Workplace Organization
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!
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
Work first, interview later
What Staffup Weekends Can Teach Us About Better Recruitment
The internet provides us with endless articles on the art of the interview:
- Dress according to the vibe of the office
- Mirror your interviewer’s body language
- Be engaged and ask questions
- Don’t mention an interest you have in something that no one else in the office can appreciate—Wait, what?
This last one may seem a bit ridiculous, but it’s true.
Multiple studies have shown us that traditional hiring practices put too much weight on an applicant’s academic pedigree, pre-formulated answers to rigorous questioning, and whether the individual “fits” with the company. Why is this? Human nature.
All human beings are subject to unconscious biases, which can result in certain applicants being passed by for a role they may be well-suited for. Generalizations often play a role in forming our biases. For example, we may perceive that someone with certain interests will be a better fit within our team or that an Ivy-league education correlates to a stronger skill set.
Companies around the world are noticing the effect of biases within flawed hiring processes: Its effect on employee turnover and the costs of hiring and training is significant. In 2012, consulting firm Leadership IQ revealed that from 20,000 new hires, 46% of them had failed within 18 months. In 2013, Google also discovered the inconsistency between acing interviews and job performance:
“We looked at tens of thousands of interviews, and everyone who had done the interviews and what they scored the candidate, and how that person ultimately performed in their job. We found zero relationships. It’s a complete random mess.”
— Laszlo Bock, Senior Vice President for Google’s People Operations
How do we combat biases that we aren’t consciously unaware of? What can we do differently?
Enter Staffup Weekends
Brooke Allen launched Staffup Weekends with the hope that the event might help companies hire in a less biased, more effective and more humane way. Allen advocates that the solution to hiring resides in a call-to-adventure, not an advertisement: Bring together all job-seekers for a hands-on, skill-testing weekend so they can show their skills, not just talk about them.
At the end of the 48-hour adventure, not all who first walked through the doors will remain. Many simply can’t hack it: their degrees, the name of their university, and their extra-curricular interests won’t help them conceptualize and complete the project. Those who do have the opportunity to present the product of their weekend efforts in small teams to potential hiring managers in the room.
For hiring managers, this is a chance to see what a person can do, how they think, what their work style, strengths, and weaknesses are, without anyone having to convince them. Instead of talking about their qualifications, the applicants demonstrate them firsthand! The weekends also allow recruiters to scope out candidates at a fraction of the cost of traditional recruiting.
“The fact that people stayed for 48 hours to work on something put them head and shoulders above the thousands of applications we receive because the participants are people who show up and see things through.”
— Chris Nicholson, Head of communications and Recruitment for FutureAdvisor
At this point, the idea of Staffup Weekends is new and not commonly used, but there is a lesson from innovative hiring practices here: “Seeing is believing.”
This is good news for you and your potential hire: You get to see that your candidate is capable of what their resume boasts they can do, and your new employee feels confident stepping in to work on their first day because they know you already believe in them and value their skills.
If employee engagement is heavily based on keeping your team feeling valued, this shift in hiring strategies is gold. Think of the energy your recruits are bringing into the company! Gone is the pressure to prove themselves and, in its place, is an invaluable confidence knowing they bring something needed to the team.
That sense of value is going to translate into greater creativity, better communication, and higher work quality earlier on.
This shift in hiring practices could be a platform for initiating powerful relationships between companies and their employees. You no longer need to wait for your recruits to start work to confirm that they can deliver or work well with your staff: find a way, whether it be through a Staffup Weekend, or another hands-on approach, to put applicant skills to the test. Get to know them, chat with them, work alongside them, and be more confident in your recruiting process than ever before.
Effortless onboarding is just one way Qarrot can streamline your recognition process - book your free demo here!
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What startups can teach big business about efficient use of talent
“…how startups attack problems and mobilize talent make them unique.”
— Forbes
Beyond the trendy work spaces, quirky perks, and flexible work hours, startups have something big businesses lack: an extremely efficient use of their talent.
Because of their small size and tight budgets, startups rely on innovative, passionate, and focused employees to push their business to new heights. Not only is there an expectation of collaboration and creativity, the testing-out of new work strategies and constant self-analysis means efficiency is always being pursued.
Many big companies can learn from this.
Regardless of the size of your company, actively supporting employee autonomy and idea sharing will result in a workforce that is both accountable and creative. It’s time to take a queue from your startup next door - commit to hiring the right kind of talent and gain the know-how to build an open and trusting workplace culture!
