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Key Considerations for Improving Employee Retention
Turnover Reconstruction Begins with Employee Appreciation
It’s no mystery that a valued employee is more productive in their workplace. People don’t stick around and make plans for their future that involve major levels of stress. Employee turnover saw an all-time high in 2015 and has only remained a persistent issue today, according to an SHRM/Globoforce survey.
Technology and social media are inescapable factors of society that have influenced immediate gratification, heightened expectation, and quick replacement. With access to endless information, training, and networking, most employees aren’t just looking for whatever 9 to 5 they can find - they’re looking for something that is an extension of their “personal brand”.
But the main reason people are walking out the door? Lack of recognition from their managers, peers, and employers. People want to be noticed and know that their work makes a difference and according to a TINYpulse study done on over 4,500 employees, 79% of employees feel undervalued.
The way individuals perceive and carry themselves greatly affects the way others react to them, and when a co-worker feels valued, their peers are more likely to treat them accordingly. Being valued reaffirms the psychological human need for purpose. Contrary to the typical idea of “competition”, employees actually want to see one another succeed. If a manager never stops to recognize their employees, an obvious separation is created between ranks. Negative energy spreads from under-appreciation, and you can bet people will start quitting left, right, and center. That being said, there is a fine line between recognition and becoming a pushover. At the end of the day, it is a job. What we’re going for is the old Golden Rule: “treat others as you would like to be treated” - it’s common human decency.
The Benefits of Recognition and Why Employee Retention is Important
The most obvious and immediate reason to emphasize employee retention is saving company money. Training takes managers away from their regular tasks, advertising drains funds, and employee’s special skills leave with them. On average, a company will spend approximately 20% of the original employee salary to replace them. Good staff morale is based on employee relationships and, unfortunately, meaningful relationships aren’t possible when longevity is lacking. The longer an employee is around, the better they become at their job, and the more productivity spikes. Companies that maintain a reputation of good morale and low turnover tend to appeal to star talent, which leaves more options for recruiting the employees you want.
Here are some results HR professionals have seen with values-based recognition programs:
- 68% saw a positive impact
- 86% found an increase in happiness in their employees
- 84% saw improved workplace relationships
- 90% saw a boost in employee engagement
What are Some Retention Strategies That Can Be Implemented to Minimize Employee Turnover?
Salary, compensation, and benefits
Turnover is rarely about salary, but it’s a no-brainer that the pay you are offering should be competitive. Show your appreciation with bonuses and follow through with compensation promises. If you are a smaller company that is unable to invest a competitive salary in employees with specific and highly experienced skills, try compensating in other ways. Make offers that help increase work/life balance for the employee, or offer help to reduce busy work.
Hire smart
Hire the right person from the start and avoid misrepresenting the position. If someone is overqualified but looking to move up, consider them a great asset and one that will likely stick around. Unfortunately, many employees are enticed into positions by receiving the sugar-coated version of the job. In cases like this, once the initial excitement wears off, the result will very likely be a short stay. Long term employees become brand ambassadors for referrals and avoid job description confusion. This will innately recruit the right people for your company and build a team that feels equally invested in the brand you are cultivating.
Training
Training should be a major priority and orientation should cover more than just the basics. Introduce the employee to the company history and culture to help them thrive and see the opportunities for growth. Organize an onboarding period ranging between a few weeks to a few months so the employee has time to get settled. Thorough training will ensure the employee understands the clear requirements of their position.
Mentoring, coaching, and feedback
A mentoring program can help employees develop special skills, and a one-on-one with a more experienced employee offers a safe environment to build confidence for growth. In turn, this will open opportunities within the company for the employee and motivate them to move forward.
Positive culture
Respect, trust, honesty, teamwork, and striving for excellence, are among the key values to a successful work environment. Encourage employees to remain curious. By asking questions about procedures and problem solving, they are taking ownership and involving themselves in the larger picture. This is not meant to encourage criticism, but instead to find the best way to get things done. They should be equally encouraged to embrace failure, as failing is the only true way to grow. This helps employees to input their ideas or take charge, and if it doesn’t work; pivot and redirect.
