Motivating your employees is vital in order to optimise productivity in your workplace and help your recruitment business to grow. One way to do this is to ensure that you offer your staff a healthy recruitment working environment.
So, what can you do as an employer to ensure you offer a workspace that’s constructive and engages your colleagues? Here are 10 valuable tips that you can follow to improve your agency’s working environment.
1. Establish Trust
Trust really is the foundation of a healthy workplace.
As an agency, keeping your promises and making sure members of the team are treated as valued colleagues is very important for establishing trust within any office. Make sure you avoid overpromising and then you won’t underdeliver.
When you’re faced with a challenge within the workplace, make sure you communicate with those around you, so they know exactly what’s happening and continue to feel informed.
2. Communicate Effectively
In addition to making sure you continue to interact with your colleagues, it’s vital that you ensure the communication itself is provided in the right manner. You should consider your tone of voice and determine whether the way in which you inform staff of business news is appropriate.
Regular company newsletters or emails to summarise recent events within your agency will help to create a sense of cohesion within the workplace. If applicable, an open door policy would also encourage colleagues to speak to each other freely whenever they need guidance or support at work. Open doors policies provide greater efficiency too, as tasks can be explained and updates can be shared quicker than if you were continuously separated.
If it’s appropriate for your agency’s needs, you may prefer to work in an office that’s entirely open plan. Within this structure, an open plan workplace usually means more conversations with colleagues. Make sure you’re being empathetic and following emotional cues, as this will demonstrate a supportive and safe environment in which colleagues can discuss what’s on their mind.
3. Empower Employees
Something many colleagues really like is a clear brief. This extends to their overall job too.
Make sure roles and responsibilities are clearly established, so everyone knows what they’ll be held accountable for and can track their progress. There should be clear guidance as to what’s expected. So, if an employee is hitting or exceeding targets, this can then be easily measured and rewarded. Equally, if they’re not reaching their employment goals, clear guidelines will make it easier to determine this.
We all spend quite a lot of our day at work, and sometimes it’s nice to have your work acknowledged. So, whether they’ve introduced a new client, placed a candidate or found a promising CV for a role you’re struggling to fill, be sure to show your appreciation towards all colleagues.
4. Offer Flexible Working
With 1 in 4 employees finding that their work life conflicts with their family life, employees should create a flexible workplace where possible. Embracing modern technology to enable your staff to work from home sometimes will often be appreciated and may also result in a more productive working day.
Online tools such as CRMs and communication platforms mean that your workspace no longer needs to adopt the traditional 9 to 5 hours if these are not suitable for some of your workforce. Sometimes being innovative in these ways can help your recruitment agency stand out against other potential employers.
5. Incentivise Staff
Whilst monetary bonuses are often appreciated, not every incentive or benefit has to be financial. Try introducing more personal development or educational training for your employees. Other perks could include half days when they exceed any given number of targets, an office games day or more social activities outside of the office to celebrate a colleague’s win.
6. Promote Wellbeing
Discounted gym memberships are becoming increasingly popular and such measures towards looking after your employees’ health can go a long way towards improving productivity within the office and staff satisfaction. Providing healthy snacks in the office to complement this approach would also be seen as a positive step towards promoting wellbeing of your staff.
It’s also important to be aware of the importance of looking after mental health too. Advice or support that can be offered during times of financial stress or depression, for example, will help staff to feel they are a valued member of their team.
7. Quirky but Constructive
Happier workers have been shown to be more productive, take fewer sick days and ultimately make more profit for their company. Some quirky but constructive ways to ensure you offer a happier workplace include:
Providing happiness reports for your employees.
Letting go of the past and focusing on future goals.
Concentrating on positivity: ask team members for their highlight since you last spoke.
Allow team members to customise their desks and make it more homely.
Using quirky images, such as cartoons of each person for their photo on the website.
8. The Detail is in the Design
Boosting productivity and reducing stress is seen as achievable within the workplace.
One way to do so is via the design of the workspace itself.
Avoid:
Poor lighting.
Excessive noise within the office.
Unstable temperature settings.
Adopt:
Neutral tones for office decor.
Use of plants within the office space.
Other methods like the two listed above, which are linked to nature and calmness.
9. Offer Development Opportunities
Promoting staff internally is often successful in reducing turnover rates within a business. It can also help to increase productivity. Be sure to provide on-the-job training and offer an educational allowance to your staff. This fund can be used to cover the cost of any courses not available as part of the existing on-the-job training. These elements contribute towards the professional development of your staff and will encourage them to work their hardest.
Establishing networking opportunities for your colleagues will enable them to become more knowledgeable about the recruitment industry and gain valuable contacts. This is especially the case if industry-specific events will give them the opportunity to gain further insight into the current market situation in terms of supply and demand, and to meet candidates and clients.
A mentorship programme would enable you to ensure that your team are helping each other to learn and bonding in the progress. This will encourage team cohesion and a reward scheme to incentivise those who provide the most comprehensive mentoring would also encourage friendly competition within the office.
10. Play Together, Stay Together
We mentioned team social events earlier as a positive incentive or reward for hard work. Staff get to know each other better at such events, and it feels more enjoyable to be working together, as they feel like they belong more within the office.
Even if internal socials are only an occasional part of a job, they can still create bonding opportunities for colleagues who may not otherwise get to speak much within the office. These events enable colleagues to show their personalities and can reveal hidden shared interests between staff members. Such social occasions often lead to lower turnover rates too. So, it seems the team that plays together really does stay together.
If you’d like to obtain further guidance on how to offer training and development opportunities to your staff, contact us today. At BlueInk Consulting, we specialise in recruitment agency growth, training and development of recruitment staff and leadership and management business coaching.
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