It starts with the talent
In a startup, smaller teams place a huge emphasis on hiring the right person. New hires need to mesh well with the current team, have diverse capabilities, and bring in a self-starter attitude. If the applicant isn’t as passionate about the company’s objectives as the rest of the team, it may not be the right fit. Passionate people are accountable, are more focused, and aren’t afraid to push beyond what they know, making them versatile assets to the company.
If you are a large business, you have many advantages. With a bigger name and opportunities for employees to earn promotions and pay raises, you could simply watch for the cream of the crop up-and-comers and make an offer to pull them onto your team. But that’s not always the best strategy. Finding candidates with a passion for your business and an openness to work across a range of responsibilities with a deep sense of accountability may be the better approach. But finding the ‘right’ hire often takes time and isn’t always easy when so many candidates apply for an open position. Patience and persistence are often required.
Once you have these gems in your ranks, make sure you keep them. Establishing a culture where employees feel valued because they can see they are personally responsible for organisational success is something startups excel at.
Give your employees autonomy and space to create!
Startups exist because someone took a risk.
Big businesses can become rigid, choosing the safe option and calculating everything to the point of restriction. Startups often don’t have the data to validate their ideas, so taking risks becomes a necessity. Calculated risks are the product of creative employees seeking out new ways of doing things, working on solutions to big problems, or spotting a gap in the market and taking the dive to fill it.
New ideas can be brought to life on a regular basis by putting a bit of backing behind the right area: make creativity a focus. From sales to product development to customer service, encourage your employees to propose new ideas and take risks! Startups are not afraid to fail; from the little things like allowing employees to try their own work methods to the large-scale endeavours like conceptualizing and launching a new product, these sparks of innovation are the blood of the business.
“While large companies can’t necessarily pivot or introduce new services with the same ease of a startup, they can research new developments in the field, encourage an active research and development department, develop rapid prototyping methodologies, and pilot proof-of-concepts and minimal viable products.”
— Microventures
As your team starts to share their findings and inventions, give them space to pursue the work autonomously. Often in startups, employees are expected to work on side projects with minimum supervision; there are simply not enough resources to have constant managerial staff hovering over everyone’s shoulders. But, this works because employees feel like they are making a significant contribution to the company and are trusted to do so on their own. Autonomy and trust are huge motivators. Combine that with listening to their ideas and you have the recipe to a seriously productive workforce.But we know that too much of a good thing can lead to problems. Inefficiencies can multiply when there is an absence of structure and focus on the overall objectives of the company. Again, do like startups and continually self-evaluate to ensure that your team or organization is on track.
Encourage Adaptability
Startups are masters at continually assessing themselves as individuals and as an organisation to see where improvements can be made. As unexpected shifts in your marketplace arise, how do you respond? Just because what you are doing now has worked in the past, doesn’t mean it will benefit you forever. Don’t let the comfortable place you are sitting in be an excuse not to experiment. Do and be better.Startups constantly test, assess the data, and adjust. This mindset can be adopted by your business and keep you competing with companies of all sizes.Keeping creativity and adaptability momentum year-round is simpler than you think. Organize brainstorming sessions for your departments, assign team leaders to head and oversee projects, and have informal self-analysis exercises to keep everyone looking for ways to be better, faster, and more efficient.You may be the big guy in town, but you can think like the little guy.
Take a tour of Qarrot and see for yourself how powerful recognition can be!
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Is stress affecting your workplace?
Is stress affecting your work? Or perhaps you’re seeing warning signs that others in your workplace may be buckling under the pressure of too much stress?
In many work environments, being busy and under pressure is a sign of importance and stress is all too often worn as a badge honor. For this reason, many workers are often reluctant to let others know they’re stressed or suffering from the pressure. However, if you’re feeling too much stress, it not only affects you, but it can impact others around you as well as your company.
Here’s why:
Eustress, which experts define as “good stress,” helps to keep you motivated, focused, and push you through some challenging projects. On the other hand, distress can be crippling.
Distress is an overload of Eustress, where the good stress stacks up to become more than you can cope with.
So, what are the signs that your Eustress has tipped over into the danger zone?
You might notice symptoms manifesting in your emotions, behavior, thoughts, or physical wellness. For the sake of your long-term mental and physical health and for that of your employees’, it’s important to notice signs of high-stress levels as soon as possible.