Conversely, employees should be encouraged to show appreciation amongst colleagues when an accomplishment is achieved. Employees should feel welcome to acknowledge each other's successes informally or through a recognition program. This helps to foster strong morale and a positive workplace culture through a meaningful connection.
Strong communication
The employee needs to know their employer is really listening to their questions, concerns, or input. Passing information along through too many levels may make your employees feel like their ideas have been lost in a deep, dark hole of protocol. Ensuring timely and thorough communication maintains credibility, eases tension within the ranks, and increases access to shared information from everyone within the company.
Work-life balance
Overwork, stress, and burnout are all things you want to avoid. Pay attention to your employees and cater to their specific needs. An employee with children will have different needs than an employee who never clocks out. Use trust to blend personal life with business life. If it’s possible to let an employee work from home, where they are more productive, focused, and engaged, why not let them?
Same goes for compressed work weeks or non-conventional hours. Carefully consider if they are the type to hit the deadlines, and make a decision that benefits both the employee and the company. A good employer encourages having a life outside of work.Working is such a large portion of our lives we have become desensitized to many aspects of it. Since you have to make an income anyway, why not do it somewhere that makes you feel valued?
Improve retention by strengthening workplace culture with positive interactions - book your free trial with Qarrot!
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Can gamification motivate your employees?
It’s pretty safe to say that happy people function better. Therefore, having happy employees means more productive and motivated employees. Many people think they’re multitasking to maximize their efficiency in a workday. In reality, what is perceived as “multitasking” is actually redirecting focus extremely quickly, causing the inevitable; lack of motivation and eventual exhaustion. Motivation is neuroscience, and dopamine plays the largest part in the most “important reward pathway in the brain.” Not only is dopamine commonly associated with pleasure, but it is actually spiked when motivation and reward are involved. Scientifically speaking, your brain can only focus on one task at a time, and coincidentally, the easiest way to attain this productivity spike is by setting incremental goals. Gamification is an easy solution to simplify tasks, in turn creating efficiency and productivity in the workplace.
Why games?
What is it about Pokemon Go, Overwatch, and Call of Duty that is so addicting? Extremely successful video games are created by having obstacles that are just challenging enough for the player to keep coming back for more, but not so challenging that they eventually give up. What is every gamer chasing? A reward. Games connect to the top three psychological aspects for motivation: recognition, competition, and reward. Companies such as Microsoft, Cisco, and Treehouse, amongst many others, have all used gamification to increase business productivity through employee engagement. Gamification is about using the psychology of gaming to motivate your employees.
This is not meant to turn a work task into a game, but instead create a reward-based system that encourages healthy competition. Most employees want to be recognized for their contributions and know that what they do within the company really does matter. Using the many gamification tools such as badges, leaderboards, challenges, levels, and point systems, employees become motivated to gain recognition for their work. This gives the employee a sense of control as the cued micro-tasks help them to perceive their capability. This encourages the inherent competitive drive, that is within us all, to be brought forward, leading to the overall employee and company growth.
Does it really work, or is it simply a trend?
It is possible that gamification is both - a trend that actually works. Besides employee engagement, gamification promotes many positive outcomes:
- Real-time feedback, allowing the employee to see where they are doing well and track smaller or forgotten tasks.
- Elimination of the fear of favoritism by showing the employee where they are excelling or falling short in comparison to others.
- Objectivity
- Reduced staff turnover
- Improved productivity, which in turn improves business outcomes.
- Happier employees, happier customers. Gamification can simply make work just a little more fun!
90 % of employees are more productive when gamification is implemented. But how do you get started?
- Identify what goals need to be achieved within your business and why. How can you get there? Work backward to ensure you don’t miss any steps.
- Determine what changes need to be made in employee behavior and skill to make this happen? What are your employees expected to achieve when using this app?
- Clarify, do your employees understand the purpose of gamification and how it can help? This will ensure that the application will be used once it’s implemented.
- Design, take time to create an application around the users/employees experiences - and make sure it’s fun! Need a little boost? Book a demo with us for some fun, easy, and effective employee engagement tips.
