No matter what type of business you run, or how much your staff enjoys their work, you will inevitably encounter periods of low morale and motivation during the working week. These new ways to keep your staff motivated should pay big dividends in office positivity and productivity gains.
Little treats: informal Fridays or dress-up days
One small way you can make a positive impact on your office’s morale is to gauge how accustomed people are to dressing smart or casual. You can then offer a weekly informal day if there is a formal atmosphere, or a dress-up day if this sounds like something that would interest the majority of your employees.
These initiatives should never feel obligatory, so those who prefer not to dress up or down for the occasion should not feel like they have no choice but to do so, but anyone who wants to enjoy them can do so . See if this affects productivity by trying it out once: It’s likely that the optimism of those looking forward to Casual Friday will offset any negligible drop in productivity due to lower appearance standards.
Use a good professional network for the well-being of employees
Employee wellbeing is a wide-ranging topic that requires expertise and can require well-established support networks. If this is an area that concerns you, it may be worth considering outsourcing your concerns to a specialist service provider such as Lifeworks. These professional providers have a large network of advisors, coaches and other specialists who ensure that your employees receive the best possible support.
Try the Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro technique, developed by Francesco Cirillo, recommends dividing work into 25-minute blocks and taking short breaks after each session to renew focus. It may seem like no work is happening during these breaks, but in the modern office this can be adopted as a model like never before, with inventions like Slack allowing managers to check in with employees at set times every few hours to ensure The last few hours have all gone more or less according to schedule.
With more scheduling apps available than ever before, it’s possible to give employees a great deal of freedom in planning their days and it’s highly likely that you’ll see great results with this technique.
Regular practice breaks
This may sound the most disruptive and surprising of these suggestions, but it has been found that sitting for long periods of time every day is very bad for people. The recommended amount of weekly exercise for adults is 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week, plus strength exercises. Many people feel deficient in this, but it is possible to do small, energizing exercises at work.
Simple squats or stretches can seem like a challenge to do in a group office, but if you lead by example and break the stigma of staying active, you can bring health benefits to your entire team.