Your Brain Just Isn’t The Same
One of the first things to go when we are experiencing high-stress levels is our cognitive functioning. If you find you are experiencing abnormal anxious thoughts, an inability to concentrate, or are having trouble remembering things, your body is likely responding to stress.
Emotional Slump
Your coworkers may notice emotional irregularities before you clue into them, but it likely won’t take long for you to ask yourself, “what’s going on with me?”Emotional symptoms can include feeling depressed, irritable, lonely, pessimistic, or anxious. In the office, these intrinsic shifts will quickly affect the way you carry yourself, interact with others, and the quality of your work.
Bad Habits Creep Into Your Routine
Last week, you were a healthy, responsible creature of habit with a great diet and regular workout routine. This week, you couldn’t be more different.Stress hits our eating habits hard. For some, stress may result in a loss of appetite while for others the release of cortisol produces intense cravings for anything fatty or full of sugar and salt. Your use of alcohol and cigarettes may also increase as your body attempts to relax.Sleep and work habits fall victim to stress too; Sleeping too much or too little and uncharacteristic procrastination are indicators of a body and mind being plagued by stress.
You’re Crashing
Numerous studies have shown that stress has a strong correlation to health problems like obesity, depression, and asthma - to name a few. Hopefully, you will notice the more immediate symptoms and avoid these serious health conditions.
Many people report having aches and pain throughout their bodies, often followed by catching a cold or the flu. With or without a cold, you may see other cold-like symptoms emerge like dizziness, nausea, a loss of sex drive, diarrhea, constipation, and chest pain.The perceived magnitude of the events stressing you out is not a reliable indicator of how stressed you actually are - your body can react just as strongly to an argument with a co-worker as if you’re facing a true life-or-death situation.
Choosing to push through stress, regarding it as a temporary state that you will leave behind in a week or so, is not an advisable choice of action. The more your emergency stress system is activated, the easier it becomes to trigger and the harder it becomes to shut off.
Conclusion
The real key to minimizing the impacts of stress is to catch it at its initiation and examine what you could be doing differently to help out your body and mind. A full day at the spa may have you on a cloud for a few hours, but come Monday - when you are back to your everyday routine- your triggers will be waiting for you.
Take some time to research techniques for stress prevention and management that you can use inside and outside the office. You may find breathing exercises, meditation, or a lunch-hour workout does wonders for providing mental space and inner calmness.
If you manage employees, be sure to check-in regularly with them about their stress levels. Remember that recognizing your staff for their hard work helps them feel valued and can infuse them with positivity and appreciation. You may also consider programs to promote recognition and wellness in order to boost overall morale.
Many organizations are getting an immediate ROI from investments in these types of programs in the form of a happier, healthier and more productive workforce.
Let Qarrot take the guesswork out of employee recognition for your team - book your free demo today!
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How to provide a welcoming employee onboarding
“If you want people to perform well, you have to get them off to a good start. That’s kind of obvious, isn’t it?”
— Dick Grote, author of How to Be Good at Performance Appraisals
After a lengthy search, you’ve finally found the perfect candidate to fill that open position on your team. Congratulations, but your job isn’t finished yet! The next crucial step is to properly welcome your new hire with a well thought-out onboarding effort.
Getting your new employee operating with maximum efficiency and effectiveness relies on a comprehensive onboarding process. In our view, a plan that goes beyond the usual formalities of corporate values, compliance, and org structure to include a fun and meaningful introduction to company culture, opportunities to meet and socialize with team members, and a few short-term goals to focus on while coming up to speed, can go a long way to engaging your new hire quickly.
Human Resource managers often refer to the four aspects of new employee onboarding as The Four C’s: compliance, clarification, culture, and connection - all of which are important. Yet, too often an onboarding plan can become bogged down with “compliance”. Sitting in a boardroom with pamphlets of information, your new-hire is left with an unexciting, solitary first experience.
As you plan out your onboarding process, don’t forget to schedule time for “connection.” Taking a few extra measures to ensure an employee feels accepted and at ease with the organizational culture of the company will go a long way to integrating them within your team.
Many executives are beginning to recognize the engagement power of a smooth, organized cultural integration. Some companies are going so far as to send over the benefits information and an employee handbook ahead of a new-hire’s first day.
Before your new-hire even arrives in the office, you can set up some activities and surprises to make him feel welcome and express everyone’s excitement at him joining the team. Make things personal by having a small gift, decorating his desk, or getting the whole team to greet him when he first arrives. Within the onboarding plan, organize for him to buddy-up with other members of the team. Here, he can shadow colleagues, learn more about how the company works, and make connections with co-workers.
