If you run a small business, you may think feel at a disadvantage when it comes to having the resources to keep your best employees satisfied so that they don’t jump ship. And it may be true that you may not be able to provide them with all the perks that a larger business could give them.
However, it may surprise you that according to some business surveys and business experts, one of the most important things that employees want, if not at the very top of their list, is something that you can provide them absolutely for free.
What many employees want the most is to feel valued and engaged. This often begins with having employers that work to build and encourage good relationships between their employees and managers, as well as a strong culture of collaboration and cooperation, and good working conditions.
According to a GrowBiz Media Small Business Hiring and Retention Survey, 78% of small businesses identified manager-employee relationships as the top factor influencing employee retention, followed by company culture (66%) and employee benefits (53%).
What Happens When You Give Them All Three?
Doug McDowell, director of manufacturing and safety at McDowell Lumber in Asheboro, North Carolina, said all three of these play a role in keeping the company’s employee turnover low. McDowell has approximately 75 employees, and 60% are Hispanic.
McDowell has an open door policy and holds monthly safety meetings where employees can raise any issues they may have or ask questions, he said. “When employees bring up stuff, we listen. We don’t do everything they say, but a lot of the time we do,” added McDowell.
Employees are also recognized for a job well done at McDowell. One employee is called out for their safety efforts each quarter and presented with a safety award and t-shirt.
McDowell also rewards its employees with bonuses at various times during the year when the company has had a success to celebrate, or when management otherwise deems that they deserve it. Doug’s brother, Tony, has run the company for almost 40 years, and typically makes decisions like this. But he isn’t afraid to roll up his sleeves and get dirty either, according to his brother. “Tony gets out and drives the loader and crane.”
In fact, all the McDowell family members, including Tony’s son and his daughter, Ashley, who is the vice president of the company, work to build a culture of teamwork by pitching in to help out wherever needed. “We get out here and work,” said Doug, who did his interview with Pallet Enterprise from the sawmill floor where he and Ashley were helping to “clean up a mess.”
“The big thing is really being there with your people and letting them see you work,” he said. Not only do many members of the McDowell family, including extended family work at the business, but many of the employees have other family members there as well.
Another way McDowell builds positive employee relationships is by holding fun activities for employees. The company holds quarterly cookouts and a huge Thanksgiving meal on site the Wednesday before the holiday, with the holiday itself being paid.
The company also pays half toward uniforms, which employees can choose to purchase or not. The shirts can come with the McDowell Lumber patch or not, and most employees want the patch, said McDowell.
Where benefits are concerned, McDowell offers its employees a nice package, including paid holidays, 401k retirement plans with company match, health insurance to which the company pays over 50%, and other optional insurance plans that employees can choose to purchase if they want additional coverage.
The caveat is that most benefits, including bonuses, don’t kick in until an employee has been with the company for one year, said McDowell, but that gives newer employees the incentive to stick with the job.
And the potential for a bonus, as well as the other ways McDowell engages all its employees, may also incentivize them to do their jobs better. That’s because employee engagement has shown to have a big impact on productivity, in addition to retention.
According to meta-analysis of almost 1.5 million workers by the Gallup Organization, businesses with a high level of employee engagement reported 22% higher productivity.
Chief Scientist Jim Harter, Ph.D., with Gallup, told the Harvard Business Review that, “Engaged employees are more attentive and vigilant” because they tend to take ownership of their work. He also said that they tend to look out for their co-workers and are more likely to be open to the opinions of others at work.
How to Engage Employees
While building good employer-employee relationships and improving your business culture are not necessarily expensive for a business to implement, they do require some time and effort.
First of all, as an employer, you and your managers should get to know your employees so that you can understand their full potential so that you can fully take advantage of their talents, according to Gallup. It’s also important to ask employees for their opinions, which can be done one-on-one, in group or team environments, or through employee surveys. What’s important is that the employee feels that their opinion is being heard and valued.
Gallup also highlights the importance of choosing managers who are employee-focused, and able to recognize the impact individual employee achievements have on the business as a whole.
Managers hold the primary responsibility of keeping their workers engaged, showed Gallup research. Therefore, these managers should be coached on ways to engage employees, and should also be held accountable for worker engagement. They should see every time they communicate with an employee as an opportunity to reinforce and build on their relationship.
Also, when employees aren’t engaged, especially if they are in a manufacturing or plant environment, safety can be jeopardized, meaning people could be hurt and expensive equipment damaged.
In a recent LinkedIn article, Louise Dickmeyer, the president of People Driven Performance, explained that new technology has allowed for more automation and fewer employees in many manufacturing environments. However, she cautioned, “Whatever the potential impact of new technologies, the employees you put in charge of all that shiny new equipment must have their hearts and minds on the job.”
“A generation ago, a single employee might have had potential impact on equipment worth… twice their annual salary,” she commented. “A generation later, that number can be orders of magnitude more than the typical year’s salary. It’s called leveraged productivity, and it’s why you really must care about your employees now. It might just take one of them to damage the fortunes of your company substantially.”
Another way to engage employees and to make them feel valued is through rewards and incentives, according to the Small Business Administration. These include:
• Hold family events: Plan company functions and events that are oriented towards employees and their families such as picnics and movie nights – the choice is yours and doesn’t need to break the bank.
• Offer project completion perks: Incentivizing employees for goal-oriented project completion is a great way to build a team and to also stimulate your employees to support your business objectives. This can involve recognizing individual achievement or team success. Consider catered lunches, gift certificates, extra time off during hunting season, on-site massage therapy, tickets to local events, and other perks to keep employees motivated as they work towards • Create workplace wellness programs: What better way to show your investment in your employees than to help them invest in their wellness? And it doesn’t have to involve a great deal of money or administrative work. Survey your employees’ wellness priorities—whether it’s losing weight, quitting smoking, or enhancing the workplace team environment. From there, compile a calendar or schedule of activities. Wellness initiatives can also be tied to incentives and perks. Offer employees incentives to quit smoking by offering a prize or bonus to those who quit or look for ways to encourage other healthy lifestyle choices such as introducing a 30-minute lunchtime team walk.
• Offer corporate memberships or discounts: Discounted or free corporate memberships can help promote employee wellbeing (e.g. gym memberships) while also enabling and promoting company goals. Recreational or entertainment memberships can act as venues for client entertainment and can be tax deducted.
