Staff Motivation – healthy staff are happy staff
Don’t you just love it when you arrive at work and are greeted (if at all) with grunts; when water cooler conversation is complaints; when the boss barks his biddings at you and when you long for the last letter of each day! No? Well, not surprisingly, neither do employees or employers generally; yet it happens all too often in workplaces I have known.
So with the New Year ... let’s get 2017 off to a great start. Let’s plan a new approach to each other. Forget about the past and how it was last year; instead focus on what we want it to be.
That’s all very well, you say, but it all starts with the boss. My response: so tell me, which came first the chicken or the egg? Does the boss grimace because of your attitude or is your attitude because of the boss’ grimace?
Here’s a thought: Happy staff are more motivated, more engaged and hence more productive! (I’m not analysing statistics – but it does make commonsense.)
So what makes staff happy? I suggest it is a combination of them being healthy; reasonably rewarded and provided with the tools/resources (including time) they need to do their job. What follows are some suggestions as to what you can do (as a boss or as an employee) to help health (or wellness) at work (I’ll write about the others another time).
I’ll make four points:
Get (bosses: Allow) enough rest. (I’m grateful to my long-time friend, Jane of www.pipsy.ch for this)
- Take time to disconnect from work; allow 10 min power naps during the day
- Put boundaries around your work; don’t expect staff to check emails or texts at home
- Plan levels of multi-tasking; allow people to focus
Make use of (bosses: Ensure) a user-friendly working environment.
- Take regular rest breaks
- Take exercise during breaks – provide office pilates etc
- Ensure that work stations are ergonomically sound (including lighting)
Obtain (bosses: Encourage) regular health checks.
- Regular simple checks for heart conditions; diabetes and others can save lives and $$$ of health/sick leave costs for you
- Consider joining a corporate health care plan – talk to your local medical centre
Use (bosses: Enable) de-stressors.
- Allow employees to fit their work into their schedules so that they are most effective (you may need some creative means of monitoring productivity – but generally you will know how well someone performs)
- Consider remote working, where appropriate
- Treat everyone as a unique person – respect can be the biggest de-stressor of all
And a final critical point – Good Employers can and do allow these things – but it takes responsible, trustworthy employees to make it work.
Do you want to be a chicken or an egg ... or do you just want to show your boss you can be trusted?