Once in the office, be sure to not only review your new hire’s core job responsibilities, but to discuss the company’s strategy and how his role fits into the overall picture. Ideally, focus on a few short-term tasks or responsibilities rather than jumping into too many different divergent tasks all at once. And frequently check-in over the first couple of months – don’t assume that your new hire remembers everyone or everything he’s learning right off the bat! In meetings and within projects, encourage questions and solicit his input - making him feel comfortable contributing now will solidify his ease at doing so throughout his employment with the company.
Onboarding is an ongoing process, so look for ways to fold your new-hire into the culture of the office in the weeks to come - looking beyond that first 24 hours. Does your company organize events? It could be a team lunch or maybe the company softball game, but he should be invited!
Another way to continue the trajectory of cultural integration and company familiarization is by assigning a mentor. A mentor can touch base with the new-hire in scheduled meetings or maybe a company funded lunch date. Never underestimate the power of peer-to-peer learning and communication.
This gives him a safe place to direct questions and a starting point from which to build those interpersonal relationships!
The most important thing to remember with onboarding is don’t wing it. Even if you have just 30 minutes to sit down and plan out your new-hire’s first 24 hours, you are doing yourself and your company a huge favour. Optimally, think about how you want your employee’s first 90 days to go: What will his training look like? Who will he connect with? How can you make him feel a part of the team from the get go?
Your effort to improve employee engagement and consequently, employee productivity, should start from Day 1, it just takes a little bit of effort.
On the hunt for more ways to engage your team from every corner? Qarrot might just be what you're looking for!
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Boosting productivity through workplace wellness
Just think of how many hours a day you spend in the office...
It would be naive to think that the environment we spend most of our day in doesn’t affect our mood or health. To that end, the space employees live, breath, and work in can either support engagement levels or erode them.
If your office is plagued by gossip, high-stress levels, and limited opportunity for physical activity, know that your employees and your business are suffering. On the other hand, when our place of work promotes and enables healthy routines and positive interactions, we perform astronomically better.
But supporting your employees’ wellbeing doesn’t have to be complicated or costly. Below, we review some simple ways in which you can help your staff achieve a healthier and more productive workday.
Well-rested employees are more productive
This one is a no brainer. Sleep-deprived employees are not going to operate at peak performance levels. As a manager, you can play a role by monitoring how much time an employee is putting in and managing workloads.
This is not to say you should discourage your employees from taking on extra work or reaching out to fulfill tasks outside their job description. Rather, you must find the balance.
Workloads, new projects, and priority jobs can be shared amongst multiple employees to avoid one over-worked team member. If you notice employees putting in extra hours every night, let them know you appreciate their work and give them a morning off to catch up on their rest.
Not only will your team members be more awake and engaged, but also they are likely to stay healthier and have fewer sick days!
It’s a win-win all around.
Get up, get moving
Employees absolutely need to have the opportunity to get up and move. Sitting for long stretches of time zaps energy, engagement levels, and overall employee health along with it.
Your company’s productivity isn’t the only thing taking a hit. 70% of all healthcare spending can be attributed to lifestyle choices meaning insurance premiums are likely steadily increasing while your employees stay seated.
If the physical environment your team spends the majority of time in promotes healthy habits, you can effectively counteract rising insurance costs.¹ This could be as brief as a ten minute stretching or walking break all the way to company-wide fitness classes.
Your office space, however, doesn’t necessarily have to house the treadmills and weights: 51% of employers today are looking to launch wellness initiative programs to improve workforce health.² According to a 2016 SHRM survey, creating a culture that promotes wellness and/or providing incentives for healthy behaviour both ranked as top effective strategies for healthcare cost management.³
Gossip is never good
Negative talk and gossip spread like wildfire.
It only takes one grumpy or naturally negative employee to set off a string of unproductive, demoralizing conversations that put a black cloud over everyone’s day.
Preventing toxic talk begins with upper-level staff. The leaders in your organization should embody the attitude and behaviours you want to see in everyone. If employees see their manager gossiping in the lunchroom, they are likely to fall into the same habit.
Once it exists, the only way to stop workplace gossip is to tackle it head-on. Although confronting the source of the problem may feel a bit awkward, addressing the individual(s) will allow you to make them aware of the big-picture implications of their actions.⁴
This conversation should always be done privately in person and never through an email or instant messenger.
