Since most of us work eight or more hours a day, it’s not too large a leap to say that we spend more time at work than at any other place in our lives except perhaps our beds. We possibly spend more time with our co-workers than with our families.
So why not make the workplace as engaging and enlivening as possible?
After all, some studies suggest that making an employee’s life at work more fun actually improves his or her entire quality of life. What’s more, Jessica Pryce-Jones, author of Happiness at Work and the CEO of iOpener, has said a study she and her team conducted found that 50 percent of happier employees are actually more productive at work.
So it’s a win-win for both employer and employee.
Read below for some tips on how to improve your employees’ quality of life at work.
- Recognize good work when it happens. A simple hand-written thank you card can go a long way to making an employee’s month. Find a way to reward employees for their hard work, either with a formal (employee of the month) or informal reward program (hand out movie passes when you see someone go above and beyond), or both.
- When you supervise, don’t micro-manage. Very few people thrive in such an environment. Let people think for themselves and, within clear parameters, give them goals to meet, guidelines to follow and then leave them alone to get the job done.
- Consider challenging your employees to do things that aren’t quite in their job descriptions. Require them to learn new things, tackle projects “just beyond” their current reach. Ask workers to take a look at problems and come up with solutions, even if they’re not managers. Ask clerks to chair committees and managers to sit on those committees. Challenging your staff members helps them find strengths they didn’t know they had.
- Set goals and reward them when met. Go above board with the rewards if goals are exceeded. Challenging your workers with even daily goals helps them focus and stay productive. Knowing they’ll be rewarded in even a small, daily way, gives them something to look forward to (they’ll be engaged). Such rewards could be an extended lunch hour, being able to leave once the day’s production quota is met, and so on.
- Don’t forget food – it can be a simple, affordable and highly effective motivator! Offer free lunches (but don’t require workers to listen to boring speeches or seminars); just give them a free lunch. Doing so increases morale and it helps your employees appreciate your company a bit more. For some reason, free food raises your workers’ estimation of your company.
Looking for some great employees that you can keep engaged and happy for your Ontario-area company? Then contact the recruiters at Arrow Staffing. We can source, vet and place workers for your temporary, temp-to-hire and direct-hire opportunities. We look forward to hearing from you.