- Personalize the game to your employees and their workflow - make changes according to their needs and involve them in the creation process.
That being said, gamification can present some major limitations if not implemented appropriately. Many careers do not have quantifiable performance tasks, which are trickier to track in the gamification world. A gamification application can easily fail if it is designed poorly or fails to possess meaning to the employee. Even if you have the perfect app, if an employee isn’t a good fit or a negative office culture looms in the air, gamification may just make the employees even more unhappy, viewing it as one more task to live up to. Finding the right balance is crucial for employees to avoid feeling constantly “on” and competitive, especially with the transparency of the stats available to everyone in the office. In the wrong context, this can leave your employees feeling violated, controlled, and eventually burned out from the stress of staying ahead.
If you really take the time to design your app to meet your employee needs, there are endless possibilities for its use in engagement. Whether your employee is working in-office or remotely, the mobility of gamification can be easily applied to jobs with trackable tasks like measuring sales made, clients acquired, and complaints cleared. But everyone can take a training tip from the gamification app that SAP tech enterprise created. They created a virtual world called Roadwarrior, in which the employees can interact with simulated clients and close sales. They gain points and badges for correct answers and successful deals. Not only did this virtual leaderboard provide them with higher levels to unlock, as well as in-office recognition, but it also made their real-world interactions much more efficient and successful. Knowing your employees can help you keep them happy - and what a better way than to have a little fun!
Discover how your organization can benefit from peer-to-peer recognition - book a demo with Qarrot today!
Sources
- Idonethis.com - The Science of Motivation
- NPR.org - Think You're Multi-Tasking? Think Again
- Psychguides.com - Video Game Addiction Symptoms Causes & Effects
- Raccoongang.com - Examples of Gamification in the Workplace
- Forbes.com - How to Drive Employee Engagement with Workplace Gamification
- Medium.com - How Gamification in the Workplace Impacts Employee Productivity
- Vimeo.com - Roadwarrior
Open office design: do or don't?
Businesses around the world are reshaping their office culture - literally. Open office spaces are featured in big name companies like Google and Facebook, but are the benefits really worth overhauling your workplace?
We can’t deny it, there are certainly some major benefits to having an open office space.
Boost interaction and collaboration
First and foremost, collaboration and communication between departments and staff are reportedly guaranteed to improve. With little to no barriers between you and the person next to you, it would seem easier than ever to stay in touch with the projects of coworkers and throw ideas back and forth.
Managers also found that by stationing their desks in high-traffic areas, staff felt more comfortable informally stopping to speak with their superiors. This is a two-handed win: management have more insight into their staff’s progress and problems and employees feel more invested in their projects, the company’s overall culture, and mission. The lack of perceived boundaries has been reported by psychologist Matthew Davis to giving employees a more new-age, collaborative perception of the company, inspiring creativity and innovation. ¹
On the other hand, a concern of these open spaces is whether they negatively impact overall productivity - all that talking perhaps equals not enough work? A survey report by The Office Group (TOG) revealed that about 80% of employees feel more productive in co-working spaces than in isolated offices. Further statistics from the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine state that workers are significantly less stressed and more active in open space offices than their cubicle-locked counterparts.
Millennial-dominated companies can often be found operating within open office plans, but this has more to do with the company values than growing up in a hyper-connected world.² Now, an estimated 70% of U.S. offices have open space layouts.³ If teamwork and communication are areas you are looking to improve or are ideals the company values, it may be something to give a shot!
Increased stress and interruptions
Before we put the official stamp of approval on open office plans, there is some incriminating evidence to note.
Studies on open office plans are relatively new, but there are enough contradicting outcomes that it is important to consider the potential downsides. Harvard researchers actually found that people who work in open offices are less likely than cubicle dwellers to collaborate or interact with their colleagues.
Another point raised recognizes the individual work rhythms of employees: When one employee takes their break and wants to socialize, another employee may be in the midst of their most productive time of the day. Noise is an incredibly potent influencer on productivity, and there is proof that as little of three hours of open-office noise can increase adrenaline levels, raising stress levels in employees.
