Employees might get too stressed out during the holidays, other days with heavy workloads, and with their personal commitments. Business owners and entrepreneurs have to do their part in helping their workers get through the bustling season while keeping their morale high.
Keep your best employees and embrace positive changes to offset unproductivity and frustrations. Here are some ways that business owners and entrepreneurs should take to boost their employees' morale and keep them happy and productive.
1. Brighten the day with food
In a survey conducted by Seamless, 60 percent of the respondents feel more appreciated and valued when they are served with meals in the office. Meanwhile, 40 percent says that eating in the office decreases their level of stress. The positive impact of serving food in the workplace is enough to consider a "free lunch Friday" or other working days in your office. Many business owners have seen significant improvement in employees’ motivation with giving one free lunch every week.
2. Acknowledge and reward your employees immediately for great performance.
Don’t delay your gratitude and appreciation to your dedicated employees who works overtime. You can give them a ‘spot bonus’ that ranges from $50- $1,000 depending on your budget and number of bonuses that you are willing to give. You should also implement ‘employee to employee’ bonuses that let your employees acknowledge each other’s great performance at work. During the holiday season, ‘peer bonuses’ can make your working team more cooperative and stronger.
3. Adopt a more flexible work schedule.
The main reason why people prefer flexible working schedule is the chance to get the work-life balance which is so difficult to have during the holiday season. A flexible work schedule is important for employees in order to have time with their families, to take care of their health, and do some exercise. You might want to reduce the burden of your employees by allowing them to take few ‘Friday offs’ before or after busy weeks or give them a chance to work at home.
4. Find ways to reduce your employees’ stress.
As you noticed, Google workplaces and other similar innovative companies offer sports facilities like basketball courts and fitness classes. These companies are trying to help their employees release stress through some refreshing recreational activities. You don’t need to bring the entire gym to your office, but you can bring some elements of these activities in your workplace. Why not invite your employees for a long walk in the park or offer a yoga class to have a break for longer days of work?
5. Company outing ideas: Try Crowd-sourcing
Can you tell me your dreary experiences duringyour company outing? Are your expected results not met? Well, the best way to resolve this is to consult your employees instead of giving the HR team the task. Ask anyone in the company for any nominations about the places, activities and other things about your company outing. Let them decide and plan the company outing to make sure you’re effort is not wasted.
6. Get away from email.
Email is definitely a source of stress and can undermine your employees’ productivity. In fact, the majority of employees in a workplace experience an increase in their heart rate and blood pressure after reading an email. There is actually a number of integrating software that can replace email for communicating such as Asana, Slack and Trello that can at least diminish the negative impact of using email.
7. Ask for feedback.
One way to create positive change in the workplace is allowing your employees to share their thoughts and ideas. For example, Google has its 'Googlegeist', a survey intended to get feedback from employees regarding various issues and important matters. Then, volunteer groups will be hired to discuss the issues and create solutions to the serious problems of the company.
8. Support strong and transparent promotion tracks.
Today, 47 percent of millennials expect to be promoted within two years of tenure ship in their companies. As the boss of the company, you need to give importance and emphasis to your promotional tracks to motivate and keep the morale of your employee. Introduce the opportunities to grow to your employees as much as possible as they work in your company.
9. Celebrate work anniversaries.
If there is an important event for employees and the company to celebrate, that would be work anniversaries. In fact, eighty-two percent of employees feel good whenever their work anniversary is recognized and valued according to a Globeforce’s survey. Talk to your staff and plan the best way to celebrate your work anniversaries. Take this as an opportunity to emphasize your mission as a company while creating a warm atmosphere at the same time.
10. Recreate team-building activities.
When it comes to effective team-building exercises, consider its capacity to transform organizational structures and create opportunities for individuals to discover and develop their own strengths. It’s not as difficult as you think. You just need to know your employees’ area of expertise and encourage them to lead voluntary workshops and activities. For instance, if some of your employees love outdoor activities, they could arrange a kayaking trip for everyone. Others who have extraordinary taste buds can introduce and teach everyone about a new recipe. Imagine how much knowledge and interaction they can contribute to your team building activity!
