Remember to take care of your employees

Think about your last retail experience. Were you ignored when you walked in or approached the service desk/register? Were the workers talking to each other or, worse, on their phones? Did they smile? Did they interact, make conversation, thank you, or did they just ring you up, take your money, and thrust a bag at you?

Now think about the worst job you ever had. What made it so horrible? Was it that there were no benefits? No paid time off? A micromanaging boss? Mean and petty supervisors? No room to learn or move up? Mandatory overtime? Inconsistent hours or scheduling? High turnover rate? Proper training? Meaningful evaluations?

In my experience, when employee satisfaction comes first, both the customer satisfaction level and revenues are high. In the small business environment, your employees actively represent your business culture – whether you have a thoughtful and empowering culture or your employees are slogging through the hours for the paycheck.

It is always the season to reward and empower employees, but the end of the year is the traditional time for bonuses or gifts.

How are you going to let your employees know how valuable and respected they are?