With conflicting evidence, deciding whether an open or closed office space becomes a bit more difficult. Perhaps the deciding factor comes down to the company persona. The physical arrangement of your office projects a certain vibe: what do you want the tone of your business and its offices to be?
Workplace plays a major role in setting the right tone for guests in your office as well as employees, who have their own perception of the brand reinforced by the environment they operate in. Open concept offices are known for feeling inclusive, more informal, and let in more light, which—as a bonus—contributes to general well-being. If your company image is fun, approachable, and ‘young,’ open offices certainly portray that persona.
When in doubt, test it out!
If all that stands in your way is rearranging some furniture, a trial period to monitor productivity and employee happiness may be a huge payoff for only a little work.
Keep your team connected and engaged with Qarrot - book your free demo now!
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Is a 4 day work week the secret to productivity
For 5 days of the week, many of us push our attention spans and cognitive functioning to the limit. We hold on by a thread, driving through our work hours until the weekend brings us a chance to briefly recover.
This lifestyle has not coined the name, “The 9-5 Grind” for no reason: Employees feel the imbalance. For some, work can be a haven, and putting in extra hours on top of a full-time schedule is actually energizing. But, for those who need 8 hours of sleep and derive their relaxation from non-work related activities, the hustle takes a toll.
Regular overworking builds up stress, which can bring about a myriad of health concerns including restless sleep, depression, heavy drinking, diabetes, impaired memory, and heart disease. These consequences are obviously unpleasant for anyone, but the businesses employing depleted employees will see overwork manifested as absenteeism, high turnover rates, rising health insurance costs and a negatively impacted bottom line.
Wait, there is more.
Jobs which require interpersonal communication, judgment calls and the ability to manage one’s own emotional reactions are particularly impacted by overworking.¹ Unfortunately, those skills are all fundamental in most workplaces today. What happens when we work ourselves to exhaustion? Studies indicate that when we’re low on energy, we are prone to negatively interpret those around us and react in a combative manner. This means that beyond individual health and company ROI, overworking disturbs workplace relationships and culture.
North American businesses, in particular, should concern themselves with the recent studies done on five-day work weeks; With 49% of US staff working over 40 hours a week, Americans work more than any other developed country (an average 47 hours a week) with Canada not far behind them.²Although heavily ingrained in work culture, the five-day work week is finally being questioned. Since its inception, the 9-5 has been socially accepted, but as technology allows employees to work in new ways, employers are adapting to fit the individual needs of their staff.³ The big question: Is it possible to be just as productive with less time in the office?
Improved Work-Life Balance
Rapid advancements in technology have altered the work field; employees are only ever a click away from their office emails and chat platforms, meaning work follows everywhere cell reception can be found. It is harder than ever to disengage from work and work-life balance is suffering as a result. Our brains are not programmed to work efficiently when stress and exhaustion press down.
In a trial at the University of Auckland, researchers found that stress levels decreased from 45 percent to 38 percent in a four-day week while work-life balance improved by 24 percent.⁴ These kinds of results are not only seen in tests: Jason Fried, CEO of Basecamp, implements four-day work weeks for half of the year, noting that, “Better work gets done in four days than in five.” ⁵
When employees feel their non-stop laboring is a choice rather than an expectation, they are more likely to be engaged and passionate about their work.⁶ Four-day weeks enable employees to disengage, reset, and ultimately find their work more stimulating upon return to the office.
Improved Engagement
A study conducted by a New Zealand business confirmed a 4-day work week is actually more productive than a 5-day work week. During the course of the trial, not only was full-time job performance across the company maintained in a four-day work week, but some teams even saw an increase. Engagement levels across areas such as leadership, commitment, stimulation, and empowerment were reportedly higher across the company, as team members needed to identify areas where time was being wasted and work smarter.⁷
Again, in a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, the same relationship between overworking and productivity was found; Those who worked 55 hours per week performed more poorly on some mental tasks than those who worked 40 hours per week.
