Admit it, you probably don’t have a clue about employee relationships. You might have a human resources department or you might occasionally wave a hand and greet your employees, but you probably don’t know if your employees are loyal to you or not. There are many components in maintaining a good relationship with your staff, but a lot of people go about it the wrong way.

Removing Competition

The last thing your employees want is to feel like they are in a competitive workplace. This kind of environment doesn’t work in a small business scenario and only works in a large company. You don’t want your employees to feel like their job security is constantly at risk because some people just don’t function that well under pressure, and they are more suited to working their jobs at a calm pace. Every employee is different, so don’t bunch them up into a single group and assume that everyone is the same and everyone is going to fight for a spot in your business.

Some employers use competition as a means to motivate their employees. For instance, someone might say that the employee that sold the most products in a week will get a bonus to their wages for that week. Unfortunately, this type of motivation breeds underhanded tactics and your employees might be arguing over pointless things. This doesn’t motivate your employees and it doesn’t help your business, all it does is create tension between your team members.

Motivate Them The Right Way

Motivating your employees is easy once you realise that material things don’t do your business any good. Trying to motivate your employees by offering them things such as extra money and “employee of the week” awards is silly and only causes more problems among your team members. Instead of giving them awards like this, you can motivate your employees by solidifying their bond between them and the company they work for. Make your employees feel valued and like they have a spot in your company, make them feel like their hard work pays off and helps to improve the business they work for.

You can also motivate employees by showing that you care about their situation away from the office. Offer to help when they need it or to cut down the amount of work they do to accommodate their real life issues that they may have. When you hire an employee, you want them to grow as productive members of your staff that will stay for the long term. Investing something like a couple of extra days off work for them will do wonders in the long run because it will show them that you care not only about the work they do but also their well-being. Just keep in mind that you shouldn’t be pushy about learning about your employee’s personal lives because they may want to keep it to themselves.

Health and Safety Matters

When it comes to looking after your employee’s interests, nothing says you care like a good health and safety plan. Make sure that you are providing your employees with the best quality care that you can afford. Consider hiring an in-house massage therapist if your employees sit at their desks for extended periods of time or strain themselves at work. Consider getting the best possible desks and chairs so that they are comfortable at work. If your employees work in dangerous areas such as a construction site or around electricity, then make sure they are equipped with safety gear that will protect their lives. Services like Ellis Whittam will be able to give you an analysis about your business and the areas you can improve your health and safety practices. Ask for their advice, listen to it, and you’ll see your relationship with your employees improve over time.

Interaction Between Departments

Whether you have a marketing department, tech department, accounting department or any kind of segregated employee groups, you need to make sure they are interacting with each other. No one likes to have a business with several different groups of people that work independently. Ask yourself if you really want to separate your workforce into different teams that never interact with each other. Every component of a business is like a gear in a machine—they all need to work in harmony to produce the best results. By separating your teams, you effectively give them rivalries and no communication between the groups means that it can be difficult trying to run your business efficiently. Encourage interaction between teams by setting up team-building events and make sure that your departments are actually working together.