Hiring the best talents isn’t enough for your business to succeed; it’s also important to consistently empower them. Making your employees feel empowered should be a priority because it ensures high-quality customer service, job satisfaction, and faster problem resolution.
Employee empowerment is a management philosophy that encourages employees to make independent decisions. It provides a degree of autonomy to employees, so they can make impactful decisions and ensure that those decisions are appropriate.
Increase your company’s chances of succeeding in today’s ever-competitive world of business by making your employees feel empowered. Here’s how you can do it:
1. Practice Open Communication
How does your company maintain communication among its employees? Does your company follow an open-door policy? Are employees encouraged to talk to their managers whenever they have questions or issues about work? It’s crucial for employees to feel that what they say matters rather than putting a fine line between them and the management.
Employees will feel valued and empowered if they’re given the platform to freely communicate with each other and their managers. The communication style implemented by a company can influence employees’ desire to continue working, so prioritize practicing open communication internally.
There are many ways to encourage open communication by allowing employees
to share feedback on projects and including them in every meeting. It’s also important to consult with the Best Orange County employment lawyer to ensure that you’re not discriminating against any employees whenever you’re communicating with them in person or on paper.
When employees feel involved and respected whenever they communicate, they’ll see that their roles impact the company. This will empower them to do more.
2. Challenge Your Employees
One of the reasons why employees leave their jobs is because they don’t find the role challenging anymore. When employees have the same tasks every single day for years, they’ll eventually get bored and demotivated.
Make your employees feel empowered by challenging them regularly. This helps them get out of their comfort zone and unleash their potentials. This will prevent them from being stagnant and it’ll be easier for your employees to grow professionally.
When setting goals, make sure that it’s reasonable—the goals should be achievable but challenging to accomplish. The following tips will help you set goals to challenge employees:
- Ensure that the goals you set align with the company’s objectives.
- Encourage employees to determine their own job-specific goals.
- Goals between employees should be consistent. For instance, when challenging employees in the same department, see to it that they have consistent goals. This will encourage healthy competition.
3. Seek Professional Development
Employees already have skills when they started working with you. However, because the business landscape continues to evolve, it’s important that employees also adapt to these changes. How can they stay valuable in your company if their skills are outdated?
Another way to make employees feel empowered is to invest in their professional development. Let them join informative training and workshops that aim to enhance their skills and allow them to acquire more. Depending on your budget, you can invite an expert to hold the training in your office or send employees to another location.
You’ll be spending time and money on the professional development of your employees, but the benefits will certainly outweigh the costs. Professional development produces better employees who will be more productive and efficient in their roles.
4. Demonstrate Your Trust
Giving tasks to employees will be useless if you don’t put your 100% trust in them. An employee assigned to handle your company’s onboarding will end up being doubtful of their skills if you’re always double-checking their work and don’t show any type of support.
Make your employees feel empowered by demonstrating your trust to them. As a leader, you should clarify the ends rather than the means and allow your employees to handle tasks in their own way. For example, if an employee uses an excel sheet in drafting the onboarding process, let them. If they want to invest in apps and software, let them.
As long as the employee gets the job done, there’s no need to restrict them on their processes. Trust them to accomplish the tasks you’ve given with their own flair.
5. Make Small Talks
Running a company can get hectic at times. You’ll likely have to wear different hats at the same time and accomplish tasks with a tight deadline. But no matter how hectic your schedule gets, you should make effort in having small talks with your employees.
This might come as a surprise for some, but small talks—those brief conversations unrelated to work—positively impact your employees’ mood and, in turn, their productivity. Small talks can foster a positive mood among your employees and their well-being. A company where employees can comfortably make small talks also has a more positive work culture.
Find the time to sit down with your employees and make small talks with them. Ask them about their families, hobbies, or that new house they’re planning to buy. Is one of your employees about to get married? Ask them how far along they are with the preparations. Did your employee recently adopt a dog? Start a conversation on how their lives changed with a pet at home.
You can have these talks in the break room, office, or at the coffee shop outside of the building. You can touch base about their progress at work but see to it that the conversation enables you to connect with the employee on a more personal level.
6. Support Vacation Time
Businesses are created to make profits. However, this shouldn’t be the reason why you’ll push your employees to the limits. Keep in mind that your employees aren’t machines and will regularly require rest from working eight hours every day.
If you want employees to feel empowered, promote work-life balance by supporting vacation time. This is important to prevent your employees from burnout. Employee burnout isn’t just a personal issue—it adversely affects your company by increasing employee turnover and decreasing morale.
Your employees will be more motivated to work if they’re properly rested. Over time, this will create a healthier and more productive working environment.
7. Practice Flexibility
Your employees are human beings, and regardless of how hard they try, there’ll be instances when life gets in the way. Single moms might be reporting to work late as they have to send their kids to school, or someone who was recently divorced might have to miss days from work to meet with their attorney.
Practicing flexibility in your company is essential to make your employees feel empowered. Instead of requiring your employees to work from eight to five every day, offer flexibility in their schedule. For instance, you can allow single moms to work from home, so they can easily look after their kids and accomplish work-related responsibilities. If working from home every day isn’t ideal for the nature of your business, experiment with one or two WFH days every week.
Being flexible with the schedule will make it easier for your employees to accomplish both personal and professional responsibilities. You might even discover that your employees are more productive when they’re allowed to work in their chosen schedule and location.
8. Show Appreciation
Your employees already know that they have to complete tasks every day to get paid. But humans naturally long for a connection and require appreciation every now and then. Appreciation is like your employees’ fuel—the more you appreciate their efforts, the more motivated they are to continue working.
Whether it’s a well-written report submitted on time or a customer call handled with professionalism, always show your appreciation to your employees. This gesture will boost your employees’ morale, keep them satisfied in their jobs, and encourage them to always go the extra mile.
You can show appreciation to your employees in the following ways:
- Feed them: Order pizza and donuts to your office to reward your best employees. This will also bring teams together and encourage interpersonal relationships.
- Express gratitude on social media: Did your employee hit the monthly quota weeks before the deadline? Or someone aced the presentation with investors? Let the world know how ecstatic you are with your employees’ performances by showing them off on social media. Post their picture and write a short message on your company’s social media account.
- Provide gift cards: Giving gift cards is an excellent way to show how you value your employees. With gift cards, your employees can choose what they want to buy.
- Offer fitness opportunities: You can also show appreciation to your best employees by offering fitness opportunities. You can give them free gym membership for one year or pay for their yoga classes for an entire month.
Prioritize Empowering Your Employees
Making employees feel empowered will require resources, but the rewards will be worth it. Empowered employees can provide better outputs, which translates into happier customers, better branding, and more profits. These are essential ingredients that can catapult your company into its long-term success.
So, what are you waiting for? Incorporate the tips presented in this article into your company’s HR strategy and start empowering your employees!
