(Newswire.net — August 28, 2018) — When you run your own business, you are responsible for every single member of staff you employ, helping them to meet deadlines and progress in their careers. Another responsibility you will have but that might not leap to mind when you are sorting out all the practicalities of running your own company, is that of the wellbeing of your employees. When your staff is in a good frame of mind and feels supported in their place of work, the quality of their work will be vastly better than if there is any hint of bad feeling or neglect. Whilst, of course, it is not your job to play agony aunt to your workers, you need to constantly be looking for ways in which you can improve their work lives. The benefits of doing this go beyond simply being a good boss and having a happy office, as, by providing those under your management with the provisions they need to feel better, you will be witnessing a more productive and driven office.
Don’t underestimate
The first thing that needs to be taken care of is making sure you truly understand what is at stake if employee wellbeing is overlooked, as it is easy to see wellbeing as nothing more than an afterthought. When staff wellbeing is sidelined, you can see a much higher turnover of staff which is detrimental to fostering the consistency needed to have a successful business. You will also observe a high number of sick days being taken and an increase in stress which contributes to underachieving. The good thing, however, is that once you know these problems, there are ways of tackling them.
A give and take relationship
The workplace culture in the office you run needs to be one of open conversation and mutual respect. The people you employ are the ones who are taking your ideas and bringing them to life so that you can build an enterprise to be proud of so, to maintain wellbeing, you need to make sure you are giving just as much as you are taking. A brilliant solution to this is to look into platforms that can provide your workforce with benefits, such as vouchers and freebies, to use outside of work to make their salaries go further whilst also giving you a place to give them praise for when they do well. This will encourage individuals to go the extra mile in impressing you with their hard work.
Knowing where to go from here
From this point, you need to take a look at the conditions needed to create a healthy workplace so you can start making meaningful changes around the office as soon as possible. One of the best ways to do this is to adopt a strategy known as autonomy support. This refers to an environment where workers are listened to, and teamwork is encouraged along with the sharing of new ideas, and fostering innovation. Another plus side of this idea is that it counteracts the behaviors that can lead to bullying and marginalization that can crush wellbeing.
Now you know where to begin, you can start taking care of your employees’ wellbeing today.