Partner Article

Wellbeing at Work - Productivity & Loyalty

Finding staff who are skilled, productive and loyal is a task in itself and that’s why it’s so important to keep hold of the employees you already have! Prospective candidates don’t just look for the company that pays the most anymore, they want to know about the business’s vision and values, style of leadership and employee benefits. So what do companies need to do to make sure their people maintain their morale?

The term ‘wellness’ generally refers to both mental and physical health, both of which, according to some reports, are near crisis levels in the UK. Mental and physical wellbeing work together and are not distinct issues, with exercises well known as a highly effective ‘anti-depressant’. Movement alone is restricted in many office jobs and sittingitselfhas been linked to a number of physical and mental healthissues. This is one of many issues that face office workers and those in charge of wellbeing and staff retention.

Introducing a wellness programme, is one direct way to tackle the issue. These are great for staff retention; they can increase productivity, levels of happiness and your employees’ ability to cope with stress and anxiety related to work. These are just some of the benefits, and what makes them even better is that it costs so little to implement a wellness plan.

Firstly, see if anyone would like to volunteer to take the reins of the ‘Wellbeing Leader’ role. It’s more likely that your staff will listen and take on board messages around productivity and wellbeing from their peers rather than their superiors. Alternatively, bring in a wellness consultant or sign up to an online programme.

It’s been done before and it will be done again – team building days! When your team bonds it can create friendships – and who doesn’t want to work alongside their pals? Instead of the odd company drink once a month, try paintballing or bowling to mix it up!

Focus on your working environment. Make your workspace a place you wouldn’t mind working in for however many hours a day. If space allows, create a relaxation area. Make the furniture in your relaxation area match your brand personality with quirky sofa covers and designs and of course - table tennis or pool tables. Buy a plant or a hot water tap if your budget stretches – who doesn’t want tea on tap?

According to the Journal of Experimental Psychology, workers placed in an enriched ‘Green office’ with plants and quirky designs, reported a positive impact of the “green” office environments in relation to all variables examined. Dr Knight from Exeter University, along with the rest of his team, concluded that employees were 15% more productive when ‘normal’ offices were enriched with a number of houseplants.

Get the whole team together! Develop ideas for improving happiness and wellbeing at work by sitting down and having a brainstorm: listen to everyone’s ideas, no matter what position they hold within the company. Your employees will feel valued when their ideas are listened to and taken in. Hereis a list of ideas to get you started.

Look at how you work. If you sense a general feeling of negativity in the workplace, why not re-evaluate how your employees work? You could try introducing flexible working hours so that staff get the chance to improve their work-life balance. Design roles that suit your staff’s strengths – if their expertise is put to work it will not only increase productivity but also improve their job satisfaction.

Flexible working hours is one easy but effective way to increase worker satisfaction. Even if the flexi-time has a window of half an hour a day, it can make a massive difference in terms of people getting to work early and missing the traffic on the way home. Commuting of course, being a huge issue for a large percentage of workers, and one of the main reasons people leave a specific place of work.

Think about the small stuff. If you don’t want to transform the way your company works, then try little things to help, such as helping out staff by splitting up tasks more. Job security is a big one when it comes to job satisfaction, reassure your staff that their jobs are safe and that there is room to grow; if their roles may change, then explain what they need to do to secure themselves. Reevaluate salary distribution, it may have been a while since some of your employees had a salary review and similar companies could be offering more for their contribution to the company.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Evans .