When one first sets out as a professional, working evenings and weekends demonstrates commitment and sets you apart from the herd; but this is unsustainable! The social acceptability of overworking is the result of ingrained behaviours, which unfortunately detract from productivity.
Advice from businesses that have acted on these findings may help guide you in establishing a work-week structure that fits your company. Research from the Australian National University (ANU) shows the work limit for a healthy life should be set at 39 hours a week instead of the 48-hour limit set internationally- 80 years ago. With technology, telecommuting, and automation, the tools to develop new work systems are more accessible than ever.
Executive Director of The Workforce Institute at Kronos, Joyce Maroney suggests that the answer is not in a longer work week, but rather, "Organizations must help their people eliminate distractions, inefficiencies and administrative work to enable them to work at full capacity." Perhaps the answer really is to end 40 hour work weeks and analyze internal obstacles which can be as “productivity-killing as smoking pot or losing sleep.”
Replace administrative clutter with streamline automation - learn how Qarrot can benefit your team!
Failure, your employee's biggest fear?
What is the barrier between employees and untapped creativity? Could it be the fear of failure?
Anxiety is a serious deterrent for anyone; few things are more powerful than the thought of getting something wrong and facing the inevitable embarrassment and consequences that will swoop down on us after.
Many employers don’t realize how significant a barrier the fear of failure is towards achieving employee engagement.
In 2017, the World Economic Forum presented a study which revealed the brain’s unprecedented growth not through repetition, but through failure. A whopping 30% increase in employee confidence was realized just through employers adjusting the workplace mentality towards mistakes.
In other words, failure is the gateway to innovation and there are a few reasons why.
Overcoming Failure At Work Teaches Work Ethic
When we experience failure, we examine the path that led us to our payoff and visualize the changes we want to apply in the future. Introspection engages the subconscious and conscious parts of our brain, deepening our focus and intention. By framing failure as an acceptable outcome, you ensure these meditations are reinforcing positive thinking and optimism. 1
That same 2017 study also pointed out a direct relationship between optimistic thinking and personal confidence; those who had the former, inevitably demonstrated an ability to “think outside the box and overcome workplace challenges.” 2
"Our data supports the idea that confidence impacts workers' objectives and perceived success... Our results are consistent with a confidence cycle, whereby confidence and success create a positive feedback loop."
Something Innovative This Way Comes
Some of the most recognizable names in the retail market are products born from accidents. We know it doesn’t always work this way, but whoever rode a bike for the first time without falling a few times?Creativity is not a science: No one can say, “this + this = brilliant idea!”However, as an employer, you are in control of the environment in which your potential creative minds operate. Your work culture can either support creativity or hinder it and the way to achieve the former is by encouraging new ideas, no matter how ridiculous.Plan group brainstorming sessions where employees can pitch their ideas or send out an open invitation for feedback on a new project that the company is taking on. You don’t have to run with every idea that comes your way, but you may be inspired by what you hear. Ideas breed more ideas, which in turn - you guessed it - bring on more ideas.
The Time Has Come: Encourage Mistakes
The automatic psychological and physical response to a mistake is not a positive one. If your workplace culture openly encourages mistakes and communicates that mentality to every member of staff, it is possible to change this reaction amongst your employees.Drive your business forward with a team of risk-takers, whose passion and ingenuity knows no bounds. All you have to do is tell them it’s okay to be less than perfect because, in fact, you want them to be anything but.
Discover how peer-to-peer recognition can foster a positive work environment - book your free Qarrot demo today!
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How to balance workplace culture and employee productivity
This year, Sky Bet CEO Richard Flint was rated the number one CEO in the UK by the job rating site Glassdoor. Glassdoor’s reviews come from employees, making this award very meaningful and its recipient, a leader businesses around the world ought to take note of.
What is Flint doing that resonates so strongly with his staff? According to him, keeping work culture casual has opened up an invaluable dialogue between all levels of staff.
