5 Ways to keep your Tech Team happy

As a CEO, manager, or project leader, you must always be on the lookout for ways to make your team members more productive. When your team is operating at maximum efficiency, it means that more will be done, your goals will be attained a lot faster and the foundations created will be stronger.

Getting your team to remain focused and engaged may sound great in theory, but it is a lot harder than it may appear. Trying to encourage your team members to remain consistent and active can be frustrating, especially after they have been at it for some time. The good news is that it is possible to turn things around and keep your team members engaged and industrious.

If stress has been creating a dark cloud over your project and team members, changes must be made immediately to elevate the mood. You may be surprised at how big of a difference these changes can make in your work environment, as well as the impact they will have on the happiness and productivity levels of your team members. Here are 5 ways to keep your tech team happy:

Treat your team the same way you would your clients

Your team is your number one asset- always. All other things may come and go; profits may fluctuate but at the core of your business, the people carrying out the projects and executing the tasks are the most critical components of your business. Your team should be given just as much value and respect as your future and existing clients- if not more.

Go the extra step to get to know each of your team members personally, just as you would go out of your way to research a prospective client. Uncover each of their likes and dislikes, their personalities, find out what their hobbies are outside of work, and do your research to unearth what they enjoy or dislike most about the projects that they are working on.

This way, you will not only forge a personal connection with your team members, but it will also help you gain their trust. This personal connection between you and your team members will also allow you to discover any looming problems a lot faster so that they can be fixed without impacting your project damagingly.

Build a good office culture and brand

Building a good office culture is by far the best way to keep your team happy, as well as cultivate a positive work environment or atmosphere. When implemented correctly, your company culture will transform your employees into ambassadors and promoters of your business, which will go a long way in helping your project to be successful.  

Good company culture is what will also enable you to create a welcome landscape for prospective hires. Companies with the strongest company-cultures tend to have a much lower turnover rate and are hugely essential to the success of your project and business.

Give praise and recognition where necessary

It is not just enough to give praise and recognition, but you need to do it often. Successful project leaders understand that praise has a powerful effect on not only developing employees and enhancing their performance, but it is also crucial for retaining them.

Whenever you praise your team members for a job well done, it reinforces or elevates their dopamine and serotonin levels, which are the hormones associated with happiness. In effect, when one’s serotonin and dopamine levels go up, cortisol levels, which are the markers of stress also reduce drastically.

Acknowledging your tech team’s good efforts will also make them feel more relaxed at work and confident. When employees know that they matter to their bosses, they are more likely to enjoy their work more, which is exactly what you need if you want them to be productive and creative.

Be clear about your expectations

When you communicate to your tech team about what it is that you require, as well a what is needed for them to advance or rise the ranks, they will settle into a more industrious mindset. Communicating clearly about your expectations will reduce stress and reduce workplace disagreements and misunderstandings.

When expectations are made clear, employee engagement is constantly on a high. Your project members will also be more likely to tow the company line, work in line with your organization’s mission and vision, as well as allow your team members to carry out their duties with the eagerness and dedication needed to succeed.

Inject fun at the workplace

You know what they say about all work and no fun. Employees that have more fun at the workplace are less likely to be absent due to sick days, they work harder and are generally more productive. It really does pay to play these days.

The fun doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a foot. It could simply be adding a Foosball table in your breakroom, celebrating office birthdays, or introducing casual Fridays at work. Organic fun is often a welcome break from the monotony of a long project. Fun workplaces also allow employees to unwind, causing the stress meter to drop and the happiness indicator to rise.

Final Thoughts

Employee retention is one of those very critical components of the hiring process that is often unheeded. The need to keep the developers and engineers that your business hires is recurrently outshined by the recruitment process itself.  

However, we all know that if the retention level is low, the employee turnover will be high, which will consequently create an inefficient loop of hiring and firing, even before the project has begun. This is a really dangerous position for a tech team to find themselves in, at a time when skilled developers are hard to come by.

As such, if you are lucky enough to have a good tech team, you must do everything in your power to pacify them and ensure that they stay happy, engaged, and content. If you don’t, an unhappy team will disengage from their work, which will negatively influence your business goals- and that’s the last thing anyone wants.