Rehoboth Business Center

Archive for the ‘Employers’ Category

Staff turnover costs American companies millions of dollars every year. The cost of lost work days, interviewing candidates, reviewing resumes, checking references, filing paperwork and training the new staff member is much more expensive, in most cases, than creating a work environment where staff members are happy and want to stay. If you’re worried about waning staff morale in your company, here are some things you can do to keep employees happy and productive.

Give bonuses. Even a little bonus can mean a lot. Bonuses improve morale and increase productivity. Explore the possibility of different bonus structures including: holiday bonuses, birthday week bonuses, sales bonuses, hire date anniversary bonuses, and education bonuses.

Plan a staff retreat. Time to relax and get to know your colleagues in a social environment improves teamwork and again, productivity. However, many people won’t want to spend a weekend away from their families even if you put them up in a nice hotel. Think one-day staff retreats twice a year. Close the office on a work day and spend the day at a spa, golfing, at a theme park, going to dinner and a movie, hiking, kayaking, or at the zoo.

Pay for education. Most community colleges and computer centers offer relatively inexpensive classes to help people improve computer skills, management and leadership skills, or language skills. If an employee is willing to spend time taking one of these classes, reward him/her by reimbursing part of the tuition or giving them a completion bonus. The desire to increase education and learn new skills is an attribute of a good employee.

Involve their families. An annual holiday party or summer picnic is a great way to bring employees together along with their families. Even a barbeque at the park with a game of softball or water balloons can be a lot of fun. During the holidays, rent an ice skating rink or get everyone together to volunteer at a soup kitchen.
Buy new chairs and keyboard trays. Let your employees know that their comfort and safety is your concern. Most employees won’t spend over $100 on a keyboard tray, but you could. And who wouldn’t appreciate a top-of-the-line ergonomically-correct keyboard tray that adjusts for height and tilt with the touch of a finger? We found great deals at Versa Products

Have casual days. Casual Fridays are nice, but so are special casual days once a month. Let people come into work in jeans and comfortable shoes and they’ll be in a better mood.
Free kraft services. Most employers provide coffee for their staff but the staff end up making it. Bring in healthy snacks once a week like a fruit basket, individual mini salads, or trays of bagels. You can also stock up on Stash or Tazo teas, biscotti, yogurt, granola bars and those 100-calorie bags of chips, cookies, and pretzels. Having lunch delivered once every couple of weeks is also a nice gesture and employees will appreciate the money they save from having to buy lunch out. Another fun event is to have the employees make lunch once a month. Alternate between the men and the women, different divisions of the company, etc. Make sure even upper management gets involved. Staff will learn new recipes and techniques from other employees and they’ll have fun. The rest will enjoy eating!

Flexible schedules. If possible, give staff schedules that accommodate their needs and reduce commute time.
Gym memberships. Paying for their gym memberships or paying a Pilates instructor to come once a week after work is a nice way to encourage employees to stay fit.

‘The brain is a wonderful organ: it starts working the moment you get up in the morning and it does not stop until you get to the offi ce.’ – Robert Frost

The world of success and failure in business is a mental world in which everything starts with ideas. Unfortunately, most of us have a strong tendency to stifle our own creativity or to dismiss our own creative ideas as worthless. For individuals, the level of creative activity and the value which an individual places on his or her own creativity tend to be determined by past experience, the present situation and the self-concept. We tend to be more creative if in the past we have worked in a positive environment where creativity has been encouraged.

Creativity is encouraged by enthusiasm, excitement, love, joy and acceptance of responsibility. Unfortunately, many of us have worked in negative environments where creativity was stifl ed by fear of failure, fear of rejection, self-doubt, self-pity, failure to accept responsibility, hate, envy and blame. If our present situation is dominated by positive emotions, then this encourages creativity. Finally, from the law of belief we know that we always behave in a manner consistent with our beliefs. If we believe we are creative, then we behave in a manner consistent with being creative.

Creativity comprises the power to improve. We all inherited the world being creative, innovative, and inventive. Approximately ninety-seven percentages from children are extremely originate at the age of five; thirty-six percentages are extremely originate at the age a great deal, with only twelve percentages scoring extremely originate at age fifteen. Our patrimony comprises to better our condition. We totally behave in a manner consistent with improving our condition. As most of us our creativity has lain dormant since childhood. We must all now learn to tap into our own creativity. We can all learn to tap into the creativity of others.

One of the genial laws which regularize all our lives is the law of habit. The law of habit states that almost everything we do is habit. The directions in which we pass, talk, reply to situations and the ways in which we use our creativity are all habits. Make a habit of using your creativity. Make a habit of trying to improve situations by ten per cent. There are many ways in which we can improve sales by ten per cent, reduce costs by ten per cent, and increase profit by ten per cent.

Everything can be improved in some way. The success of the organization is directly related to the quality and quantity of new ideas generated and implemented. Many companies have been saved by using the techniques in creativity discussed later in this chapter. In all aspects of the business there are ways of being better, cheaper and faster. The competitive advantage of our business is that we are better, cheaper or faster than our competitors in some way.