10 ways to make your employees happy … without spending a dime!

Posted by Janet Smith on January 6, 2009

Yesterday I suggested smiling more as a way to boost employee morale. Here are ten more ways to make your employees happy…without spending a dime.

1. Give a warm greeting soon after an employee arrives at work—every day.
2. Each day, find an opportunity to thank each employee for something specific they’ve done on the job.
3. Surprise employees every so often with hand-written notes, telling them how much you appreciate having them on your team.
4. Call an employee meeting late on a Friday afternoon and have the only agenda item be a discussion of what everyone’s doing over the weekend.
5. Ask an employee for his or her opinion on something and sincerely listen to the response.
6. When an employee needs to talk to you, stop whatever you’re doing and give that person your undivided attention.    
7. Express compassion and concern to employees going through any personal difficulty, whether it’s car trouble, a sick child, a bad haircut, or relationship problems.
8. Tell your boss (or another higher level person) about how great an employee is…when that employee is standing right there to hear it.
9. When a project—even something relatively small—is complete, send an email message expressing gratitude to the employees that helped.
10. Compliment employees when you see them helping a co-worker, whether they’re pitching in to unload boxes, loaning a sweater, or explaining a new procedure.

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