Investing in Your Employees: A Leader's Guide

You've probably been told at one point in your career to invest in your employees. Were you a bit confused as to what that actually looked like? Or why it's important? Well, we're here as a gentle reminder that investing in your employees is one of the most important roles you have as a leader.

It's true—investing means spending a little money. Maybe more than a little sometimes, but it's well worth the investment as it grows your employees, helping them to become experts in their field. At SpaceTogether, we believe in investing in each employee in every way we can. That's why we wrote this blog for all of our awesome business leaders out there.

Ways to Invest in Your Employees

1. Company Culture

• Have you looked at your company's culture recently? Are you cultivating an environment where your employees feel respected and valued by you and their colleagues?
• This is a great place to start investing your time. Work to change the environment for the positive, so all of your employees feel valued and motivated.
• Making minor changes with this goal in mind will change the attitudes around you, ultimately increasing productivity.

2. Know Your Employees as Individuals

• As teams grow along with demand, it can be difficult to maintain a connection with your employees and recognize them individually.
• While this is difficult, it's something you should make time for. It's imperative that each employee feels like they're a necessary part of the team, not just a cog in the machine.
• When employees feel recognized and appreciated for their work ethic and accomplishments, they can perform significantly better.
• For more information on how to recognize your employees, check out this blog post.

3. Grow and Develop Your Employees Through Education

• If you have the ability to provide tuition assistance, then that can be a real game-changer for your employees.
• If your company doesn't have the funds for that—that's okay. You can send your employees to workshops, allow them to take short online courses, and provide books for them to further their education.
• This can be an expensive endeavor, but it is necessary for the growth of employees.

4. Give Them the Most Updated Tools to Succeed

• If your employees are working with subpar technology, they can become frustrated and overworked, as they won't be able to accomplish as much in their workday as they could with the most up-to-date technology.

• Invest in quality, high-tech equipment so your employees don't fall behind the competition and become frustrated by their technological constraints.

5. Integrate Your Company's Mission and Values into the Workday

• Incorporate the company's values through artwork in the office or a weekly email to remind everyone what they're working toward and why.
• Doing this gives employees reasons and goals to work, which can be incredibly motivating.
• Reminding your employees why they work for the company can help both the employee and the company understand if it's the right fit.
• Every company should have teams of individuals who believe in the mission and cause. Believing in something is often the most pushing motivator to do solid work.

6. Compensation and Benefits—Are They Competitive?

• If you can afford to pay your employees top-notch salaries and provide competitive benefits, then do it. Don't cut costs here.
• When employees feel like they are properly compensated for their hard work, they are likely to continue pushing through tough times, showing impressive resilience and productivity.

7. Team Building

• This doesn't mean involuntary fun where the boss makes everyone go mini-golfing together on a day off. Some people may enjoy that--but not everyone.

• It's important to incorporate activities that everyone enjoys, and it doesn't have to be expensive or even leave the office sometimes.
• It's a good idea to coordinate some of these events on the clock from time to time.
• The point is, do actual fun things and don't always make them do it on their time.

Before You Go

Employee retention is no joke. When people feel undervalued, they have no reason to work hard or stay. It's important to invest in your employees to keep them at their highest quality of work and to keep them happy and satisfied with the company. This will save you money and time in the long run, as you won't have to go through the hiring process and lose valuable employees. You can grow a team of solid, hardworking, motivated individuals by showing you care and investing in your employees.

As always, SpaceTogether is here for you. If you find yourself in need of working space or have extra that you're already paying for, we can help you find the right space/renter. For more information, you can visit our site or click the little blue circle in the corner. Thanks for reading!