Workplace Organization

According to recent numbers from Statics Canada, an estimated 4.7 million Canadians have transitioned to working remotely since mid-March. Following the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of Canadians are now commuting no further than their living room or kitchen. While some of us have settled into the routine of working from home, this sudden shift to a remotely based workplace presents a slew of new challenges for employers. The reality is that COVID-19 will continue to impact how we work moving forward, even after the pandemic, and the ways in which companies conduct business will have to reflect that. ‍

Flexible Working Environment ‍

Chats around the water cooler and conference room meetings may be a thing of the past. Ottawa based tech company, Shopify, has already preemptively closed their offices until 2021. CEO Tobi Lukte described Shopify as a “digital by default” company on Twitter, meaning that some 5,000 employees can continue to work remotely even once COVID-19 restrictions are eventually lifted.

While some employees have adapted well to working remotely, others are looking forward to returning to the office when life is back to some form of normalcy. However, even if your workplace does open following the pandemic it will likely look very different - particularly when it comes to enforcing social distancing measures. Many employers will shift to a more flexible working arrangement - giving employees the option to divide their time between home and in office. This compromise ensures that employers can follow cleanliness and social distancing practices and employees can still feel connected to their colleagues and pre-pandemic routine.

Related Article: Do Your Remote Employees Feel Looked After? 

Company Culture Reimagined ‍

There is an undeniable link between a strong company culture and employee success. Friday beer carts and ping pong tournaments were routinely credited for their ability to bring coworkers together. Our new reality, however, will force us to foster that same familial culture without being in the same space. Although it may feel impossible to achieve or maintain a strong company culture with the majority of your team working remotely, many companies have already found new ways to bring co workers together. For example, virtual happy hours, surprise deliveries when celebrating accomplishments, or outdoor activities (as long as social distancing rules can be applied). It isn’t impossible to cultivate or foster a strong company culture in light of COVID-19, it just takes some thinking outside of the box.

Related Article: How to Keep Your Startup Culture Thriving‍

Communications and Automation Tools ‍

If working from home has taught us anything, is that there are indeed many meetings that could have been easily conveyed in an email. This new era of remote working means that employers will have to substitute regular in-person meetings with virtual chats or messaging. Telecommunications has, and will continue to be, our new normal - whether that means video chats with our managers or prospecting clients over the phone. It will also be interesting to see if there is an increase in the adoption of automation tools during these uncertain times. Automation tools could be particularly beneficial during these uncertain times as companies try to navigate the uncharted waters of life after COVID-19. From sustainability to cost effectiveness or information management, replacing an existing workflow for an automation tool could mean one less thing a company has to worry about. 

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Based on what we have seen since March, everything points to a workforce that is open to adapting their processes so employees can work effectively from home. That being said, it will likely take some trial and error before any best practices or methods can be nailed down. While this pandemic has brought much uncertainty, one thing is for sure - the future of work will look very different. ‍

Looking for tools to engage your employees from home?  Request a Demo with Qarrot

A startup culture is often defined as one that respects the individual, values creative problem-solving, open communication, and a flat hierarchy. It focuses on its team members and promotes adaptability at every level. Having a clear vision, shared values, and a commitment to success are all likely key ingredients to early success in a startup.

But how will you maintain your startup culture as the company grows?

What is Startup Culture?

Firstly, what makes startup culture so unique? It’s about a clear identity, growth strategy and relationships, all based on the company’s core values. There are typically 4 key components that make up any successful startup culture:

1. Value of the individual

In the fast pace of a startup, it’s easy to get lost in the next milestone, or the larger goal. It’s important to highlight that each worker is a key piece of a larger puzzle, and that their contributions are valued. A timely, genuine "thank you" from a leader goes a long way toward engagement.

Startups can have high turnover rates, as their pace and structure is not for everyone. It’s important to acknowledge the value of the individuals who continuously add not only to the success of the company, but to the culture itself.

2. Flat Structure

In a flat structure, decision-making occurs at the staff level; it doesn't happen in closed meetings, reserved for a handful of execs. Employees in a flat organizational structure are given significant independence with little to no supervision.

A flat structure is often more empowering for employees. It also encourages an atmosphere of openness and transparency that speeds up decision-making and company progress faster than a rigid hierarchy.