Keep your best employees and embrace positive changes to offset unproductivity and frustrations. Here are some ways that business owners and entrepreneurs should take to boost their employees' morale and keep them happy and productive.
1. Brighten the day with food
In a survey conducted by Seamless, 60 percent of the respondents feel more appreciated and valued when they are served with meals in the office. Meanwhile, 40 percent says that eating in the office decreases their level of stress. The positive impact of serving food in the workplace is enough to consider a "free lunch Friday" or other working days in your office. Many business owners have seen significant improvement in employees’ motivation with giving one free lunch every week.
2. Acknowledge and reward your employees immediately for great performance.
Don’t delay your gratitude and appreciation to your dedicated employees who works overtime. You can give them a ‘spot bonus’ that ranges from $50- $1,000 depending on your budget and number of bonuses that you are willing to give. You should also implement ‘employee to employee’ bonuses that let your employees acknowledge each other’s great performance at work. During the holiday season, ‘peer bonuses’ can make your working team more cooperative and stronger.
3. Adopt a more flexible work schedule.
The main reason why people prefer flexible working schedule is the chance to get the work-life balance which is so difficult to have during the holiday season. A flexible work schedule is important for employees in order to have time with their families, to take care of their health, and do some exercise. You might want to reduce the burden of your employees by allowing them to take few ‘Friday offs’ before or after busy weeks or give them a chance to work at home.
4. Find ways to reduce your employees’ stress.
As you noticed, Google workplaces and other similar innovative companies offer sports facilities like basketball courts and fitness classes. These companies are trying to help their employees release stress through some refreshing recreational activities. You don’t need to bring the entire gym to your office, but you can bring some elements of these activities in your workplace. Why not invite your employees for a long walk in the park or offer a yoga class to have a break for longer days of work?
5. Company outing ideas: Try Crowd-sourcing
Can you tell me your dreary experiences duringyour company outing? Are your expected results not met? Well, the best way to resolve this is to consult your employees instead of giving the HR team the task. Ask anyone in the company for any nominations about the places, activities and other things about your company outing. Let them decide and plan the company outing to make sure you’re effort is not wasted.
6. Get away from email.
Email is definitely a source of stress and can undermine your employees’ productivity. In fact, the majority of employees in a workplace experience an increase in their heart rate and blood pressure after reading an email. There is actually a number of integrating software that can replace email for communicating such as Asana, Slack and Trello that can at least diminish the negative impact of using email.
7. Ask for feedback.
One way to create positive change in the workplace is allowing your employees to share their thoughts and ideas. For example, Google has its 'Googlegeist', a survey intended to get feedback from employees regarding various issues and important matters. Then, volunteer groups will be hired to discuss the issues and create solutions to the serious problems of the company.
8. Support strong and transparent promotion tracks.
Today, 47 percent of millennials expect to be promoted within two years of tenure ship in their companies. As the boss of the company, you need to give importance and emphasis to your promotional tracks to motivate and keep the morale of your employee. Introduce the opportunities to grow to your employees as much as possible as they work in your company.
9. Celebrate work anniversaries.
If there is an important event for employees and the company to celebrate, that would be work anniversaries. In fact, eighty-two percent of employees feel good whenever their work anniversary is recognized and valued according to a Globeforce’s survey. Talk to your staff and plan the best way to celebrate your work anniversaries. Take this as an opportunity to emphasize your mission as a company while creating a warm atmosphere at the same time.
10. Recreate team-building activities.
When it comes to effective team-building exercises, consider its capacity to transform organizational structures and create opportunities for individuals to discover and develop their own strengths. It’s not as difficult as you think. You just need to know your employees’ area of expertise and encourage them to lead voluntary workshops and activities. For instance, if some of your employees love outdoor activities, they could arrange a kayaking trip for everyone. Others who have extraordinary taste buds can introduce and teach everyone about a new recipe. Imagine how much knowledge and interaction they can contribute to your team building activity!
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