How To Keep Your Employees Happy

Some statistics –

• Successful employees change jobs every three to five years
• Successful employees change jobs on average every four years
• People change jobs between eight and twelve times in a lifetime. Half of these job changes tend to occur before a person is 24.
• On average, 58% of people will take a pay cut to change jobs
• 58% of people believe that their family is more important than in the past.

So?

This means that people will change jobs more often, believe their family is more important than in the past and people are willing to take a pay cut to get out of job they don’t want anymore.

COVID-19

We hate to mention it again, but the COVID-19 pandemic changed a lot of things. 

• People lost their jobs.
• They had to take a break from their job.
• People started to re-evaluate their lives.

This led many people to reconsider their lives.

• Some started working from home for the first time, opening up opportunities that weren’t there before for flexible working and working around family commitments
• Some changed jobs, some started their own business. Some left work to do that, whilst others started a new business as a side hustle.

In the past, changing jobs frequently was seen as job hopping or that the person was unreliable or there was something “wrong” with them. This is no longer the case. Employees see people changing jobs, getting experience, gaining new knowledge, which they can then bring to their new organisation. Changing jobs is not considered in such a negative way as it was in the past.

Changing jobs also enables people to engage in new careers, to try out new things, to set up their own businesses. People are more innovative and willing to try new things than they might have been in the past.

Changes in technology and the globalisation of the market place has opened up opportunities for people that haven’t existed before.

Many countries, such as the UK and Australia are experiencing record levels of employment. There are also staff shortages in many industries, such as trades, agriculture, horticulture, digital careers, which means that there are opportunities available to staff to change jobs more easily if they wish to.

The opportunities for flexible and hybrid working enable some people to enter the job market, or change jobs in ways that they may not have in the past. People with caring responsibilities may have found it hard to get flexible careers to fit in around their commitments in the past, but working from home, new technologies and the opportunities for flexible working have enabled them to return to, or remain in, the job market.

As mentioned above, many employees stated that their families were more important to them than a year ago. A year ago, we were just coming out of a global pandemic. The world had changed and many people were reevaluating their lives, recognising the importance of a good work/life balance.

What does all of this mean?

The changes in the world of work, and the world in general, have made people realise that work is not always everything. Our health and wellbeing are also important.  Here are some tips to keep your employees happy -

Money isn’t everything. As we saw from the figures above, many people will take a pay cut to get the job they want, or to leave a job they don’t want. So throwing money at people is not necessarily going to make them happy.

Money is important, of course, but good pay or pay rises are not always enough to keep employees happy in their job.

Some employees may be happier working from home, or in a hybrid manner or in a flexible routine. This is not possible for all jobs, of course not, but if it is possible, it is something to seriously consider.  You may have happier employees and find it easier to recruit and keep new employees.

If you are thinking of letting staff work remotely, have a look at our remote management course.  

People are leaving their jobs more frequently. This doesn’t actually have to involve them leaving your organisation. Offering staff the opportunity for new positions and career advancement can mean that they have the best of both worlds, a new job and a promotion or new opportunity. This also means that the organisation itself retains existing staff who are knowledgeable about the business/organisation.

Another way to retain staff is to invest in them.  Many staff want to continue to learn and improve, to develop their job opportunities, to advance their career.

By offering staff the opportunity to train, to take courses and to improve their knowledge can be a good way to demonstrate to staff that you want to keep them. You are investing in them and want them to stay with your organisation.

Head to our Training and Staff Development Page for more information on why you should choose ACS for your staff training !  

We offer over 700 courses, so we are sure you will find something suitable.  

Demonstrate your commitment and invest in your staff.

Everyone is different. What makes one person happy will not necessarily make another person happy, so when trying to determine how to keep your employees happy, the best tip is to –