The managerial approach Flint takes to maximize employee engagement is actively creating an informal and collegiate environment.¹
“Be nice, friendly, and approachable […] and you’ll get the best out of your employees every single time...The best way to find out what’s really going on is to talk to people outside of the formal environment. In a formal meeting, people always want to tell you everything is really good.” -Richard Kent
Operating with a less formal office environment is something more and more businesses are practicing, and it’s not just startups. From open-concept offices to employees working from home, flexible work structures seem to be becoming the new norm.
But where should the line be drawn? At what point does a casual work culture impede employee productivity?
Here are a couple of guidelines to keep in mind
Constant communication can kill employee productivity
Office chat platforms are incredibly effective tools for keeping staff connected. Different departments and team members can instantly get updates from one another and keep projects moving forward without having to call formal meetings.
The issue is that those message notifications are not always arriving at the ideal time. In the spirit of open communication and in the wake of flexible work hours, employees at all levels are making themselves available much of the time - even outside of regular hours. When chat conversations become relentless, all-day affairs, employee focus and productivity take a hit from repeated interruptions.
Accordingly, management should be aware that employees crave a bit of structure for their chat rooms. A recent survey showed that as much as 81 percent of staff expressed an interest in having guidelines around communication apps. Often, a simple acknowledgment that it is okay to set your status as Do Not Disturb will alleviate any guilt from saying “I’m unavailable” and give your workforce uninterrupted time to focus.
Employee engagement for staff working from home
There are a lot of benefits to working from home - no time or money wasted on transit and a comfortable, quiet work environment to name a few. It’s no surprise that many employees are increasingly negotiating this flexibility into their employment agreements.
With this freedom comes more responsibility. Managers or supervisors need to regularly check in and maintain a connection with those staff working from home in order to prevent employee disengagement.
These meetings don’t have to be formal—you may decide to do check-ins through chat tools, email, or even over coffee—that’s Richard Kent’s preferred approach.
Whatever approach you decide on, these status updates should include general conversation to connect with the employee and most importantly, be done on a weekly basis. By keeping your employees informed on the going-on’s of the office, you reinforce the message that they are still a part of the team and their work matters to the company.²
Concrete boundaries are key
Don’t be afraid to relax your company culture and try out a more informal approach. Trading-in rigid guidelines for a more collaborative, horizontal business structure has proven to work wonders for many organizations.
The employee engagement success of these relaxed atmospheres is dependent on having an awareness of areas where a little can turn into too much. Knowing and managing counterproductive practices that can emerge from an open culture requires an understanding of employee work styles. The more you know about how your staff like to work, the more accurately you can shape a culture that will benefit them.
An “informal and open” work culture is not all about open-space offices. Employees want a work culture that allows them to express their true selves, inspire and be inspired by their teammates, and lets them walk away at the end of the day feeling connected to the success of the business.
Here at Qarrot, we know that communication is key - learn how we can keep your whole team in the loop!
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How taking lunch feeds employee productivity
Why do 27% of North Americans forfeit their lunch break?
The answer is not that employees are not given one, but rather that they electively choose to take a shorter lunch or work through it completely. By law, all North American companies are required to allot a lunchtime break for their employees, but only one-third of them are taking this opportunity to recharge. Working through lunch, staying at your desk browsing the Internet, or cutting your break short to get back to work sooner all have a direct correlation to lower engagement and productivity!We feel the effects of working relentlessly with no breaks as fatigue, increased stress, and difficulty focusing. Consider this: ten million working days a year are lost due to work-related stress.
In 2015, only 1 in 5 office employees reported taking an actual lunch away from their desk¹. A workforce that is suffering from these symptoms is undoubtedly going to be less productive.If the point of taking a lunch break is to reset and come back to work more focused, we should all be taking full advantage.
Surveys have found that the top reasons expressed by employees for not taking advantage of lunch breaks are:
- Having too much work
- Stress
- Workplace culture
- Wanting to appear hard-working to management
In the moment, choosing to continue working seems more productive: we don’t lose our train of thought and the additional work time makes us feel we’re completing our tasks more quickly. Unfortunately, this is an oversight. We don’t see the long-term and more intrinsic effects of this choice.
