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The level of employee retention within a business is always a good testament to the management team.

There’s a direct link between the leadership skills of a manager and the performance of an individual employee.

Obvious signs of happy employees are:

• Job satisfaction 
• Improved work performance 
• A Motivation to please 
• Aspiration to progress with the business 
• Desire to move higher with internal promotion opportunities 
• A generally happy demeanour! 

Need more of these employees within your business? Easy. Here are 10 tips for keeping your employees happy.

1. Awards – Try implementing awards for good behaviour, reaching certain targets, or simply miscellaneous/general awards for humour. This gives employees something to work for. 
2. Employee Surveys – By conducting a staff survey you give employees the opportunity to have a voice. Whilst not all feedback may be gleaming, some criticism can often help to illustrate flaws within management that may need to be looked at. This will help you to cater your management style to your employees. 
3. Make room for fun – It’s important to have fun within the workplace. It not only can lighten the mood but it also allows your employees to feel comfortable amongst management and also their co-workers. 
4. Career path/progression – By promoting opportunities to move up within the business, this can play a major part in employee retention. They begin to see the bigger picture in how their current job could play a important role in their career development. 
5. Birthdays – Not only is this an easy thing to remember (simply set a notification on your computer or phone), but it’s only one day a year! Maybe even take this one step further and give them a small gift to commemorate the occasion! 
6. Pats on the back – Recognising when an employee has done something good is crucial in job satisfaction. It’s important to voice recognition also Make a point of telling an employee when they’ve done something great – positive feedback can really benefit them and make them feel part of the team! 
7. Walk the talk – Ensure that whatever you tell your employees to do, that they get the chance to see you do the same task. Employees work better for managers that work 10x harder than everyone else, right through from clearing rubbish bins through to managing a shift. Be a managerial figure they want to aspire to! 
8. Encourage socialising – If you can promote this within the business at a low monetary cost, this will benefit your employees greatly. Bonding between co-workers and management is important in establishing friendships and connections between all levels of employees. 
9. Develop trust – Without trust, your employees won’t feel comfortable coming to you with anything, whether it be that they’re sick, that they have exams coming up or they simply aren’t feeling very happy at the moment. Make sure trust is central to all of your communication with your employees. Wouldn’t you rather they were honest about being hungover from last night’s party rather than lying about it and calling in sick for their shift five minutes beforehand! 
10. Culture – Promoting a culture that is consistent and honest is pretty crucial for maintaining happy employees. If you are choosing to implement any of these tips, try to be consistent in promoting a continuously great culture. Not one that is volatile and inconsistent, which makes management efforts look unbelievable.