How to Make Your Employees Feel Valued: 4 Easy and Affordable Ways

If you know you want to create a culture of positive, engaged employees, I applaud you. It’s these types of cultures that attract top talent and spur productivity among your high-quality team.

Culture is a funny thing in the workplace. It’s not a set-it-and-forget-it kind of management technique. It’s one that requires daily nurturing and consistent care. So, during this month when we celebrate love, I thought it was fitting to address. Because a culture in which a person feels loved is the best kind of culture; it’s the kind that increases engagement and productivity. It’s also the kind that keeps people—employees and customers—coming back for more.

So what can you do to shake up your company culture a little bit and help your team feel more loved and valued? Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Ways to Make Your Employees Feel Valued

1. Start "Feel Good" Days

Although this might sound a little "woo-woo," feel-good days are an excellent way to focus on helping everyone in your office feel loved.

Feel-good days are days when you actively work to help everyone feel a little bit better. This could mean playing Secret Santa around the holidays, or offering a hot breakfast to everyone on Mondays, when you know that your employees are dragging themselves into the office after the weekend.

The goal with feel good days is to brighten a person’s day so that they feel appreciated. The payoff for you is that your workforce becomes more engaged and excited to be at work. Everyone feels good about being in the office, which in turn means more gets done.

2. Focus on Diversity

Lack of diversity and acceptance is dangerous because it leaves employees feeling closed off and not engaged with your business, which can have an adverse effect in other areas, including your company's growth.

Creating a culture of inclusion starts with you, the business owner and leader. One way to adopt this culture is to shake up your hiring practices. Strive to create a workforce that mirrors the community where you live or the audience you’re trying to attract.

Create an employee referral program, offering rewards for employee referrals. Rewards programs help create a culture of inclusion by encouraging everyone to play an active role in bringing new team members on board to improve your diversity numbers within the workplace.

3. Offer Creative Benefits

Sure, 401(k)s, stock options, and health insurance are necessary benefits, but they aren’t the feel-good offerings that fill your employees’ hearts with love. When it comes to helping your employees feel appreciated, you need to go the extra mile. Here are a few ideas to get you thinking:

• Start a running club to connect employees and encourage healthful living.
• Bring in a chef after work to teach a cooking class and get employees to mingle.
• Encourage your team to move more and feel better throughout the day by buying everyone fitness trackers.
• Cater lunch once a week.

Benefits don’t have to equate to payroll deductions. Create a culture that inspires your team and showers them with appreciation in other ways. Mix up their work day and break away from the mundane office to inspire excitement and delight among your employees.

4. Be Quick to Adopt New Technology

Are you still using old software programs and outdated processes in your office? If so, your employees are noticing, even if they’re not saying anything to you.

Create a new culture of technology by adopting new tools to make your employees’ lives easier. With this culture, you’ll be forced to regularly evaluate which tools are out there and make adjustments accordingly. For example, making a schedule in an Excel spreadsheet might have felt advanced years ago but today it feels antiquated. Making a switch to a scheduling app that offers more flexibility is more modern and tends to be more appreciated by savvy team members.

What Cultural Changes Will You Make?

Office culture plays a critical role in your overall productivity. Without a positive, upbeat office culture that leaves team members feeling loved, your entire brand could suffer.

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