Kimberly Lesbach, a management professor at UC-Davis specializing in psychology of the workplace, noted that “never taking a break from very careful thought-work actually reduces your ability to be creative².” It’s not just creativity that is affected; psychologist Dr. Janet Scarborough Civitelli says that overall marginal returns are reduced when our brains are required to exert continuous pressure during long shifts. Walking in a quiet park, going for a lunch-time workout or reading a book - anything to divert your mind from its point of focus for 8 hours a day will noticeably increase your ability to engage back in the office.
The recommended approach to decreasing sick days as an employer is to encourage a healthy lifestyle. This means: A higher percentage of employees utilizing their lunch break equals a lower percentage of disengagement and sick days. While implementing breaks throughout the day grants the opportunity to reset one’s mind, encouraging staff to take advantage of their lunch will have the same effect and more.
Time to leave the office and exercise, have a nutritious lunch, or possibly run some errands effectively minimizes stress, increases cognitive function, and just plain makes your staff happy!
As the employer, there are a few different approaches to increasing your workforce lunch-time takers.
First, lead by example. If employees see you taking a full lunch break, exercising, or meditating, the will likely feel more comfortable doing the same.
Second, actively vocalize to your staff that it is encouraged to take their lunch breaks and do whatever they feel will help them relax and reset. You could even provide healthy snacks or reading materials to entice employees away from their digital screens.
Lastly, ensure that your company culture is pro-breaks. Taking 20-minute breaks to practice meditation or mindfulness - even just from your seat - is a proven way to help relax and focus. Staff should take a few minutes to get up, stretch, have a glass of water or a cup of tea a few times a day. This isn’t wasted time, this is invested time.
Book a demo with Qarrot to learn how recognition can boost productivity (without sacrificing your lunch break!)
Resources
- Peoplematters - How Infeedo is Utilizing AI to Interpret Employees Emotions
- Realbusiness.co - The Importance for Staff to Take Lunch Breaks
- Lifehack.org - The Importance of Breaks at Work
- Psychologytoday.com - Why and How You Should Take Breaks at Work
- Smallbusiness.chron.com - The Importance of Employee Breaks
Incentive programs 101
Thinking about an incentive program for your employees but not sure where to start?
Or, perhaps you’re not sure how to measure the program once it’s launched.
Both are legitimate questions.
Maybe you have seen some attractive statistics on incentive programs and are excited about the potential for your organization’s ROI, but need some clarification on what you are about to get yourself into. So, let’s jump into what exactly this thing called an employee incentive program is and how you can measure its effect within your organization.
Incentive programs arose as a response to common business concerns such as employee absenteeism, dropping productivity levels, and high turnover rates. These programs use positive reinforcement to convey company appreciation, comprehensively influencing company culture, employee engagement, and the staff behaviours your company values most. A critical factor in the success of an incentive program is that all recognition criteria is unambiguous and built on measurable actions or achievements. That said, the program’s malleability means no two companies must have a program that is alike.
Although their end-game intention is the same, incentive programs are flexible. While rewards programs use gifts that come at a cost to the business, recognition programs are rooted in psychological approaches such as public acknowledgment or an employee of the month board. Both approaches can extend beyond individual performance criteria to include team or department outputs, adding an additional level of specification. The customizability of your program ensures that the specific needs of your organization are directly targeted and leave room for adjustments as needed throughout the program’s life-cycle.
We talk a lot about the benefits of incentive programs, but as a business owner or company executive, you are rightfully concerned with whether you can quantify the results. The short answer to whether these programs are quantifiable is ‘yes’!When it comes to measuring the cost of your program and its benefits, the more data you have the better. Measuring your employee rewards and recognition will either validate the program’s effectiveness, reception, and profitability or address ineffective areas for revaluation. You should also be able to determine whether employees feel valued specifically from the program and the per-employee cost of the benefits.
The basic methodology for evaluating your program’s ROI is as follows:
- Decide what metrics you’ll evaluate—these should be based on your program’s goals. For example, if your goal is employee retention, then determine your current retention / turnover rates and the associated costs. This will be act as your baseline for evaluating future improvements. For metrics such as employee engagement, you may need to complete a pulse survey before launching your program.
