Increase MSP Employee Satisfaction With These 5 Tips

In early 2024, United States employee satisfaction hit its lowest point in 11 years. The hardest hit groups included Gen Z workers, remote-capable employees who exclusively work onsite and employees who work fully remote.

Keeping employees engaged and satisfied is just as important for managed service providers (MSPs) as it is for organizations in any other industry. 

As we explain in our podcast episode on the topic, MSPs should approach employee satisfaction with the same mentality as a college football team. These strategies can help your organization perfect that approach.

1. Prioritize Employee Well-Being

Providing access to resources and support for your team's mental, physical and emotional well-being can significantly boost employee happiness, which in turn can improve your bottom line.

Some strategies you can use to accomplish this goal include:

• Flexible scheduling: Implementing hybrid or fully remote working arrangements can make it easier for employees to develop a healthy work-life balance. Breaks and paid time off are also some scheduling perks that can boost morale and keep employees satisfied.
• Creating a more supportive environment: Your employees should feel secure with the knowledge that your company supports their mental health and well-being. Regularly checking in with your team and providing access to mental health resources can help them  
• Setting reasonable expectations: Are employees struggling to meet important metrics due to their current workload? Finding a way to better distribute responsibilities, such as more evenly assigning clients to specific workers, can help reduce stress and boost performance.

2. Improve Internal Communication

Just like in a college football team, clear communication between each player in your MSP is critical for keeping your people engaged. 

Everyone should be on the same page, with a solid understanding of their individual roles and responsibilities. Some ways you can enhance your company's internal communication include:

• Adopting messaging platforms: SMS messaging systems and cloud-based communication tools like Slack improve message deliverability, making it easier to notify employees of important updates. These solutions can also facilitate easier communication between team members.
• Overcommunicating in emails: When you send emails to employees, make sure to be as clear and thorough as possible to avoid miscommunication and prevent a lengthy back-and-forth exchange. 
• Listen to your team: Leadership should actively listen to what employees say and implement their feedback if applicable. This continuous loop of communication helps assure employees that their voices matter to your organization, which further boosts engagement. 

3. Offer Opportunities for Personal and Professional Development

Employees need a challenge to feel completely engaged with their MSP. Providing growth opportunities such as internal training programs can help keep your team from feeling bored and disengaging.

Some ways you can foster employee growth include:

• Training and mentorship programs: These programs can also help you future-proof your organization by revealing ideal candidates for promotion.
• Industry event participation: Encourage employees to attend IT conferences, virtual presentations and other industry events so they can stay up to date with new technologies, evolving security protocols and more.
• Access to resources for personal development: Employees can also benefit from developing personal skills like time management, collaboration and critical thinking.

Creating an environment that supports personal and professional development helps boost employee engagement, and what they learn can enhance your service offerings. 

4. Increase Transparency With Employees

Your team should feel that they can trust your organization to be honest and open with them, especially when it comes to important concerns they have.

Internal promotion opportunities are an excellent example. When there's a chance to advance within the company, your employees should be the first to know. Failing to notify team members can cause them to doubt whether they matter to your organization, leading to disengagement.

5. Create an Employee Recognition Program

Recognizing and rewarding excellence motivates employees to do better, which is why many companies implement employee recognition plans. 

Some examples of strategies you could use include:

• Focus on short-term excellence: Prioritize rewarding employees for solving more immediate issues and short-term goals to boost motivation for tackling long-term initiatives.
• Celebrate big and little wins: Shout out key players anytime an employee or team reaches a goal, whether it's a major career milestone or getting praise from a client. This recognition helps boost morale and encourages other employees to meet their goals as well.
• Offer incentives for high-performing employees: Small bonuses, like thank-you notes, gift cards and special lunches, show employees your appreciation for their hard work, which can motivate them to keep up their high performance.
• Establish a recognition program: Employee of the month programs and employee reward points make it clear what kind of performance your MSP is looking for, which can motivate others by providing a clear goal.

Why Is Employee Satisfaction So Important for MSPs?

Keeping your team happy and satisfied increases their likelihood of staying with your organization for many years. 

Here's what makes a high employee retention rate so vital for MSPs: 

• Continuity of service: High employee retention ensures that you have enough staff on hand to provide consistent, reliable service to your clients even in times of change.
• Client loyalty: Long-term MSP employees often form strong business relationships with specific clients, which enable them to tailor services to better meet each client's needs. Retaining these employees is critical for keeping clients satisfied and boosting your overall business performance.
• Cost savings: The costs associated with recruiting, hiring, onboarding and training new employees are significantly higher than the cost of keeping existing employees on your payroll. 
• Knowledge retention: Employees who stay with an MSP for a long time develop a deep understanding of the industry and its clients, making them highly valuable resources in your daily operations. 
• Morale and team dynamics: Workplaces with low rates of employee satisfaction often experience high turnover, which negatively impacts morale and prevents employees from forming strong bonds with other team members. Keeping your employees satisfied is essential for creating a stable, cohesive workplace where people want to work.
• Innovation and improvement: Experienced employees are more likely to contribute to process and policy improvements simply because they have firsthand insight into how your company could be better.

The Role of Employee Happiness in Retention

Employee happiness measures how your team feels about their job on a daily basis, while employee satisfaction is a holistic measure of how well employees' jobs meet their expectations and needs.

While maintaining a high level of employee happiness is important for building morale and motivated employees, you should be more concerned with their overall satisfaction to improve your chances of long-term success. 

Learn How Phin Security Can Help Your MSP Retain More Employees

At Phin Security, our mission is to help MSPs just like yours enhance their processes and grow their business. That's why we built our cybersecurity training platform specifically for MSPs — so you can keep your employees engaged and reward them for learning more. 

See how our platform can help you make your MSP a better place to work. Start your 30-day free trial today!