3. Openness

From open communication to an open-door policy to an open floor plan, openness is a key element of startup culture. Stemming from a flat structure, open communication allows people in various positions to share their ideas without closed-door meetings. An open floor plan can facilitate this by promoting more interactions between coworkers.

Related article: How to Incentivize Creativity, Innovation and Out-of-the-box Thinking

4. Business agility

New startups must adapt quickly to market pressures to survive. Trends, customer behavior, and competitors can change quickly. Business agility is the ability of an organization to:

• Adapt quickly to market changes - internally and externally;
• Respond rapidly to customer demands;
• Adapt and lead change in a productive and cost-effective way without compromising quality.

This agility is also required of the team at all levels, requiring that both individual and team goals are clear and in focus. Flexibility is key, from deadlines to projects, to employees and the culture itself.

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How do you keep your startup culture alive?

As a company grows from that initial team of a handful of driven minds in a 200 sq. ft. office, to a well-oiled, multi-department machine, it’s important to keep the components of your startup culture thriving. The types of personalities that are drawn to startups are often enticed by the culture, so maintaining will help keep employees engaged, and help with retention.

1. Remain transparent

Ineffective communication is a consistent source of frustration for workers in most industries. This can be especially true in startups, where the speed with which things grow and change can allow little time for lengthy emails or meetings. The type of communication that worked when you could simply tell a coworker an update across a small office will not work for a startup that now boasts 50+ employees.

Being on top of transparent and effective communication is essential, to keep that element of openness at your startup’s core.

Utilize internal messaging systems like Slack, which allow for channels to be created for topics, teams, projects, etc. Be sure these channels are monitored for relevancy, however. An abundance of unnecessary information is just as frustrating and confusing as a lack of information altogether.

Being transparent in all communications, be it in a messaging system, by email, or in meetings, will allow your team to feel they are trusted, and that their input in valued. They may have a solution to a problem that has not been presented yet. If they feel they have the space to share their ideas, productivity will increase.

2. Acknowledge contributions

Even though startup culture is about working as a team towards a common goal, it’s equally important to acknowledge the contributions made by individuals within the organization. In fact, recognizing a team member's contributions helps to strengthen their emotional bond to both the company and its culture.

This type of recognition can come in many forms, from tangible rewards, like gift cards or paid lunches, to additional paid vacation days, work-from-home privileges, among others.

Be sure that whatever form of recognition you chose, your employee feels that their contributions are being genuinely valued by the organization. They should not be working for a reward. Rather, they should feel an added sense of accomplishment when receiving one.

Related article: Employee Recognition – It’s Not Just About The Money

3. Listen to new ideas

Many employees hesitate to share ideas with higher-ups, so hold workshops or meetings that encourage the flow of new ideas. Having designated time or space for facilitating idea-sharing shows your team that you value their input. If your startup does truly embrace a flat hierarchy, these types of exchanges will only further promote that. These meetings can be weekly, biweekly, or monthly, depending on what works best for your day-to-day.

If in-person meetings are not possible as frequently as you’d like, be sure there is a designated virtual ‘space’ for your team to share their ideas. If you have an internal messaging application, create a group or channel designated to that purpose.

4. Be constantly evolving

As is core to the business of a startup, constant change and agility are necessary for the culture as well. Your business’s core values should remain unchanged, but the way they are applied in the everyday lives of your workers must evolve. Many companies fall into the “culture fit” trap – employees who do not fit their current way of working, those to question processes and procedures, who speak up often in meetings, are not a culture fit for the company.

When a company is small, it’s easy to focus on hiring those who fit the mold, as the dynamics of the team are very close and limited. However, for your company and its culture to get better, you need to add diverse ideas, experiences, values, and personalities to the mix.

By overly focusing on candidates who are a good “culture fit”, you are likely to miss out on a lot of incredible minds. You also risk creating a monoculture – one that doesn’t evolve over time and risks leaving those who don’t fit feeling alienated. While the team needs to keep up with the growth of your business’s success, your company’s culture needs to keep up with the growth of your team.

Related article: Motivating Different Personality Types

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Easy engagement that grows with you

With the pace of your business ever accelerating, employee recognition in a startup environment can easily fall through the cracks. Qarrot makes employee recognition easy, fun, and effective for small to mid-sized organizations by providing a complete solution.