- Determine your annual costs. Calculate the cost of rewards given to employees separately from those related to program. Add the total amounts expended for cash awards, incentives, bonuses and other payments and divide that figure by the number of employees to determine the per-employee cost for your company's employee rewards and recognition. For example, if your company awarded 10 employees each an annual bonus for $2,500 and your employee base consists of 150 full-time employees, the average cost budgeted for rewards is $25,000 divided by 150, which equals approximately $166 per employee.¹
- At the time intervals appropriate for the metrics you are measuring, compare any improvements to your baseline. Have your costs of employee turnover gone down? If so, by how much? Now divide this improvement by the cost of incentives awarded over this period to get your ROI.
Remember to regularly evaluate your program and stay open to shifting things around. At the end of the day, you are aiming to make your staff feel more appreciated and motivated, so there will always be human factors to be addressed as you go.
Looking to spruce up your existing incentive program? Qarrot can help you with that!
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How to keep employees over the age of 35 happy
In our twenties, we jump into the workplace with the ambition to realize our career aspirations and an excitement for professional work environments. When we think of our lives twenty years down the road, we often think of ourselves as having achieved our goals and despite a few grey hairs and wrinkles, we imagine ourselves happy.
Why is this so often not the case?
A recent study found that one in six workers between the ages 35 and 55 are unhappy, more than double the number for those under 35. While the number of “happy” workers between the ages of 18 and 34 (a whopping 92%) is something to celebrate, the high rate of discontent amongst older workers is scary.
For those outside of this bracket, aged 55 and above, things are not much better statistically. Nearly a third of people over 55 don’t feel appreciated, while 16% say they don’t have friends at work.
What is happening in the lives of workers that by age 35, satisfaction at work takes such a significant dive? There are a few answers to this.
First, an awareness of how far one has or has not come. If the goals we set for ourselves have not come to fruition, the disappointment of this combined with the knowledge that the clock is ticking leaves many feeling unfulfilled. Corinne Mills, a joint managing director of Personal Career Management, puts it this way, “A feeling [we have] around that age, [where we think] ‘shouldn’t I have made it? Shouldn’t things be more sorted by now? Is this it?”
Another change in the life of a 35-year-old to that of a 20-something-year-old is that our priorities can dramatically change. This is the time when many have started a family or, at least, begun seriously thinking about it. Ten years earlier, the grind of working long days was less physically draining and felt consistent with career priorities, but this lifestyle isn’t as alluring to many workers after the age of 35.
"There comes a time when either you haven’t achieved success, work has burned you out, or life experience tells you family is more important…You ask yourself: ‘What am I doing this for?" - Cary Cooper, a workplace researcher at Manchester Business School.
Avoid the pitfall
Midlife dissatisfaction can also be the by-product of stress. By 35, many people have achieved higher positions of seniority and feel heavier stress-loads from the increased responsibility and pressure. Compound this with the impression of not being appreciated, and one can understand why an employee would be unhappy.
As an employer, the awareness of how your employees are feeling should be used as an opportunity for you to change the statistics within your company. By 2024, one in four people in the labor market will be 55 or older, meaning a significant portion of your workforce are at risk of being unhappy and unengaged.
The best solution is prevention, and there are many ways for you to easily ensure your staff are happy, no matter their age.
Simply put, show your employees some love.
This can be as simple as in-person recognition, granting more autonomy to demonstrate your trust, or investing in growing your employee’s skills. The best part about this is that you don’t have to guess at what they would appreciate: Ask them! The question itself already serves as recognition that they are appreciated.
Beyond recognition, it’s important to simply be aware that older employees have a different lifestyle than younger staff. Check in with them to see how their work-life balance is going and create a channel of communication where employees will feel comfortable expressing feeling overworked or overlooked. These are confident employees who have been in the workforce for years and know what they are good at: Make them aware that they are assets to your business and they will bring everything they have to the table, happily.
Recognized employees are happy employees - book your free trial with Qarrot today!
