Contributed post –
Knowing what to do to keep motivation at an all time high in your workplace will keep employees engaged and satisfied at work. There’s nothing worse than having a job you hate, or even a job you love but having to work in an atmosphere that just doesn’t support your growth and happiness.
Below, you’ll find some effective workplace hacks that will ensure employee motivation is always at an all time high. Take a look.
- Create A Comfortable Atmosphere
A comfortable atmosphere is a must if you want your employees to stay motivated. Natural lighting is one of the easiest things to have in the workplace if you want productivity and motivation to stay high. Artificial light is not good for health and will often make employees feel trapped.
Another way to create a nicer atmosphere is to have plants in the office. Bring the outdoors in! Plants will cheer the place right up – studies have shown just looking at them can make us a lot happier. They also purify the air!
- Allow Flexible Working Schedules For Employees
Flexible schedules create a positive atmosphere for your staff, and can help to contribute to employee motivation to no end. Flexible schedules encourage a better work/life balance, and your team will often work harder when they are at work as they feel they are being treated fairly. When employees feel like they are giving too much to work with nothing much in return, they will become demotivated and burn out easily.
- Offer Perks
Perks help to motivate your employees outside of monetary compensation. These rewards don’t need to be complicated, but they can make a huge difference to the performance of your team! Free t-shirts, mugs, pens, stationary, food, and even monetary bonuses/vouchers all count.
Things like corporate gym memberships can also be a nice perk – not only will they save your staff a little money, they will encourage them to stay active and healthy. In turn this will improve their physical and mental health, reduce sick days, and improve quality of work overall!
- Host Company Wide Events
Company wide events can give employees a great chance to get to know each other outside of the regular work environment. Creating better relationships this way will usually enable working days to go more smoothly and reduce misunderstandings. Eventually, employees may become lifelong friends, and even feel like family. Host birthday events, and other holiday based parties so you can all have fun together and let your hair down!
- Allow Employees To Decorate Their Own Space
Allowing employees to decorate their own working space can do wonders for their motivation. You may have purchased used cubicles to save some cash, but that won’t matter at all when you tell them they can add their own personal touch. Let them add plants, pictures, and other things that can help to motivate them.
- Arrange Team Building Exercises
Team building exercises can be a lot of fun and help your team to understand one another better. In turn, this can help them to understand where they are each coming from in various scenarios, keeping workplace drama and issues to a minimum. Why not try something fun like laughing yoga? There are even companies that will come and host the event in your offices!
- Encourage Regular Breaks
Working for long stretches of time without a break is not a good idea. Although they may be sat working for longer, it doesn’t actually mean that anymore work will get done. Employees can get fatigued and slow down easily if forced to work for too long. Encouraging shorter, higher intensity periods of work and then more frequent breaks will usually mean better results. Above all, you need to trust that your team will get the work done that they need to.
- Introduce Nap Pods
Nap pods may seem like you’re inviting your team to slack off while they’re supposed to be working, but again, this is an exercise in trust for you. Allowing your employees to take a 15-20 minute nap when they need one can do wonders for their work ethic, motivation, and loyalty to your company.
- Cut Down Working Hours
Cutting down on working hours may seem scary at first, but it’s important to note that your team will usually fill the time they have. The same amount of work can often be done in a shorter time frame, and more time off can be enjoyed. Why not start the weekend sooner? Workers are often less productive on Friday afternoons, so you could always start the weekend earlier to begin with.
You could give your employees the option to leave early on Fridays if they wish. Not only will this motivate your team to get everything done, they will likely stay with your company for longer!
- Allow Employees To Bring Their Pets To Work
Don’t you wish you had an office mascot or 5? Allow your employees to bring their pets to work and you’ll be spoiled for choice. Having dogs in the workplace can be a huge benefit for employees, not having to worry about leaving their furry pals at home alone. Dogs are also known to be a great stress reliever – just stroking them can have benefits. If your employees need time away from their desks, they can take their dog for a quick play or walk. Not only do your team enjoy more social support, it helps to make the work atmosphere a more friendly place. Employees who can bring their dogs into work are also less likely to go home early or arrive late.
- Have A Space Your Team Can Relax
Make sure there’s a dedicated area for relaxing in the workplace. Have a sofa, some magazine stacks, and maybe some games. Giving your team the opportunity to unwind could actually be the key to solving problems faster and enjoying less stress day to day.
How will you keep your workplace motivation at an all time high after reading this?
