5 Reasons to Reward Your Employees and Keep Them Happy

When someone asks you if you:

Would rather have happy or dissatisfied employees?

only a sadist would give the latter answer. However, preferring something and being ready to make an effort to make it come to life are different things.

While many people feel sympathy towards their dissatisfied employees and colleagues, they don’t realise just how serious the consequences are. Unhappy employees can bring your company down, while a happy staff can lift it to a new level.

To further illustrate the point, here are the top five reasons to reward and keep your employees happy.

They are less likely to leave

Losing an employee is expensive. It’s not just that the hiring process is costly (although it is), but you also need to onboard employees, gradually giving them more and more responsibilities.

Then, they just leave, and your competitors get experts that you took time, resources, and effort to train. A happy employee is less likely to leave. In other words, there’s a direct correlation between employee satisfaction and retention rate.

Explore: 3 Simple Ways To Cultivate Workplace Happiness

They say people don’t leave bad jobs; they leave bad bosses. Still, what makes a good boss? While there are a lot of definitions, a good boss is not someone who tries to be buddies with their employees. Sure, they are considerate toward their employees, but they don’t go out of their way to mingle.

A good boss has another way to prove that they care. They pay attention to their employees, often recognising problems before the staff reports them. Not everyone dares to speak up, and being proactive saves your employees a lot of anxiety. Do this enough times, and you’ll make them feel protected.

Reward system makes them more driven

People work for a salary and sometimes feel disappointed when they don’t get the expected raise. The problem is that most people, while grateful for the raise, feel like they’ve earned it. This is a problem because they don’t feel the need to be thankful - after all, you’re just giving them something that’s already theirs by right?

This is why a company reward system is much more effective as a solution. Bonuses and rewards are something that, while customary, is not prescribed by employment laws. Employees give them out of their sense of respect for their employees. This is why they feel more appreciated.

This may interest you: How To Create A Stand Out Customer Rewards Program

Sure, people are more driven when they work for promotion and advancement, but you can’t hand these out indefinitely. There’s a ceiling to how much each employee can advance and how much you can afford to pay them.

Fortunately, with a fair, well-organised, and generous reward system, you can postpone their dissatisfaction and make them feel more appreciated. In return, they’ll try harder.

Employees with a sense of duty will recognise that you’re doing right by them, making them feel obliged to pay you back by working harder.

Employee management is easier with happy employees

While there are various employee management tools that you can use to increase the administrative efficiency of this task, there’s nothing like happy employees.

A dissatisfied employee has a rare talent for cutting corners. They avoid responsibility, delegate tasks without authority, and deliberately interpret ambiguous orders the wrong way. While you can try to outfox them, keeping them satisfied is easier.

A happy employee will have no problem doing what they’re told or even going the extra mile to show they appreciate being on your team. Commanding is easy when everyone falls in line by default.

A happy employee can be your greatest ally. They just need a good reason to want to help you, to begin with. When they are satisfied, they act positively on default. Your productivity can skyrocket if you are just to keep them happy. Speaking of which…

Happy employees work better

According to one survey, happy employee works 22% harder than their dissatisfied colleagues. In practice, your five employees can work like a six-man team. This is a direct saving since you can keep fewer people on retainer.

Happy people try harder, but they also have an easier time focusing and finding motivation for work. In other words, while it improves productivity, it does so from several angles, making this system fail-proof.

A great thing about this is that happy employees provide a scalable bonus. Happy employees create a positive working environment. New people you hire will arrive in this comfortable working environment and have a greater chance of feeling welcome. However, you must put in the effort first to get the ball rolling. Past this point, happiness is contagious.

The word spreads around

People talk, not just to customers but to employees, as well. If you get a reputation for mistreating your employees or if there’s a word that working for you is not so great, there will be consequences.

First, people hate the unethical conduct of employers, especially if you’re otherwise promoting just and noble causes. This makes things even worse and might get you accused of hypocrisy. This is even worse than just being a bad employer.

So, your reputation will hit with your customers, but it doesn’t end there. Your hiring process will also be more difficult. As we’ve said, people talk, and they’ll hear about the conditions in your company. You’ll have to offer far greater salaries and incentives to attract anyone.

Auxiliary reading: Top 10 Ways To Create A Lively Workspace

Moreso, since you’ll get a label of a bad employer, the only three types of applicants that you’ll attract are those who:

Don’t have other options
Are desperate
Are considering you only as a short-term solution

Neither of these three groups is your target audience.

Fortunately, the opposite is true as well. As a good employer, you’ll get more choices, making your hiring process cheaper/more effective.

Happy employees are the main prerequisite for a successful enterprise

Happy employees work harder, stay employed longer, and improve their reputation. Aside from these purely pragmatic reasons, you also have a moral and ethical responsibility to make your workplace pleasant.

Supplementary reading: Why Being Engaged At Work Isn’t As Simple As ‘Being Happy'

Be sure to check out the media below: