Investing Time, Effort & Money in Employees

Why do I think it is absolutely essential that businesses invest time, effort and money in their people? A few of my own thoughts below based on my personal experience at yboo Ltd.

Without people you can't operate effectively (or at all!) as a business! I firmly believe if you invest time and effort in your employees, they will absolutely give back to your business and therefore everyone succeeds.

Invest in your people and your people invest in you.

So how can you achieve this? It's pretty straightforward really!

1) The first thing you can do is absolutely make sure that you keep engaged with your employees through informal chats - maintain that regular dialogue, whether that is daily, weekly, monthly...however, often you feel you need it. That could be face to face and/or over phone/Skype...whatever works for you and your people logistically. Also make sure you have formal catch ups as well. This includes performance reviews and appraisals, in order to ensure that objectives and PDPs are delivered against and everyone is aligned in terms of the company's and their own personal objectives and goals. In these meetings you can look at areas of focus as well as celebrating what is going well. These sorts of check ins are great to not only aid the trajectory of your business, but maintain that important engagement.

2) Think carefully about any staff benefits that you offer so that they encompass "people" and fit with the needs/wants of your employees. After all, that's why you have benefits, as a perk for your employees and a thank you for working here. At yboo, we have a really great scheme, where we offer Private Medical Insurance, Life Cover and Critical Illness to all our permanent staff. PMI is offered via Vitality, which in itself is a fantastic scheme to encourage an active, healthy lifestyle, and also gives employees rewards and discounts. In addition, research suggests, what employees really value is their own time. In view of this we give all our employees an additional annual leave day per year for their birthday (or day in lieu.) A good benefit offering is crucial when employees are looking for new roles - it is generally not purely salary based but the complete package that employees seek.

3) Ensure you have a robust Wellbeing Strategy. It is so important to be able to look after your staff because healthy, happy staff are going to be more productive, engaged and motivated. Healthier staff = less lost business time and money as a result of absenteeism and sick days. Think about what you can do to support both physical and mental wellbeing. It works two ways - if you look after your employee's wellbeing they will look after your business.

4) Invest time and money in growth and development opportunities for your employees. At yboo, we give every employee £1000 a year to utilise on their own development, whether that is going on a course, a seminar, or just upskilling themselves through online learning - all of which helps them personally and professionally. This not only assists your people with their own progression, but it will be a massive benefit to your company in that you can utilise those skills while they're working for you. In addition, learning is great for mental wellbeing as gives you a real boost! Another winner!

5) Flexible working and/or working from home. If you are a company that has the ability to allow your employees to work from home and/or have flexible working, please offer these options because your employees will be happier and more engaged! It will allow a better work/life balance and enable more effective juggling of their hectic lives! It is also a great mechanism to demonstrate trust to your employees and empowement in them to do the right thing. I always find when working from home, I am much more productive due to less distractions and often work longer hours where I would normally have been travelling. I often find I can be less stressed as have not been caught up in traffic, for example. What I am trying to say is that a company has the potential to get a lot more out of employees if they can work from home and/or work flexibly. These options not only benefit the employee but the business too.

6) Finally, make sure you embed an amazing culture in your company, because obviously your employees are going to be happier in this environment. They are also much more likely to share their experience with other people, which is a great way of getting your company's profile raised externally, whether that is via Glassdoor, Social Media, or just word of mouth. If an employee feels happy and valued in the workplace, they're going to share how amazing it is to work there. Therefore, when you're hiring, you might not have to spend money on recruitment agencies, you may simply be able to hire new recruits because they are passionate about working for a company that stands out as an employer of choice due to its culture. If you really take time to embed that culture internally, I think it will absolutely determine your success externally.

I have worked at several companies but can honestly say how much yboo stands out head and shoulders above any other for being "people" focused. I feel valued, appreciated, looked after, both personally and professionally. There is an amazing culture with some truly remarkable people which motivates me to give 100% every day. It is a real pleasure to work in such an environment where I am treated as a person, not an employee number.

People matter...look after them.

Joanne Hickling (Sept 2019)