Being an Even Better Boss: The Good Bosses' Guide

It pays to keep your people happy. Long gone are the days when everyone stayed in the same job for 20 years.

In 2016, the average job tenure for Kiwis was 4 years (funnily enough, that goes up to 6 years in Agri, Forestry and Fishing). Hiring is a pain in the pants (not to mention expensive), and long-term staff are worth their weight in gold. So, how do you create an awesome workplace and make sure they stick around?

Pay them

Painfully obvious, we know. But here’s a reminder: but if you really want to hold on to somebody, pay them what they’re worth. Make sure what they’re taking home shows how valuable they are to you. On the other hand, think about how you could compensate your MVP beyond their salary, with benefits, memberships or conferences. You can do this in a way that works for you too, like offering employees funds to go towards health and fitness. Healthy staff are happier and more productive!

Upskill them

The job they’re doing is valuable to you, but it should also be valuable to them. Ask your people what skills they’d like to develop and then help them make it happen. Your business benefits from the extra know-how, and they’re more likely to stick around. Often, people start looking elsewhere just because of a lack of challenges and opportunities.

Empower them

Research has repeatedly shown that when employees are “empowered” at work, you get stronger job performance, job satisfaction, and commitment. How do you make that happen? Delegate decision-making, share information, and invite input. This works best for specific roles and duties - you won’t see a huge difference from people doing routine, basic tasks, but where they have to think creatively and come up with solutions, empowering employees is a smart move.

Listen to them

Your team could be chock-full of brilliant ways to make things move faster and smoother in your business. Let them know that you’re open to suggestions. If they see their ideas being put into action, they’ll feel more invested in what you’re trying to do. Nobody wants to be just another cog.

Look after them

We talk a lot about your responsibilities as an employer under the law, but you can go much further than that. When your employee is having a tough time, you have the chance to show them real empathy and earn their loyalty. There are heaps of ways this could happen, big and small. It could be offering flexible work hours temporarily, arranging carpool with another team member, or giving someone’s kid a summer job. If one of your employees is struggling financially, Pay Advance is a really easy way to offer help (and doesn’t cost you anything!)

Hook them up

The right technology can make boring jobs easier and more fun (we think PaySauce is a pretty good example). Use cloud technology like Google Drive to give your people greater flexibility and get them working collaboratively, PaySauce (of course!) to cut down on the dull data entry of payroll, and Xero to automate accounts.

Do nice things

Make your team proud! You might support a charity or sponsor a local sports team. Not to toot our own horn, but here’s some stuff that the PayForce are pretty proud of:

• PaySauce supports 1% Collective, a very cool local charity with an innovative giving model
• We recently became an accredited Living Wage employer, which means that anybody we employ, contract or subcontract must get paid at least the Living Wage ($21.15/hr)
• We also have a Volunteer Time Off policy, offering our team 20 hours each annually to spend helping out the charity of their choice

All these things keep us excited to be part of PaySauce and bring us closer as a team. As a side benefit, they help get the word out about our company.

While some of these will cost a bit of extra coin, lowering staff turnover is a dang good investment. Not only will you keep crucial knowledge in-house and save on recruiting, but you’ll often develop some pretty great working relationships.

Did we miss something? Reach out and tell us what you do to keep your team for the long haul!