When we dream of setting up our own company and having our own office, we envision happy and cheerful people coming into work ready to take on the day. Unfortunately, sometimes it’s more of drag yourself to your seat and gets on with the day kind of vibe.
This is why you will want to make the working situation better for your employees and help keep them motivated. Having a happy and motivated staff will increase productivity, the quality of work they do, and their mindset towards work as a whole. No one wants unhappy staff, so let us look at how we can avoid it.
Making Working Life Better For Your Staff
Here are a few ways you can increase the happiness and enjoyment of your staff while still keeping your workplace professional.
A Quality Space to Get Away
When people are sat at a desk all day it can be quite mentally draining especially if they have a lot of work to do or deadlines they need to meet.
Giving them a space for their breaks which is more than just a table and chairs can make a difference and help them recharge on their break better to take on the afternoon and not have the dreaded afternoon slump.
Add in a TV, some bean bags, a coffee machine with some pods available for the staff. As well as a little book nook where they can sit down and read if they want to.
Another great addition to a break room is a game where they can play something like a pool, an ice hockey table, or simply have some adult-focused board games on the side.
Computers that Run Smoothly
Nothing is more frustrating when you’re in the zone getting on with work and the computer crashes or freezes and gets in the way of you getting your work done. Especially if you end up losing hours’ worth of work it can be very disheartening and put you off for the rest of the day.
By giving your employees top quality tech to do their job well it can make their day run a lot smoother. You can always look to rent a Mac for them as they are top quality computers and laptops and are a perfect fit for business use.
It can also make things a lot easier if they have an apple phone as their company phone as well as they can be all connected and are great for the protection of data.
Unsure what type of Mac is best for your business? Specialists will be able to recommend for you based on your usage and staff.
Monthly Reward Perks
Employees generally work hard all the time and sometimes it means a lot with a simple gesture or thank you to show them they are appreciated. It doesn’t have to cost a lot but a simple monthly perk can cheer them right up.
It could be a cupcake for them all or if it is near Easter, get everyone an easter egg. These little gestures show you care and they are a valued member of the company which will encourage them to keep working hard and do what they can to help you and your company succeed.
Clear Career Progression Paths
Depending on your company and industry you will want to look at setting up clear pathways on the progression that the staff can work towards. Not everyone will want to progress and will be just carrying on what they are doing.
However, a lot of people have a set plan for their life and how they want their career to pan out. By having these in place it can be something they are constantly working towards, completing tasks and providing evidence of how they have gone above and beyond and met your expectations.
Some people can leave jobs if they think they can no longer move forward with it. It would be a great aspect of monthly catch up with their line managers and annual reviews, to see where they are, how far they have gone, and how far they have to go to reach their end goal.
Showing your staff this kind of support and opportunities for growth will keep them very happy in their work life.
Keep Things Fun in the Office
You still need to get work done but it can be made fun around work for certain occasions. If it is someone’s birthday, have a kitty that people contribute to for a cake and card. Celebrate and decorate for holidays like Christmas, Valentine’s, and anything else that is normally celebrated.
You can also have special charity weeks where you show off your company’s philanthropic side. Raising money for a worthy cause while also having fun with bake sales, fun runs, and dressing up can lift spirits in the office and change things up as well as giving your company an amazing reputation with all the money raised for charities. Even better if they are local where you can see the difference made with the money raised.
Encourage and Welcome Ideas and Feedback
Having an open conversation with your employees can do wonders for your company. A lot of people will have feedback, suggestions, and ways of improving things. Especially within the area they work in.
Sometimes you aren’t aware of certain job challenges as you don’t experience it and some staff will just struggle and get on with it. However, by offering an open communication link whether that be in the form of a meeting or anonymous staff survey you can gain a whole new perspective on ways to improve.
It can end up in making tasks simpler, more efficient and also keeping the staff productive and that they are being heard. Not everything will be doable or some of them may be more difficult but worth looking into.
By investigating, changing what you can, and updating the staff on what changes have come out of this open communication will encourage more to raise, feedback, and suggest in the future.
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