How to keep employees happy

Sidnee Peck, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship, iterates the importance of the relationship between employer and employee.

By Sidnee Peck

Director, Center for Entrepreneurship

My employees are the key to my business, and I want to keep them happy, but I don’t have a lot of room to allocate funds for increased pay or more benefits. What else can I do to make sure my employees stay happy?

You’re in luck! Author Daniel Pink’s book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us — supported by significant evidence — explains the phenomenon that increased pay does not lead to increased happiness or productivity for activities that require mental functions. In fact, increased happiness can be tied to much more affordable and mutually beneficial things.

Of course, in order to keep great employees, you need to pay them enough to afford their current lifestyles and support their families. Once you’ve met that threshold, be creative and pay attention to the outcomes and feedback you receive.

Focus on these things:

Respect and trust. First and foremost, make sure you are giving your employees space to make decisions, try new things and meet organizational goals with their own methods. Engaged employees who feel a sense of ownership for their work are much more likely to do better work and be loyal to an organization or a leader. Autonomy for your employees has no direct cost, but requires commitment from you (and major effort if you happen to be a micromanager).

Acknowledgement. Many large companies utilize a formal program for recognition, but I think it is much more powerful for this to be casual and unscripted. It feels much more valuable to the individual on the receiving end. Take a moment each day to jot down a few things that stood out to you that day, and then find the time that week to approach each individual personally and acknowledge his or her achievements or contributions. Schedule 15 minutes in your calendar for this each day. It will have the side effect of lifting your mood, as well.

Creativity time. Nothing is quite as valuable as the gift of time. While you may not be able to give much extra time off, perhaps once a month you can surprise employees with a “use four hours as you wish this week” note, letting them work on any new project they want or even taking personal time, if needed. You can even set up a show-and-tell hour in your office, during which they can come share new ideas or projects with you for your feedback.

Mentorship. People have a drive to master their trades, and learning from someone better than them can help achieve this goal. Identify a system to enable employees to select someone they regard as an expert and then spend a certain amount of time each month with that individual. If needed, this may even be someone outside the company.

First published in The Arizona Republic, Oct. 21, 2014.