind: the Stanley Cup. Similarly, your employees need to know they are working towards something as well. If there are no opportunities for advancement in the company, they’ll have no motivation to work hard. Offering training for different skills they’ll need in the future is a great way to show them they’re not working a dead-end job. To fully get this across, it’s important to consistently promote from within. At Errand Solutions, we’re proud of the fact more than half of our leadership team started off in the field.

OT: Keep them happy
If the three periods aren’t enough, there’s always overtime. OT is the place for that extra last-ditch effort in order to get it done now. Incentives are a great way to do this, whether extra PTO or even just a gift card. Errand Solutions frequently has contests and rewards employees with gift cards or movie tickets. However, you don’t have to spend money to thank employees. One of our core values is the power of a “thank you”; simply thanking your employees for the work they do is an easy way to make them feel appreciated.

Another great way to keep employees happy is to help them balance their work-life a little better. Offering a program like Errand Solutions is great motivation, as they know that they can give their full effort at work without sacrificing their free time. For more information on Errand Solutions and ways we can help motivate your employees, give us a call at 312.475.3800 or email us at info@errandsolutions.com.