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Book your demo today to see more about how we can help you be leaders in employee engagement!

It’s a given fact that employers have a duty of care to all employees, including Lone Workers. It's the responsibility of employers to ensure that the mental and physical well-being of all of their employees are cared for, especially since there is a growing number of employees silently suffering from mental and physical illnesses. According to the World Health Organization, over 264 million people suffer from depression and anxiety, which can gravely affect their productivity and performance. Both depression and anxiety have a great economic impact, amounting to US$ 1 trillion per year in lost productivity.

Fortunately, there are many simple ways employers can look after their employees. Pain Free Working explains that surveys have found that simple things work best to help them increase their productivity. Office workers enjoy having the ability to personalize their workspaces and work in places with natural light and better air quality. While it is easy to check on in-house employees and apply policies that will safeguard their mental and physical well-being, it becomes a challenge for employers when it comes to lone workers because they can’t exactly provide these things.

That being said, employers must look for ways to make lone workers feel included, and there are multiple ways to do this. For starters, employers can have meaningful conversations with the employees about the risks of working alone and, together, come up with plans to mitigate said risks.

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Here are some more tips that employers can follow to make remote employees feel included and cared for:

Have steady communication

One simple yet easily overlooked tip is steady and open communication. With how advanced technology is today, it's very easy to maintain informal conversations and, in turn, a better connection with your lone workers. Forbes highlighted how using collaborative software like Slack or even a closed Facebook Group can help employees get to know each other, inspire one another, and also spark each other's creativity.

Remember to include and recognize them

Your remote employers may not be with you in the office every day, but they are gravely affected by every project you take on and every decision you make. When under a tight schedule, it is all the more important to ask for their participation and opinion. The same principle also applies to every company celebration. Additionally, while it is easy to give recognition to an onsite employee, say during breaks, you have to take the time to find an opportunity to recognize remote employees in front of their peers to keep their morale and spirits up.

Have longer one-on-ones

Since moments that build rapport are scarce for remote workers, as an employer, you can make up for this by having longer one-on-ones. Business2Community suggests arranging weekly team calls to help your workers feel that they're still part of a team despite working alone. For even better results, set up a schedule where you spend at least a full hour of your time talking to each remote worker every week and make sure that you ask remote-specific questions. It also pays to ask questions about their career paths and listen to their goals and aspirations. Offer advice and, if possible, work together to find ways through which your company can help them achieve their long-term and short-term goals.

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Conclusion

It's no secret that employees work harder when they know the company appreciates them, and making your remote workers feel looked after could mean the difference between developing a long-term professional relationship with them and just being another "for-the-meantime" job. It may be hard to find ways to recognize their achievements at first, but luckily you can use specialized platforms to make this process easier.

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Book a demo with Qarrot today and see how it can help you connect with your team through positive praise!

As an employer, you have a duty of care to your employees. But what exactly does this mean?

‍It’s basically ensuring that the mental and physical health & wellbeing of your employees are being protected. And with one in five people experiencing mental health issues or illnesses a year, it’s no surprise that employee wellbeing has been the focus of attention for many employers.

This duty of care also applies to your lone workers. According to employment law, you’re required to carefully consider and address any areas thought of as a ‘risk’ to their health, safety, and wellbeing.

Although this duty is a legal obligation, you shouldn’t think of it that way. As well as meeting the legal requirements, it can also bring with it major benefits to your business and workers. When the wellbeing of your staff is looked after, they’re happier, motivated and more productive. And for your business, happier employees mean better engagement, increased retention and improved brand reputation.

‍In this piece, we’ll explain who lone workers are and highlight your legal obligation to them.

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Who do we consider "lone workers"?

It’s anyone that works in isolation and with limited supervision. With changes to the traditional way of working (9-5) and the increased availability of the internet, employers must be able to adapt in order to attract the best talent. One of such changes in the introduction of lone working.

Depending on the organization, a lone worker could be anything from a community nurse making home visits to an electric company employee carrying out maintenance on meters.

Other examples or lone/remote workers include:

• Estate agents
• Salespeople
• Site workers
• Postal staff
• Self-employed
• Utilities employees (meter readers, maintenance staff)
• Construction workers (surveyors, site workers, inspectors)
• Mobile workers (drivers, care/social workers, probation officers, service engineers, etc.)
• People working outside of the normal working hours (security guards, cleaners, etc.)

