I am a dentist. I felt strongly that half my staff was against me (4 of 7 employees). So I fired them. I inherited them when I bought my business a few years ago. I am very ethical but I do care about gross revenue (as any owner should). They never fully embraced caring about revenue production or understanding that bonus pay is tied to profitability. Nonetheless, I feel it is a failing on my part as a leader that they as a group were not on my team. What can I do as a small business owner to display better leadership and engender better office morale. I should mention that I pay above market wages, have better benefits than market competitors, work with my employees to satisfy the number of hours they need and I run a schedule that is very predictable 8-5 with a lunch and we do not deviate. Further, we take great care of our patients and the staff never has to worry about patient satisfaction or quality of care. Thank you for your input.
Set each individual aside and have a personal 1 on 1 meeting with them with doors closed. Ask them a few questions about their personal lives, what they would love to do on the weekends or if they have travel plans, worried about family, etc. Make it your goal to try and help them in any way you can. Maybe they simply want some time off or more hours, more pay, etc.
Put a box in the office, make it 100% anonymous, ask them personally what can be improved or what they would love to see. Maybe its a bad coworker, maybe its how you speak to them (you need to follow before you lead), maybe its the parking, pay scale, maybe its you driving a Mercedes when thry can barely scratch food on the table, etc. Having a pizza party will not raise morale, benefits or change will.
Do take this seriously.