In good years your company was able to offer holiday bonus money and raises, but this year you have a hold on everything and your team is being asked to do more work than ever before because of lay-offs, how do you keep your workers motivated? History shows that employees who feel unappreciated and not compensated for all their work will be looking for new positions when the economy improves, but you, as the business owner, know your business will not make it if you start to hand out raises and bonuses while sales are down. So, how do you keep people smiling without the added cash?
Being honest with your employees about the current financial situation and asking them to help you allows them to feel like they are part of the team. Ask them for their help and ideas on how to improve sales and cut costs and be direct about adding back raises and bonus money when the company is doing better. When you include your staff you help to build trust and loyalty, but be sure to give the raises and bonus money when things improve. Also, be careful of wasteful spending and extravagant business trips and luncheons during these lean times because it does have a way of making your employees question if you are really being truthful about the financial picture.
If you have a holiday party every year outside the office, but this year you cannot afford the expensive event, consider having a pizza party and allow your staff to dress casual for the day and have a Yankee Swap of gifts at a reasonable price. Free food is something that the last company I worked for used quite often to make the work place more fun. We had Friday breakfast every week and cakes for birthdays. It was not the best place to lose weight at, but it did make people happier and feel more like a family.
Beyond saying thank-you’s to your employees for their efforts, you might want to offer time off as a way to give the employee the feeling that they are recognized for their efforts when raises are not in the budget. This can be tricky if you are working with a smaller staff, but if you look at days around holidays that might be lighter for your business, this could be a perfect time to let people leave work early or take the entire day off. Also, don’t be shy about stepping in to other positions and doing their work if possible. Nothing says that a position is important like when the owner is willing to be the receptionist and answers the phone all day. This might even be an excellent time to consider giving awards to recognize the efforts of your staff in some way since you do not have a bonus to offer. Take the time to know the employee so that when you hand them a certificate of acknowledgment in front of their peers you are able to compliment them on a job well done.
There are many things you can do to improve the mood in your business during a time in which there are no holiday bonus or raises, but these are just a few suggestions. Please share your own and tell us about what you are doing this holiday season for your staff.
All my best to your success!
~Charlene
