It’s long been known that employees who are emotionally and spiritually invested in a company will stay there for as long as they can. They’ll keep growing and changing with the company until decades later when all the employees turn out for their tear-ladened retirement party when they reach the ripe old age of 33 billion and nine.
Okay, maybe they’re not quite that old but the point is well taken.
Employees who have an emotional attachment to a company will stay and contribute to it for years and years. They’ll be the most loyal and productive members of the staff, working long hours without urging, putting their own blood, sweat, and tears into it as if it was their very own.
That kind of loyalty can’t be bought. It has to be earned.
Happy Employees
Employees who are happy and satisfied are the best employees anyone ever had. They’re also the healthiest (emotional health and physical health are intertwined) which means fewer missed days. They will also innovate, coming up with new ideas and strategies without prompting. Happy employees are an invaluable resource.
So, if you want happy employees who embody all these characteristics (who wouldn’t?) how do you go about getting them, or transforming an unhappy employee into a happy one?
There are a couple of simple things you can do. One is free and the other will cost, so let’s take a look at that one first.
Money Well Spent
Take a look at the cover of these books. Without knowing anything about any of the these books you can instantly tell a little something about each one of them. You really can judge a book by its cover and decide if you want to buy it or not.
One glance at the cover is enough to tell you these things and make your decision. It only takes a fraction of a second. If you look closer you can learn even more about the book without ever opening it or reading a single word. Cover art like that will generally cost the author between $300 and $600 before the book ever goes on sale or makes a single penny. Yet for all that, it was money well spent.
You need to do the same thing by including professionally done headshots of your employees and staff on both your company website and your social media accounts. It will cost you at places like JA Headshots but it will be money well spent because they’ll see that you’re identifying them with your company in a strong, positive light.
In fact, the very fact that you’re spending money on getting studio portraits professionally done for each of them will demonstrate to them how serious you are about the relationship.
Good For Business Too
Professional headshots (beauty shots, publicity photos, etc.) are more than just a feel-good exercise for your staff though. They’re also good for business. Correctly done headshots, posted on your corporate website and social media will personalize your company in the public eye.
You need eye-catching staff photos of your helpline employees, for instance, to show customers that real people are on the phone trying to help them with whatever problem they’re having. Use those professional headshots as the thumbnail or icon that pops up on the customer’s screen when they contact your help desk online to prove to them they’re not talking to a robot.
It’s been said that the best business relationships are personal and those headshots, professionally done by expert photographers, will make it personal for the customer.
Use Employee Input On Branding Or Rebranding Your Company
Regardless of how long your company has been in business, occasionally it needs to be rebranded to keep up with the changing times. Every company needs a brand and as the times change, those brands need to be updated. This represents a perfect opportunity to create an emotional attachment between your employees and your company, to make it personal for them.
Bring your employees in on the effort. It will energize them as few other things can. It will give them, as the saying goes, “skin in the game.” In their minds, suddenly your company becomes theirs. The result will be that they’ll suddenly be full of ideas, some so dynamic you’ll wish you’d thought of them yourself.
When you adopt their ideas and put them into practice, the emotional attachment will be fixed in cement. You couldn’t blast them out of there if you tried. Now that’s the kind of employee everyone wants!
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