Your responsibilities for lone workers

The first duty you have to your employees is to access the risks of working alone and take reasonable steps to avoid or control them.

The process involves:

• Talking with your employees about the potential risks of working alone. You’ll then create a plan to control any identified issues. It’s worth noting, by law you’re required to consult all staff members on health and safety matters that concern them.
• Implementing procedures to ensure that risks are removed and control measures are in place.
• Training, instructing and supervising the employee on lone working procedures.
• Reviewing risk assessments regularly or after major changes to work practices.

While there are many benefits of lone working, it also comes with some risks to you and your employees.

In order to reduce risks, consider the following measures:

• Training employees on the risks involved with certain work activities and lone working as a whole.
• An appropriate supervision process.
• Adequate emergency and evacuation procedures.
• An effective communication routine between supervisor and lone worker.

Remember, the health and safety process you have in place for your off-site employees will be different from the one in place for your staff based in the office. But it’s also worth noting, you shouldn’t put your lone workers at more risk than you would your office workers.

Training for lone workers

You could consider training as it’s important for these types of workers. This is especially the case for those with little to no supervision. You should also consider training that teaches them to cope with unexpected circumstances and manage issues effectively.

Because your lone workers don’t have immediate access to their supervisors or other more experienced co-workers, providing them with extra training can come in handy to understand the risks involved in their work.

It’s also a good idea to put a lone working policy in place. The policy sets out what can and can’t be done while working alone. You should ensure your employees fully understand and follow the policy and procedures.

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Conclusion

Your duty of care as an employer is an ongoing issue and not just a one-off event.

Remember to review your lone worker policy often and update to account for any changes to employee duties, legislation and business trends.

Finally, remember to carry out regular reviews of risk assessments. This is especially important after any significant changes to the employee’s work environment.

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Interested in learning how an employee recognition and rewards program can keep your lone employees engaged?

Book a Demo with Qarrot today!

When we discuss transparency in the workplace, what we're really talking about is trust. Just as consumers expect a level of transparency about the products they purchase, employees also expect transparency from the companies they work for. Lack of trust between employees and business leaders can influence an employee’s decision to leave their position or to seek out alternative employment.

Embracing a culture of transparency and building trusting relationships by showing appreciation, giving constructive feedback and showing mutual respect for one another goes a long way in boosting morale and can foster overall job satisfaction.

In 2018, The Work and Well-Being Survey found that 89% of respondents who said they trusted their employer reported being satisfied with their job and were motivated to do their best work. (This compared to a mere 46% who said they didn’t trust their employers.)

‍So how can we build trust in the workplace and foster a culture of transparency?

By constructing a proper business strategy around recognition that encourages Communication, Feedback, and Achievement.

Building trust with communication

Employers can help build transparency and trust with open, honest, continuous, two-way communication. A program, like Qarrot, can provide the medium in which we build these lines of communication with an open social feed to recognize employees and encourage an open dialogue. This transparent approach to feedback allows managers to comment on the achievements of their staff where everyone can see it. It also offers the opportunity for peer-to-peer feedback and support. When given this opportunity, employees are more likely to foster positive feelings towards their work, and the work of their coworkers resulting in higher levels of performance.

Help employees thrive with continuous feedback

Younger employees have accelerated this demand for continuous feedback. They expect an ongoing relationship with their supervisors, and they demand responses to every inquiry. It’s true! When you think about the fact that this generation has been brought up in a digital age, with extreme connectedness through the use of mobile devices and social media, it’s no surprise that they have these expectations for work as well. For years business owners and management have ignored the requests of these employees. For years we’ve been reading about the 20/20 workforce, and how the millennial workers will surpass existing workplace populations, but here’s a newsflash for you: That day has come and gone. That’s right! The youngest of the supposed, “Millennials” in June of 2019 will be graduating from a 3-year University program, many of which have already finished college, and those that didn’t attend post-secondary education have been in the workforce for a few years already. If you haven’t already given consideration to their requests in the past, it may be time to discuss a new strategy to engage younger employees. Collaborative social feeds and feedback mediums are an excellent place to start.

