Employee welfare is an important part of a business plan. Ensuring the welfare of your staffs will keep them happy and motivate them to do better at their jobs. A company’s staff is its most important asset as their efforts (directly or indirectly) can affect the company either adversely or positively. Providing your staffs with certain benefits is a duty that all employers of labor owe their staffs for their efforts and it can also help to promote your business and project a positive image of your company.
Staff welfare refers to the various aids/advantages which an employer makes available to his employees as benefits of being a member of the staff of the company. It could be in form of allowances (transport, feeding e.t.c), insurance coverage against sicknesses, accidents, accommodation problems and may even extend to family member of the staffs. It also involves providing certain facilities that are needed in making the employees comfortable while they are doing their work. Such as restrooms, drinking water (if possible lunch), canteen and the likes. At first, providing this benefits may increase the expenses of your business but it will have a lasting and positive effect on your business.
Before you can see yourself as an employer that is seeking the welfare of your staffs, you need to:
Understand The Needs Of Your Employees
If you want your employees to always give in their bests at work, try to establish a kind of connection with them by getting to know them personally. Endeavor to know what their needs are even if you can not provide an immediate solution to it. They will be more interested in working with you if they feel that you (the employer) are also genuinely interested in them.
Proffer Solutions
When you understand the needs of your employees, try to proffer solutions. You may not be able to completely meet their needs but do your best to be a part of the solution to some if not all of their problems. For instance, if you have a staff member that is running a program in school, you should know that such person will constantly be in need of money for school fees, handouts, assignments and so on. You can allow such persons to take part of their salary before the end of the month (I.O.U). If another of your employee has accommodation problem, knowing that this will affect his/her performance at work negatively, you can assist the staff to get accommodation. If possible create a loan scheme for the benefit of your employees with financial issues. If you can foster the feeling of togetherness in your staffs, it will go a long way in increasing their output and productivity.
Conduct Training For Their Personal Improvement
Once in a while, organize training for your staffs’ personal improvement. You can even go as far as inviting a professional in the field to come and give a talk. Such occasions will help to instill in them (employees), the feeling that the management/employer is interested in improving their lives. For instance, if you organize a training on “work ethics” or “customer satisfaction” for your staffs, it will help them in relating to clients and even after they stop working in your firm, the knowledge will still be with them.
Create Opportunities For Them To Grow
Another way in which you can ensure the welfare of your employees is to provide them with opportunities to grow. Know the dedicated, hardworking and productive staffs and reward them for their dedication to work. Encouraging your staffs will make them to want to do better. Also, recognize the ones with leadership abilities. You can promote them or put them in charge of others as supervisors. This will give them an opportunity to grow in leadership skills.
Take Feedback
After you have taken the above steps, take feedback. Get to know whether your employees are satisfied with the measures you are taking for their benefits. Who knows, maybe what you think you are doing for their good, is in fact, not working for them. There may even be better and more affordable ways of achieving your aim of improving the welfare of your staffs that you can find out from the employees themselves. Everyone knows that human wants are insatiable. But, it will be inhuman of you as an employer not to want to know how your employees feel about what the management is doing in terms of their welfare, even if you can not make a change immediately or at all.
The essence of employee welfare is to make your employees always want to do their work efficiently even when the factors are not favorable and to always endeavor to give their bests knowing that their employer also has their best interest at heart.
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