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Ten Ways to Build a GREAT Place to Work

People want a great place to work-a workplace they're eager to go to, day after day. Now more than ever, with unemployment rates near all time lows, employers need to go the extra mile to create such a workplace.

One way to accomplish this task is by recognizing your employees regularly. Doing so takes little time, yet goes a long way to boost morale, increase productivity, and reduce absenteeism.

The tips below seem quite simple - almost too simple. Yet when employees are surveyed they reveal management fails to even say "hello" when the workers arrive each day. A bank employee shared the staff talked among themselves about the conduct of area bank officers when they arrived at their branch for a meeting. The bank officers failed to acknowledge or even speak to the front-line people. The message the employees felt they were receiving from the bank officers was, "I'm more important than you."

With employees spending 60 percent of their waking hours on the job, they need to feel that their contributions are important to your association. The secret to maintaining exceptional company morale really is in the simple tips listed below. Your employees will feel they are important to you, and the no-cost strategies will help you find and keep good employees.

1. Address people by their first name. People love to hear the sound of their name.
2. Remember everyday niceties. Greet employees in the morning and also acknowledge them when they leave for the day.
3. Praise workers in front of other workers. Choose a specific accomplishment that they have excelled at and share why it was so important. When a particular difficult library patron entered the library one staff member took it upon herself to personally greet the patron and immediately offer her assistance. The library staff stayed with the patron they entire time, even walking the older women to her car and carrying her books. The Director was so happy that a usually verbally abusive patron was turned into a sweet old lady she wanted to immediately acknowledge the staff person. She rummaged around in her desk until she found some old gold stars. Without delay she presented the staff person with a gold star. The spontaneous acknowledgment has turned into a long term gold star award for going beyond the call of duty.
4. Say thank you at the end of the day as your employees are leaving. The cost to you is zero, but the benefit is immense. The average person spends 60% of their lives at work. A person wants to feel valued and that they have made a worthwhile contribution.
5. If the opportunity arises, share with the persons family how much you appreciate their work and dedication. Some people acknowledge contributions verbally and other managers have selected to send notes to the spouse after the employees evaluation sharing how valuable they are to the company.
6. Ask about their families. Employees are delighted to know you care enough to ask about their lives away from work.
7. When talking to an employee give them your undivided attention. Keeping an eye on something else, or talking on the phone as you speak to them, gives the employee the feeling of insignificance.
8. If possible, try to speak to your employees on a regular basis. If someone is in a remote area or branch office, make the extra effort to communicate with them to let them know they are important and are making a contribution to the over all effort.
9. Acknowledge employee community involvement and non-work related accomplishments. Take time to notice and let the employee know you are aware. This will indicate you value them as a person.
10. Employee loyalty will increase if you make an effort to "keep employees in the loop." Staff wants to feel as if "they are in on things." Even if there is uncertainty about a future aspect of your business, you are wise to inform your employees. Rumors and gossip about the unknown will hurt the morale of the organization. They will respect you for your honesty about the uncertainty, your willingness to share, and informing them to keep them part of the team.

Boosting the morale of your company really is found in the simple tips listed above. Implementing the tips will help you build a great place to work.