Give employees goals to meet

People feel comfortable when they know what is expected of them and when they can see what others are working on with an obvious measurement of their performance. By creating goal-based award campaigns for employees and their teams to participate in, you encourage motivation through friendly competition. When people can see the goals others in their office are meeting, and are given the opportunity to support them along their journey, it motivates them to participate and meet their goals as well. An awards program can offer an excellent opportunity to reward employees for these achievements. Making the entire process come full circle in a continuous support loop.

Make it simple for people to participate

If leaders want people to engage with their rewards platform they have to be given a flexible and supportive environment in which to do that. Modern rewards and recognition programs are no longer considered "perks" they are essential elements to encouraging a transparent and trusting workplace.
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Discover how Qarrot can support your culture of transparency - Book a Demo today!

The face of the modern workplace has changed dramatically over the years, primarily where the pursuit of work-life balance is considered. A healthy quality of life is dependent on balancing career, family, health, and wellness. Flexible schedules and the ability to work remotely are 2 ways in which companies are providing these opportunities for their employees.

Recently Gallup published an article that stated, the results of a study they conducted on "benefits and perks" they found that 37% of employees would switch to a job that allows them to work off-site at least part-time.

‍Now before you get the idea that working from home is just a perk that benefits the employee, consider that studies have found financial benefits to the company as well. Global Workplace Analytics released their State of Telecommunicating in the US Employee Workforce findings in 2017 and found that employers saved over $11,000 annually, per employee, who worked remotely part of the time. Savings were found mostly in the areas of real estate, absenteeism, and turnover.

‍Advances in technology have made much of what an employee can do at the office available for them to do anywhere they like; whether it’s at home, at the cottage, or at a local coffee shop. Things like cell phone plans, high-speed availability and cloud-based software have led this revolution, but it's still the desire of the employee that is driving this trend upwards.

Telecommuting amongst full-time employees has increased 140% in a little over a decade! Though this has mostly been the case for companies with more than 500 employees, many small and medium-sized companies are starting to offer this as an option.

‍As if engaging our workforce wasn't difficult enough, engaging a remote, or dispersed, workforce poses its own set of challenges. What we’ve discovered in conversation with business leaders is that they can struggle with employees that may not be as strongly driven by the company's vision, and are more difficult to motivate than others.

If you currently have employees who sometimes work off-site, or are considering offering remote and/or flexi-hours to your workforce, it is critical to think more strategically on how to involve your workforce in engaging activities that make them still feel connected to the organization.

How do we engage our remote workforces? Here are a few suggestions:

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Set up a medium for regular communication

Providing tools in which managers and team members can regularly communicate with each other is key to cultivating a culture of collaboration. We know that a collaborative environment supports employee engagement, and engaged employees provide their best work, no matter where they are located.

Let them create their own schedule

Giving control back to employees to manage their own work schedules lets them fit in the things that matter the most to them. Employees with children, for example, may struggle with pick-up and drop-off schedules for school and sports. Flexible schedules give them the opportunity to balance family and work so they can continue to provide meaningful contributions to the organization.

Recognize their efforts… Publicly!

It's been previously stated that a genuine THANK YOU can go a long way to showing an employee that they are a valued part of the team, but a common problem with employees who aren’t in the office, either regularly, or at all, is their feeling of not “being connected” to their colleagues. This can make recognition difficult or seemingly less effective since there is nobody there to witness it. A modern rewards and recognition program, like Qarrot, can provide the ability to engage and interact with an employee, publicly recognize their efforts, and offer peer-to-peer recognition that is visible in a social feed. This can foster a sense of belonging and create a greater feeling of working together.

Continue to provide learning opportunities

Quite often, simply offering professional training and development can increase an employee’s feeling of importance to a company. When an organization is willing to build the skills and qualifications of their workforce it shows the employee that you truly value their contributions. Modern learning initiatives give management the ability to track what learning content their employees are engaging in, and keeps track of what they accomplish when they are not in the office.

Simplify the process

Qarrot is the all-in-one software solution that makes employee engagement easy, fun and effective with peer-to-peer, milestone, and goal-based recognition. When you use a rewards and recognition program that is visible, transparent, and inclusive, you’ll simplify the process of motivating and engaging your employees, no matter where they are.If you have an established team of telecommuting employees, or are considering offering flexi-schedules, or even if you have a full team of dispersed, remote employees, Qarrot can help eliminate some of the employee engagement challenges.