If the office morale is suffering and you can’t quite determine why, it may be time to initiate a program that recognizes individuals for demonstrating positive behaviours.
Peer-to-peer recognition programs, in particular, can be an effective tool for promoting healthier attitudes and behaviours throughout the organization.
Everybody appreciates snacks
We're not saying feed the whole office lunch every day, but a snack bar with healthy food options is guaranteed to put some pep in your employees’ step.
Company-provided snacks let your employees know that the organization is thinking about their needs. But providing healthy food options is particularly powerful.
Vending machines are too often filled with foods that often lead to sugar crashes and sluggishness. Your healthy snack options will literally energize your employees’ bodies. Healthy options are a great supplement to promoting physical activity, supporting long-term employee health and lower insurance premiums.
Another option is to organize a bi-weekly or monthly lunch date with your team where everyone goes out or eats in together. Have your whole team schedule it in so it becomes a mandatory group affair. This will give everyone a chance to unwind, bond, and socialize!
While in-office gyms can be expensive undertakings for smaller businesses, there is a number of options for any organization to promote employee wellness, both physically and mentally. Simply starting by recognizing and rewarding the behaviours that lead to the wellness outcomes you want to achieve is a great way of building a healthier, more productive workforce.
Curious if your team could benefit from peer-to-peer recognition? Reach out to us, we would love to chat!
- ¹ SRFM - Employee Benefits: Benefits of a Healthy Workplace
- ² Zanebenefits Blog - Do Wellness Programs Really- Reduce Health Insurance Costs
- ³ SHRM 2024 Employee Benefits Survey Overview
- ⁴ Inc.com - Marcel Schwantes: If You Do These Things You Qualify As a Gossiper
Resources
Going green one pen at a time: how to be an eco-friendly business
Warming oceans, dwindling ice caps, and noticeable shifts in weather patterns… are you concerned?
Although Global warming is on everyone’s mind these days, Canadians and Americans are not pulling their weight in the global effort to save the planet. In fact, Canadians rank in last place for municipal waste contribution out of 17 developed countries with the USA not much farther ahead!
Both consumers and businesses need to adapt. They say old habits die hard, so do your part by starting with the little changes that you can make right now. Reducing your footprint on the environment is not only possible, it's urgent.
And hey, its not bad for your bottom line either! Green business practices can improve your ROI by significantly reducing the cost of office supplies and energy consumption.
Little Things Make a Difference
- Switch out those pens that end up in a landfill for refillable ones! Just think of how many pens one person goes through in a year…
- Look for companies that make products out of reused materials. Did you know you can get paper clips made from post-consumer metals? Well, now you do.
- No. More. Rubber. Bands.
- You’ve heard it so many times, but we have to say it again: Recycle. Even if it’s just a general recycling box in the staffroom or one for paper by the printer - it makes a difference.
- Make the leap and become a paperless office. Millennials grew up on computers and probably won’t miss it and you’ll earn points with consumers by being so green!
- If you absolutely can’t say goodbye to paper, use recycled paper. Or, save paper by not printing whenever possible and practice double sided printing when do you.
- We would never say stop drinking coffee…but think about all those filters you throw out! Thank goodness for recycled paper coffee filters. We promise you can’t taste the difference.
- Investigate what products are being used to clean your office. Eco-friendly cleaning supplies not only smell fresh but will actually leave your work space just as clean and less toxic.
- Turn off lights and computers when they are not in use. It will save you money on energy bills and decrease the overall power consumption being used by hosting servers.
- On that topic, make your website hosting green!
We know change is hard, so even if you can implement one thing from this list, at least it’s a start.
This short list reflects some of the easiest eco-friendly changes you can make. If you are ready to commit to change on an even grander scale, check out how other companies have gone totally green.
If you can’t get on board the ‘save the planet’ train, think about it this way: waste is waste, and waste means you are throwing away money.
Not only is physical waste adding up in dollars, but your company’s costs incurred by paying for health insurance and employee sick days are affected too; A healthier workplace can result in up to a 20 percent decrease in sick days taken by employees.
Whatever your reasons for going green, both the world and your bottom line will thank you.Wondering how to motivate greener behaviors in the work-place?
Contact us to learn more about connecting employee engagement to your drive to become more environmentally-friendly.
Recognizing a job well done is small gesture that can drive big results - book your free trial with Qarrot today!
