Every small business relies upon its employees to keep the business alive. Sometimes, business owners don’t realize the degree of stress this places on the men and women whom they employ — and how feeling stressed leads to less-than-optimum work performance. On the other hand, while no one says it is the role of businesses to make people “happy,” few will dispute the idea that a fulfilled, upbeat employee is more productive than a worried, burned-out employee — every time. Here are tips for keeping your employees motivated, happy, and engaged on the job, which in turns leads to further growth for your business.

Employee recognition programs, once considered a “nice” but non-essential component of human resources, have changed dramatically over the last several years. This shift parallels a growing understanding of the importance of retaining top-performing employees and re-engineering employee recognition as a core business function.