Without a team behind your entrepreneurial venture, your small business will never truly be successful. Sure, there are many solo enterprise businesses and self-employed individuals who do quite well, but if you’ve launched a product or service and you want to grow, then you’re going to need some help.
What’s the best way to ensure steady growth and employee retention among your team? Well, on the financial side of matters, having a healthy cash flow supported by factoring loans from The Commercial Finance Group is something that’s important to note. From a person-to-person perspective, expressing appreciation for your employees is another surefire way to make sure that they’re happy and stick around for the foreseeable future.
Small Business Lending With Thanksgiving In Mind
With Thanksgiving just around the corner (is it already that time?), our small business lending professionals wanted to provide business owners with some fun and effective ways to show appreciation for their employees. Keep reading below for some great ideas, or feel free to get in touch with us about our unique and flexible lending solutions. Let’s get started.
Provide Your Team With Free Food
It should be of no surprise that people are food motivated. It’s true — when we’re hungry, we don’t think as well, perform as well, and just don’t have the mental and physical energy required to face the day’s tasks. There’s even a colloquial-esque word for being hungry and subsequently angry: hangry.
The truth of the matter is that your employees will need to eat something regardless of whether you’ve provided it for them or they’re going to lunch on their own. We’re not saying that you need to cook them a laborious Thanksgiving meal by any means, but even picking them up a Chic Fil A platter, for example, will be an appreciated gesture.
Shout Them Out On Social Media
People love recognition, and the subsequent validation that follows being recognized. If your company has a social media presence (and let’s be honest, you should — it’s nearly the end of 2018 and social media has been the standard for digital marketing for quite some time now!), create a simple post highlighting an employee of the week.
A social media shoutout is free (it only costs you a little time and marginal effort), and more importantly, it’ll reach an online audience who follows you and cares about your content. It’s an employee appreciation win/win!
Give Your Team An Unexpected Day Off
It’s true that time is money, so in that sense, this one is going to cost you considerably more than a social media post. Now, that being said, an extra day of PTO or even an unanticipated early leave is a guaranteed way for your employees to feel appreciated. It’s funny — you’re telling your team that you’re grateful for their presence by, in turn, telling them to leave. Thank us later after they thank you.
Go On A Company Outing
If you have the funds and the time, and everyone’s schedule somehow lines up, it’s worth your while to devise some sort of outing for you and your employees to embark on. Even if it’s just a quick trip to the frozen yogurt shop down the block or you’re simply going on a short hike, showing your team that you care enough to plan something out (and pay for them) really does express the fact that you value them.
Happy employees translate to productive employees, so take them out for an experience that is sure to reflect well on you.
Hear Out Your Employees’ Feedback
Offering a platform or some sort of way for your employees to submit their feedback is very valuable. Not only does this provide you with the necessary insight to improve your business model, company culture, and other policies and processes, but it also communicates that their communication is valued.
At the end of the day, people appreciate it when you listen to them. It’s a simple concept, but a remarkably effective practice. Make sure to hear them out no matter how critical their feedback is, and follow up with a conversation about what they said and how to improve what’s already in place.
Offer Positive Reinforcement And Reward A Job Well Done
When your employees are caught in the weeds of daily workflow, it can be difficult to gauge their performance without any feedback. While poor performances and bad attitudes should be dealt with in a private and professional manner, there’s nothing wrong with a simple gesture that says “good job” or “well done.” Again, it’s simple — even a random sticky note on their desk can go a long way — but it’s the little things that count.
At the expense of encouraging your team to ruthlessly compete with one another, offering a gift card, cash prize, or some type of monetary reward for the best job or performance is a great way to reward your hardest worker.
Contact CFG For Rapid Small Business Lending Solutions!
There’s no point in building and growing your team if there’s no team to begin with, or your company’ cash flow is hemorrhaging. Fortunately, if you are experiencing financial troubles in the way of growing pains or delayed payments from vendors and suppliers, rest assured that our Atlanta factoring company is here to help your small business thrive. To get started, contact The Commercial Finance Group today.
