A recent survey has revealed that just 25% of employees in the UK feel actively engaged in their job. Despite accounting for a considerable amount of our personal time, British working lives increasingly feel unengaging and undervalued. This state of affairs can have a marked impact on productivity and professional achievement.
So how can managers and businesses up their game and give staff the attention and investment they need to flourish in their roles? After all, having happy staff means lower staff turnover, better talent retention and more in house expertise overall.
These six ideas could transform workplaces, all by giving just a little back…
1. Standing desks
Demonstrating care for employees with equipment designed to enhance their health and comfort at work is a big part of making your team feel noticed and important. Standing desks are an increasingly popular option for workers, especially those who commonly sit down for long periods. In fact, those who sit down for six hours or more each day face a significantly higher mortality rate than those who sit for three hours or less.
2. Apples & oranges
Providing fresh fruit in workplaces is another (more space-friendly) way to demonstrate care and investment in staff health. Fruit may sound like a small gesture, but recent research conducted by Fruitfuloffice.ie revealed that 75% of staff felt more valued thanks to the introduction of free fruit. An even more impressive 80% claimed they felt free fruit had improved the quality of their working life.
3. Escaping!
No, we don’t mean from the office itself, we’re talking about escape room games! If the same old office drinks and team building games are feeling stale, there are now tonnes of exciting team puzzle games and experiences available which offer a more fun way to help staff let their hair down and develop together as a team, from the Crystal Maze, to HintHunt – all of them better than bowling.
4. Getting physical
The physical and mental benefits of exercise are impossible to overstate, which is why investing in your employee’s physical health can be such a positive step as well as a major staff engagement-booster. Whether you offer discounted gym memberships, arrange group classes for your team or ask them how you can help support their health and fitness directly, investing in exercise is one of the best things employers can do for staff.
5. Relaxing therapies
From organising a masseuse to provide at-desk shoulder treatments, to offering gift cards for relaxing therapies such as acupuncture and reflexology as rewards for hard work, helping your team to relax and treating them to some TLC is a powerful way to engage them and demonstrate your appreciation. Even Twitter offers its staff on-site acupuncture!
6. Naughty treats
Who can resist a free slice of pizza and a beer on a Friday? There are plenty of great foodie delivery deals out there, which means it’s easy to arrange a tasty lunchtime or after-work treat when your team have really pulled out all the stops. It’s an instant and sociable way to thank staff and show you appreciate them.
Source: Peter Unitt
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