As any business owner knows, one of the trickiest aspects of establishing and maintaining a successful business is staff retention. Staff retention is an issue for business of all sizes, and the causes are complex and more common than you might think.
What makes employees feel unfulfilled?
For many employees, work life balance-an increasingly hot topic-may often be a barrier to staff fulfilment. If employees feel they are making endless sacrifices in their personal life without getting any tangible rewards, a sense of malaise and a lack of direction can quickly set in. Rethinking how you approach work life balance and general working arrangements can help alleviate this. Doing so creates a much healthier relationship between an employee and their job, which in the long run contributes to their personal sense of fulfilment.
But perhaps the most common cause of lagging employee fulfilment concerns professional growth and progression. If employees feel they are stagnating in their current role, or that there are no realistic prospects of professional growth, this is a recipe for a deep sense of unfulfillment. This can be particularly common in workplaces where employees tend to be naturally high achieving, as the desire for progress can often outpace the opportunities for growth in a given role. A good way of combatting this is through creating professional skills development opportunities, for example through e-learning management courses or other continuing professional development schemes.
Why employee fulfilment matters
Employee fulfilment can have a tangible impact on your business, and for this reason, it must be taken seriously. The more satisfied they are with their job and work environment, the more productive they can be. Fulfiled employees tend to be more creative and innovative. It is also more likely for fulfilled employees, to choose to stay at the company. They tend to be loyal to the organization and more committed to working towards its success. It can also help avoid employee absenteeism. However, there are several cons of having an unfulfilled employee. Firstly, a sense of unfulfilment amongst employees creates the conditions for high employee attrition rates, meaning not only will you struggle with staff retention, but you might also struggle to attract new talent. This is a particular risk in the digital age where reputation management online is particularly difficult. Secondly, having engaged and enthusiastic frontline staff is absolutely crucial to success in business. Without that, you will struggle to attract new customers and to retain your existing ones. If your staff are unfulfilled, cultivating this sense of engagement is incredibly difficult.
How to increase staff fulfilment
Imagine spending hours of your day in an unhealthy and unclean environment, it’s likely to cause dissatisfaction. When the office space is not cared for it can cause the staff members to believe that they are not cared for either. You want to ensure your employees have a clean and healthy work environment to satisfy them. You might benefit from looking for office cleaning services jacksonville fl, or others in your proximity to maintain the office space. This can help them feel fulfilled and motivate them to show up to work another day. It can also help improve the overall productivity of the staff members, as they will be working in a clean and organized space. Additionally, creating inviting break rooms equipped with amenities like business TV, especially through REV business TV plans, can further enhance the overall workplace experience, making it a conducive and uplifting space for your team. This can help to reduce stress, improve morale, and inspire collaboration. It can also create a sense of community and connection among team members.
Apart from that, creating healthy, communicative relationships between managers and employees is a prerequisite to creating meaningful relationships at work. Studies have shown that the more meaningful the relationships you have in your workplace, the more likely you are to feel both personally and professionally fulfiled.
It is important to remember the old adage that employee fulfilment is built and not found. There is, unfortunately, no quick fix to this perennial problem for business owners and managers. The fact of the matter is that building a truly fulfilled workforce takes time, effort, and some advance planning. One of the ways in which you can do this is through staff training and continuing professional development. Professional skills development is particularly important as not only does it improve the overall competency of your employees, but it also signals to them that you are taking a long-term interest in both their work product as well as their personal and professional development. This has the effect of creating a mutual commitment between employer and employee.
To bring this about, employers have increasingly been looking to continuing professional development opportunities, particularly in the digital learning space. E-learning management courses, for example, are a great way of giving your employees the opportunity to learn tangible management skills in a flexible and adaptive way. Staff training and professional skills development are a proven way to increase employee engagement and will contribute to a sense of personal and professional fulfilment that will in turn help a business to prosper.
