Three Ways to Keep Your Staff Happy

As the owner of an accountancy franchise, you know that you can’t do everything on your own. You probably also know that the difference between having a quality staff and having one that is sub-par can make or break your company.

While adopting ideal hiring practices is important for every small business owner, how you treat the people who work for you may play an even bigger role than you think. You might think that success is all about hard work, but keeping your staff happy can help keep you in the black.

Using the following three techniques can help to keep your staff happy—and if you adopt these practices, you’re more likely to see higher profits and have a better workplace for yourself and the people who work for you.

Offer Positive Reinforcement

Chances are, you’ve worked for somebody else at least a few times in your life. If you’re like most people, you remember all of the negative things your old bosses said to you and very few of the positive ones. You don’t have to be that kind of boss, though.

You probably won’t be able to get away with never saying anything negative to your employees, but it’s more important to offer positive reinforcement when they do things that are beneficial for your accountancy franchise.

Don’t treat your employees like children who need kind words from a parent, but don’t forget to offer positive feedback from time to time. Simply telling somebody that you appreciate the work they put into a project or that they went above and beyond your expectations can really go a long way.

You might even find that employees who feel like they’re good at their job perform above their abilities on a regular basis. Confidence can do that for a person—particularly in a low-paying or entry-level position where they may feel like you don’t expect much from them.

Critique Carefully

Not all of the feedback that you give to your employees in an accountancy franchise will be positive. There are going to be times when you have to correct your employees and tell them that they’ve done something wrong.

When you do this, though, you should try to do it in a manner that won’t make them defensive. This is particularly important with new or entry-level employees who may not know as much about an accountancy franchise as you do.

Also, try to offer critiques in positive terms. For example, including a positive about how an employee attempted to perform a task before you correct their method can make them more comfortable and less defensive at work.

Including positive feedback along with negative critiques is often a wise idea, as well. Again, you don’t want to treat employees like children, but you don’t want the people who work for you to assume they’ve done something wrong every time you speak to them, either.

Consider Incentives

A big part of keeping employees happy is making sure that they’re well taken care of from a financial perspective. Even if you can’t offer whopping salaries, incentives can go a long way toward keeping the people who work for you happy in the office every day.

Incentives for sales, bringing in new customers, or meeting benchmarks are ideal in an accountancy franchise. Even small incentives—like a few dollars in cash or perks like gift cards—can work for many employees.

Running an accountancy franchise can be tough, but without quality employees, it can be nearly impossible. Utilize these three tips and you’ll find that the people that work for you are much happier. For more information, visit Supporting Strategies’ website.