Are you aware that a happy employee is 10% to 12% more productive? Establishing a good work environment which is favorable for wellbeing, is essential for your company. A happy employee will be less absent, more productive and will boost your company’s brand. Furthermore, your employees are the first ones to talk about your company or your brand.
There are a lot of ways to improve your collaborators’ wellbeing, this article sums up the 10 easiest and most important ways.
1) Develop a work environment matching your employees’ needs
You must consider employees as individuals and not as a group of people. Having adopted professional equipment of good quality is essential. Offices must be pleasing, the lights, the desks, the chairs, the decoration and the whole physical work environment should be considered. Owning artwork is a good thing as well because it personalizes the space, it is pleasing to the eye and it contributes to the culture of the business.
2) Give breaks to your employees
Taking breaks is important for productivity. People can’t work for hours in a row while staying efficient all the time. Having breaks during work time allows for socializing, either with a cigarette or a coffee, and it makes your team get to know one another so it enhances the team spirit. 70% of employees consider that a coffee break improves their motivation.
3) Set up a space dedicated to wellbeing and relaxing
Big companies always have relaxing spaces, but as an SMB, a lot of managers consider it is not a necessity but they are wrong. Having a space dedicated to breaks, relaxing and chilling proves to your employees that you care about their wellbeing Furthermore, they will spend more time bonding and sharing good moments with their colleagues. Get good equipment for your relaxing space, such as coffee machines, water fountain, couches, tables and so on.
4) Improve team spirit and feeling of belonging
We have already talked about team spirit in the previous steps, indeed, this one is important since your employees don’t work alone. Encourage your employees to listen to each other, to support each other, to have good relationships with one another. Social links are an important part of life for your employees. Having teams that get along makes the teamwork enhanced, so it’s necessary.
Having a feeling of belonging to the company is an important stake to take into consideration since your employees spend an average of 30% of the time they are awake at work. An employee must feel like they are part of a project, of a purpose. They must feel involved in the success of the company because if so, they are going to be more productive. To do so, don’t hesitate to set up Team Building (we are going to talk about it later in the 8th step), or/and to develop the services of your works council and of course to consider your employees.
5) Encouragements and recognition
Any human being needs recognition, either it be professionally or personally. Your employees must feel they exist, they are precious, and their work is appreciated. Thanking your employees is the first thing to do. You can also share the successes of your company to prove them that their work is useful and accomplishes great things. Give them more responsibilities, make them evolve in terms of salary and functions.
6) Communicate!
Most of the times, within organizations, orders come from the top and execution comes from the bottom. A unilateral communication puts barriers between the different echelons and can lead to frustration. Take everyone’s ideas into consideration, listen to your collaborators, validate? them. Having an internal newsletter or a company newspaper can be useful to inform your employees about your company’s life.
7) Create strong values your employees can identify to
Having internal values allows the improvement of the identity of your company.,. Quality, innovation, proximity, tradition, integrity… These are good examples of values you can apply.
8) Team Building
Team building is very useful because it strengthens social links, creating a team spirit. Sharing pleasing moments with colleagues makes the employees be able to work harmoniously in a team. It will also bolster the feeling of belonging, wellbeing and professional and personal relationships. There are a lot of options you can consider when setting up Team Building Examples can range from sports activities, creative workshops, company trips, Escape Games and so on. If you lack the budget, there are also activities you can do for free such as picnics, lunches where everyone brings a specialty and shares, a football game in a park etc.
9) Don’t make your collaborators work too much
50% of employees say they work more than 9 hours a day. However, the more people work, the less efficient they are. They also feel their professional life takes over their personal life. Don’t think about quantity, think about quality. Don’t forget to pay for extra hours, so the work of everyone is always rewarded.
10) Take pieces of advice from the SocioMetric system
Researchers from MIT have worked on the Sociometric system which uses sensorial identification badges and analytics tools to gather behavioral data in order to identify what makes employees productive or not.
This technique measures the engagement and acceptation degree. Sociometric has shown that the productivity rising doesn’t make the turnover go up. When researchers saw a rise of 15 to 20% of productivity, they also measured a decrease of the turnover of 4 to 12%.
Sociometric demonstrated that the people who eat in large groups during lunch breaks tend to be more productive and less stressed. Meals between colleagues lead to networking, socialization and team spirit enhancement, so these results are not surprising.
Now you have everything you need to improve wellbeing within your company and make your employees more productive. Don’t hesitate to try Wimi, free of charge, for 14 days by clicking here. Our solution can also help your company’s productivity because it gathers all necessary tools for effective and collaborative teamwork, moreover it makes the communication clearer and more transparent.
You’re interested by this subject? Check out our sources for more information:
When productivity and wellbeing rhymes
4 keys for more happiness in the office