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Recognize and reward your people on your own terms with Qarrot - book a demo today!

Despite conflicting opinions, employee engagement doesn’t only mean employee happiness. Employee engagement is also the connectedness an employee feels to their job, the understanding of their personal contribution to the process, and the motivation they feel for growth within the company. It all starts with defining your mission, vision and values. For starters, ensure that the “who, what, why” trifecta of your mission statement is answered, your vision statement provides motivation for the future, and your values define your company’s organizational culture and beliefs. Of the three, your company’s values are most connected to employee engagement by being anchored in your company’s culture. This will have a huge effect on productivity and make the most of your mission, vision, and values.

"Your Mission creates FOCUS. Your Vision provides DIRECTION. Your Values define BEHAVIOUR.” ¹

Breaking the Mold with Company Values

Values such as integrity, teamwork, and customer service encompass the top three most common Fortune 100 company values. Nonetheless, they are exactly that, common. These values won’t set your company apart from competitors, nor will they attract and retain top employees. Core company values need to be implemented into everything, especially all processes involving employees. From start to finish, your company values should be the base of every company decision. This can be particularly difficult because strong values are tough and often controversial, but in the end, they will keep the company unified. When implemented properly, strong values will actually cause pain before they do good, as strange as that sounds. This means that some employees will feel cast out or constrained by behavioral boundaries, in fact narrowing the operational freedom of your business. On the bright side, when an employee’s values do align with the company core values, higher employee engagement and productivity will thrive.

Unfortunately, there is no “one size fits all” answer for this, as every person has a different perspective on values. Creating clear definitions for your company values, whether they’re core values, aspirational values, flexible values, or accidental values, will help clarify the meaning of every term your company stands for. This will avoid confusion and only attract the warrior employees who strongly believe in your company. It’s important to remember that values aren’t about people-pleasing. Rather, they place core beliefs at the forefront of your company. Just as you wouldn’t implement a survey for an overall consensus on financial or strategic issues for your company, the same concept applies to values for them to succeed.

Give Them Culture and Performance Will Follow

A study from 2015 involving automobile sales challenged the question, "Which comes first, organizational culture or performance?" The results strongly proved that if an engaged culture is implemented, more consistent and adaptable performance will result. Categories such as sales and customer satisfaction increased, while absenteeism and employee turnover substantially decreased.

Company culture defines a social order that grounds behavior and clarifies what is accepted or rejected amongst a group of people. Ultimately, it culminates in a shared purpose that energizes a company to help it grow. Depending on your company values, your culture will likely thrive under one of the following eight shared company culture categories:

‍Caring

‍A caring-based culture focuses on helping and supporting one another. Teamwork is highly emphasized, alongside loyalty and positivity.

Authority

‍An authority-based culture emphasizes competition, drive, and personal advantage. Confidence and constructive criticism are highly encouraged.

‍Purpose

‍A purpose-based culture comes together by focusing on global sustainability. They are striving for a greater cause and an ideal world.

Results

‍A results-based culture is goal-oriented and success driven. They strive for accomplishment and winning to get ahead.

‍Learning

‍Creativity, curiosity, and cultivation of new ideas are highly characterized in a learning-based culture. Exploration of new knowledge is made into adventure and open-mindedness is embraced.

Enjoyment‍

Happiness, fun, and excitement are emphasized in an enjoyment-based culture. A sense of humor is welcomed and stimulation is found in play.

‍Order

‍An order-based culture thrives on punctuality, structure, and rules. Employees are cooperative and looking to conform.

‍Safety

‍Planning ahead is a big value for a safety-based culture. Risk-taking is set to a minimum, and thorough preparedness and caution are taken in any business strategies.

A recent Harvard Business Review study showed that the success resulting from a company culture is again not a magic formula. Factors such as region, industry, strategy, leadership, and organizational design all play a part in the calculation of success due to company culture. Therefore, it’s not possible to say that what works for one company will necessarily work for the next, but clarifying which category of company culture your core values align with will help you to make the most of your values. Clear company cultures help employees to feel involved, connected, and supported. Guess what that sounds like? Employee engagement. In fact, it’s a direct domino outcome of clearly defining your company mission, vision, and values.

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Harness the power of appreciation through peer-to-peer recognition - book a demo with Qarrot!

