Oxford is frequently named as being among the most expensive places to live and work in the UK. In response to this, Oxford City council administered the Oxford Living Wage, a scheme designed to counter the city’s high cost of living.
A living wage is just one example of how businesses can improve their employee welfare standards. The wellbeing of the labour force has become a hotly contested topic over the past few years, with many businesses taking steps to ensure staff are safe, happy, and satisfied in the workplace. Let’s look at how you can follow suit and give your employee welfare strategy a boost.
Reward Schemes
Employees are the driving force that allows your business to operate and make money. Without them, you would be unable to develop your products and sell them to your customers. This means that you should strive to show appreciation to your staff whenever you can and whenever it is due. However, as a business owner, you are no doubt kept busy day-to-day. This can make it easy to forget to thank your staff which, while it may seem inconsequential at first, could lead to staff feeling underappreciated and unmotivated in the long term.
To avoid this happening, consider implementing a reward scheme to show your staff how much their hard work is appreciated. Using local businesses like incentivesmart.com is an easy option. They provide a points-based employee engagement scheme that can reward behaviours or actions of your choosing. The solution also offers benefits and HR hub along with detailed reports and analytics so you can keep track of both rewards and your team’s performance.
Be Flexible
One of the best qualities of a company is flexibility, especially with parents or carers. Understand that your team has a life outside of the workplace and that circumstances can mean that short notice rota and holiday alterations have to be made. Plus little things, like an hour off for school plays make the world of difference to an employee’s loyalty and work/life balance.
Also, you have to consider appointments for doctors and dentists can be a struggle to get outside of working hours, so allowing time for this improves the physical and mental health of the staff.
By being flexible with time-off requests and working patterns, you will demonstrate to the team that you care about their welfare both inside and outside of the workplace. This will help strengthen the relationship between you and your staff, and you can expect to see this reflected in their performance.
Encourage Communication
Engaged employees should feel free to speak their minds and report any issues or concerns they might be facing. If an employee feels like they cannot say what they truly think, this may reflect in a sub-par performance as they are not invested in the work. As a leader, you should aim to foster an open, welcoming environment where your staff can communicate easily and without fear of reprisal or being ignored.
Increased Employee Benefits
Offering health insurance and gym memberships as part of the employment package is another easy way to be an attractive employer, while also improving physical and mental health of your employees. And if that appears too costly, balance it up against lost revenue from employee absence and attrition to rival companies.
You can also simply improve working conditions with facilities offered. Offering healthy subsidized meals and access to drinking water can make long hours more productive and reduce absence from illness. And any improvement in the work environment reduces staff turnover, even getting a comfortable temperature in the work place.
Why is it Important?
Employee welfare is incredibly important. Not just for the staff themselves but also for the business as a whole. People who are unhappy at work can suffer from mental health problems which can, in turn, have disastrous consequences for businesses. Improving your employee welfare policies and practices is one of the most important things you can do as a business owner.
Conclusion
Don’t risk overlooking employee welfare in favour of profits and revenue. This is a dangerous move that could have incredibly serious implications for your company. Use the advice we’ve outlined in the guide above to keep your employees happy, motivated, and productive in the workplace.
