Well-being and fulfilment are two very important concepts to consider in the workplace. More and more businesses recognize that positive and satisfied employees are more motivated, productive and are more likely to profoundly implicate themselves in their work.
Today, younger workers don’t hesitate to quit their job if there are unsatisfied. Therefore, follow these 6 top tips and tricks to reduce turnover at the heart of your organisation and see each team member arrive every morning with a smile on their face.
1. Create a room where it is banned to work
Do you have an empty work space or office in your business? Why not transform this space into a “chill out room” where work is completely prohibited? Your employees must be able to take a true break and forget about their work for a bit so that they are able to relax, de-stress and clear their heads for a moment or two.
In order to make this possible, make a room where rules such as you are not allowed to talk about work exist. Arrange this space with comfy chairs, a coffee machine and pleasing decor so that your employees can feel the change of their environment to something more relaxed.
2. Buy plants for your office
Do you know that plants have many noteworthy qualities? Not only do they embellish the working environment, purify the air that we breath and reduce stress but they also increase productivity by 15%. This was concluded in a study carried out in 2014 by researchers at the university of Exeter in England, of Groningen in the Netherlands and of Queensland in Australia.
In 2011, a study carried out by Dr Tina Bringslimark, an expert environmental phycologist has also confirmed that plants reduce the quantity of sickness leave taken per annum.
Many other studies highlight the benefits of plants at work. Thus, don’t halter to add plants to your workspace. The working environment will become more welcoming, improving not only your brand image but also it will motivate your team members to be more creative, productive and less stressed. Don’t forget to prioritize buying plants that require less attention than others if you are not a budding gardener!
3. Offer flexible working hours
Multiple studies have shown that the hours in which an employee works impacts their well-being and productivity. Specifically, the study led by Malakoff Médéric in 2017 called “Quality of Life at Work” underlines that in order to find a work life balance, 45% of employees would like more flexible working hours, 29% of workers would like working hours reduced and 27% of employees would like the option to work from home to maintain a balanced private and professional life.
Briefly, some people are more productive in the morning whilst others perform better in the afternoon or evening or even when working from home. Therefore, despite the preformation for all your team members work at the same time, try to be flexible and allow them to manage their office hours as much as possible.
4. Organise team building activities
A positive working environment is essential to the well-being of your employees. Tension and conflicts strongly harm team members productivity. Contrastingly, employee harmony facilitates a high-performing, creative and collaborative environment. Malakoff Médéric’s study also highlights that 49% of workers feel that their working environment and relationship between colleges impacts their quality of life at work.
Therefore, to improve the working environment and cohesion of your employees, regularly organise team building events. For instance, here are a few ideas for you:
- Celebrate everyone’s birthday
- Organise day trips, escape games or cooking courses
- Create an office sport team or inter office tournaments
Also, include your employees in the decision-making process of what types of activities they would like to do and involve them in organisation process!
5. Take care of the health of your employees
All companies want their employees to be healthy. A healthy diet and regular exercise are the key to good health!
At work we spend the majority of our time sat in front of a computer. To compensate for this, encourage your workers to participate in sporting activities, i.e. create partnerships with neighbouring gyms, replace the chairs in the office with yoga balls, hire a personal trainer or organise regular weekly sport sessions. In addition, sport is an excellent way to relax, remove any stress and cultivate team spirit!
To enable a healthy diet, encourage team members to take an extensive lunch break. It is essential to rest your brain, re-energise yourself and converse with your colleagues. Additionally, replace vending machines of chocolate bars, soft drinks and crisps with fruit baskets, juice and healthy snack bars.
6. Allow siestas and fun games
Who has never been bored at work? Unfortunately, in the majority of French offices the subject of a siesta is usually somewhat of a taboo. However, it’s a phycological need and it is much better for your productivity to rest than to fight tiredness.
For the well-being and performance of your employees, allow them to take short siestas of power naps of around 15 to 20 minutes during their lunch hour. Organise a room specially to serve this need with comfortable seating and dimmed lights.
Another way to improve the wellbeing and fulfilment of your employees is to put in place games. Table football, ping pong and snooker are becoming increasingly present in Start-Ups, allowing their employees to relax, clear their heads, forge bonds and enhance their creativity.
Conclusion
Dozens of ideas to improve fulfilment and wellbeing at work exist. However, some are more pressing than others and they must be part of a comprehensive wellness strategy that aims to create a less stressful, more flexible and trust-based management policy.