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Sources

• Cmc-canada.ca - Who's on first? Mission or Vision?
• Hbr.org - Make Your Values Mean Something
• Forbes.com - If Culture Comes First Performance Will Follow

A corporate wellness program focuses on creating an initiative to improve the health and well-being of employees. Wellness programs can be implemented in multiple ways, such as:

• On-site fitness centers
• Smoking cessation programs
• Transit options
• Paramedical services
• Drop-in classes such as yoga, social dance, pilates, or Zumba
• Healthy lunch and snack options
• Siesta and recovery areas
• Employee assistance programs
• Outside-of-the-office adventures
• Health challenges

But what are the real reasons to invest in corporate wellness?

Ultimately this investment is going to save your business money on multiple levels, and increase the health, happiness, and loyalty of your employees. What else could you ask for?

Lower health costs

Corporations are the largest influencers in disease prevention, just simply by fluke. Companies would rather be focused on selling their products, but the outcome of a wellness program for their employees is too great to be ignored. Wellness programs change the behavior of your employees and the bottom line of health is behaviour. Bad eating habits, a sedentary lifestyle, smoking, and drinking are all habits of choice that raise the risk for high blood pressure, cholesterol, and depression. A wellness program changes those patterns and innately prevents disease. Less disease and health risk means lower health care costs for the company, ultimately providing both hard and soft benefits for the company.

Positive ROI (return on investment)

Your company is going to save much more by implementing a wellness program than the cost of starting one. In fact, the average savings from wellness programs reviewed in 22 studies conducted over a span of 2 years was $3.27 for every $1.00 spent.

Improved productivity

According to a recent study, presenteeism (working while not in optimal health) is more commonly found in people with poor lifestyle choices, such as bad diet habits, a lack of exercise, and poor sleeping patterns. Many links have also been proven between exercise and cognitive increase in memory and focus. A study from 2013 showed that those who participated in their company wellness programs saved 10.3 hrs and an average of $353 in productivity costs per person, annually.

Decreased absenteeism

Absenteeism is a sure way for a business to lose money, so any way to decrease this issue is a plus. It is said that 60% of absences are due to stress. Physical activity can decrease stress, increase energy, and allow for better sleep patterns. Recognizing that healthy employees are happier and more productive is the key to success.

Employee recruitment and retention

‍Wellness programs started out as an employee perk, but have now become commonplace for medium to larger-sized corporations. The better the wellness program, the more likely you are to attract the employees you’re looking for. Top companies such as Google and Microsoft offer extremely generous wellness packages, and other tech companies quickly followed suit. In the end, they are all fighting to recruit and maintain the best of the best, and what better way to do so than with top-notch wellness packages.

Heightened employee morale

‍Healthy employees are happier employees, and after all, employee morale is the make or break of any business.

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Can wellness be incorporated into an employee recognition program?

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Of course!

Show support and encouragement to those employees involved in a marathon, team, or simply dedicated to their fitness. Set your recognition program up in a way that allows for time and activity benefits like gym sessions, meditation moments, or vouchers for massage. Get creative and show your team you value their well-being. Foster a ‘wellness culture’ by having employees recognize each other’s wellness achievements. And of course, if budget allows, award your employees for reaching big goals. If an employee has a weight loss goal or is in training for a competition, reward those efforts with points that can be redeemed for rewards of their choice. Recognition will strengthen your wellness culture and provide additional motivation to your employees to stay on track with their health goals.

Incorporating wellness into your business doesn’t have to be costly or time-consuming, but it can be immensely beneficial to your organization. Whether you choose to implement a wellness program or to simply add wellness options to your existing recognition program, you will show your employees you support their well-being, all the while benefiting from higher productivity, retention, engagement, and positive employee morale.

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Qarrot has the tools you need to drive better performance and engagement - book your demo to learn more!

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Sources

• ‍Risepeople - Workplace Wellness Programs
• ‍Wellsteps.com - Reasons & Benefits to Have a Wellness program

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.

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Keep your team connected and engaged with Qarrot - book your free demo now!

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Resources

• ‍Smallbusiness.chron.com - Advantages & Disadvantages of Openplan Office Space
• ‍Inc.com - 3 Reasons the Open Office Concept is Good for leaders
• ‍Peoplematters - Are Workspaces of Today Designed to Fuel Aspirations