It’s no secret that happy employees help contribute to a more positive work environment. When everyone on the team is working towards the same goal with enthusiasm, productivity skyrockets and success is easier to obtain. People usually spend a lot of time at work—about forty hours a week—so if they're not enjoying their job, you’re likely to have a high turnover rate and find it difficult to keep stellar employees.
But how can you go about getting your employees all on the same page? What are the best methods for creating a positive working atmosphere? Here are three things you can do to motivate and engage with your employees.
Generate a little friendly competition.
Obviously, you never actually want to pit your employees against each other, but a little friendly competition can be very motivating. This kind of competition can be doubly effective if it also encourages employee’s overall wellness. For instance, you can have everyone download an office fitness challenge app to help them keep track of their activity while competing against their co-workers. Let the games begin!
You don’t have to be a big corporate office to partake in a company wellness challenge. There are absolutely ways to scale the event according to your company’s bandwidth. In fact, it’s been found that employees are around forty percent more likely to say they're loyal to the company they work for if they feel like they’re being provided benefits that bettered their lives. This is particularly important if you’re working for a smaller business in a competitive field. It may prevent other companies from successfully poaching your top employees.
And once the friendly competition has started, what better way to get your employees to engage than to incentivize their participation? By providing great rewards, they’ll be more motivated to try to win. Some businesses reward their employees based on participation, while others keep track of leaders on a leaderboard and reward the overall winners of competitions. This should be fun, exciting, and help people on their wellness journey. You can even do challenges based on mental wellness, like time spent meditating. Choose whatever works best for your business.
Provide the resources they need.
Understandably, you may want your employees to leave the drama of their lives at the front door when they clock in. But if you feel like the personal lives of your employees aren’t your problem, you’d be terribly mistaken. Many of the issues your workers are dealing with at home can directly influence their productivity. Think about it—the stress of a family death, problems with kids, or an ongoing divorce can interrupt sleep, increase anxiety and depression, and lead to limited financial resources, too. The thing is, it's possible to help support your employees' personal lives, without getting “in the thick of it.”
One of the best methods to do this is by providing them great health benefits, including employee assistance programs. Supporting your employees in this manner shows that you care about them as people. Access to mental and medical programs is extremely important for the health of your employees and the health of your company. By providing them with the services they actually want and need, they’ll be motivated to do good work in order to keep their jobs and benefits. It might be tempting to work with a lower-cost health benefits provider that doesn’t provide as much support for your employees, but this isn't an area to skimp on. Spend the extra money so your workers feel supported.
Actually spend time with your employees.
You’re super busy running the business. There’s no doubt about it, but you should never be too busy to spend some time with your employees on a day-to-day basis. You want to be an approachable leader. Your employees will feel motivated if you check in with them, give regular goals and constructive feedback, and make yourself available to talk about any concerns they have. They’ll feel grateful that you care and want to work harder to continue having a positive relationship with you.
