5 Ideas to Express Appreciation for Your Employees

In these turbulent times, finding and keeping the loyal and trustworthy employees is more important than ever before. Since the majority of startup owners neither have assets, nor skills to hire experienced workers, they have to form employees from scratch. However, their businesses suffer a lot when only one worker decides to leave them. This is why you should keep expressing your faith and appreciation for your workers in these five following ways.

In-house amenities

As a small business owner, it's impossible to follow the perk-pace of large companies. However, you can still do a lot to treat your workers to some work-alleviating amenities.

First of all, make a lounge room, or only a corner, if you lack space. Here you can place a table-tennis table, a foosball and an ordinary table with modern board games. As your business keeps growing, bring new items to this area, like gaming consoles and high-tech TV-sets.

Secondly, there's no real office without a cutting-edge espresso machine, as well as finest coffee brands for offices. Finally, a water dispenser is another must-have office item if you want to leave an impression of a modern, successful office. 

Regular breaks

Pushing your workers to the limit of their strength and concentration to hit the bull's eye usually yields completely opposite results. The rule of thumb is that productivity reaches an optimal level when employees have proper breaks.These should includelunch breaks and shorter leaves, as well as proper longer vacations. If your employees aren't given time to enjoy the crops of their work, they will start feeling discontented and neglected. So, it is crucial to give them some time off.

In addition, entrepreneurs who are not sure how many free days their employees should be awarded with can have a look at a guide on that matter on Entrepreneur.com.

Help in private issues

Every reasonable employer and employee knows that business and private life should be strictly separated. However, employers should make exceptions in some specific cases. For instance, when an employee is getting divorced or they've just lost a dear person, they need to know they can rely on their employer. You certainly want your devoted worker to overcome such a hard situation and regain their stability. Also, dealing with your own emotions and your workers' feelings is the crucial part of successful business management. That is why you should strengthen your emotional intelligence, in order to remain a firm leader in every painful situation.

Raises for progress

While your employees will be grateful for all the things you do for them to feel comfortable at work, one thing is usually more successful than all the others – giving a proper raise. Every success a business makes has to be shared with the employees that have contributed to it. Managers and business owners have to distribute tasks to their teams equally, so that everybody has a fair chance of getting a promotion or a raise. For instance, if your employees notice that you have taken some business recruitment actions lately and that the number of clients is rising, they will also expect a proper reward. Otherwise, they could think that you're a selfish employer, which may result in them leaving your company.

Open communication

The most common mistake that the majority of entrepreneurs make is not praising their employees. If you belong to those managers who criticize when things go wrong and remain silent when employees achieve the set goals, it is time for you to change. What you need to do is to manage your business with a carrot-and-stick method. Tell everybody in the company when a team reaches their goals. On the other hand,when employees are givenpolite, but assertive feedback for their mistakes, they will know what to correct in their work. That way you will build your workers' self-esteem, which can only be usefulfor your company.

Treat your employees with respect and they will follow suit. When they are acknowledged for their effort and properly paid for their expertise, your business will fly to the top on the wings of your shiny, happy workers.