You might believe that you can sit back and relax as an employer once the initial recruitment drive has been and gone. However, this is not the case. If you ignore the changing world of employment, you could find yourself left behind and your employees moving off to better shores. As such, here are some of the top steps that you can take to keep them on side and ensure that your business fully benefits from having employees.

· Review Pay

Not only does reviewing your employees’ salaries help your wages to stay competitive, but it can also ensure that your employees are able to enjoy a great quality of life. This is not only vital for their welfare, but it can boost your reputation, encourage others to want to work for you, and mean that they are able to stay focused and committed to your brand for the majority of the time that they are in the office. To review their pay, you should look at when they last had a pay rise, inflation, the cost of living, and the current minimum wage. It is also vital that you look at their skills and the money that other businesses in your industry are paying their staff.

· Keep up With Employment Law

Employment law can quickly become the bane of your life and it is easy to get wrapped up in it. You might have been compliant when you first set out on your business journey, but that does not mean that you are still compliant today. Employment laws change every year and it is important that your business changes with them. However, they can be complicated for those who are not well-versed in law. This is part of the reason why you should look out for an HR company that can take you through UK employment law changes and highlight the areas that you need to change and adapt to. This will allow your company to remain legal even if you do not have the time or energy to skim-read these laws yourself.

· Host Appraisals

As a business owner, it is important not only to think about what your employees can do for you, but also what you can do for them. A good starting point for this is hosting one-to-one appraisals where you are able to discuss your team’s progress and what they need to work on. This can be a two-way discussion where you can talk about elements such as their pay, their goals, and their ambitions, and come up with ideas and solutions that put them first and that allow them to make progress. This will not only benefit your business by honing and expanding on their talent but will also make sure that you are both on the same page.

· Create a Training Campaign

The next step that you should take is to create a training campaign. Although you might believe that your staff are all fully trained, there is always more to learn. By ensuring that training is not only offered at the point of onboarding, you will be able to gather a team around you that has refreshed and refined skills and that knows exactly what they are doing. This is especially important if you have started to introduce new technology or processes, or if you are starting to notice gaps or complacency when it comes to your older staff member’s knowledge. It is always possible to make training fun, though, including the use of team-building activities.

· Send Out a Staff Survey

No year is complete without a staff survey, though. A staff survey will allow you to get feedback on how your employees think that the year has gone and how they view your business. They are usually best placed to tell you what is going wrong with your business and how they are treated and might be able to give you detailed insights that you are able to work on. This can be a learning curve for you and can make sure that your team believe that their voices are listened to every single year. These surveys should always be anonymous as this will give you the most honest answers.

· Enjoy a Holiday Party

Your office should not constantly be all work and no play, though. At the end of the year, it is vital that you show gratitude to your team and that you give them the chance to let off steam and get to know each other in a non-pressurised setting. A work party can be fun for all and can allow you to get to know your team and make memories which you might treasure forever. You could decide to go for dinner, the theatre, or even host a disco where you will be able to show how much you care.