What can you do to make the workplace experience better for your employees? Not sure where to start? Don't worry: in this article, we give you five practical tips, which you can implement even if you have no budget or your business is small, and be sure your employees will appreciate it.
In our blog, we have already talked about how much employees want to have optimal experiences in the workplace.
The pandemic has accustomed them to work in smart working, working from where they want, having the opportunity to devote more time to personal life.
Getting employees back in attendance is a challenge, but making sure they are eager and enthusiastic to return to the office is even more so.
What makes a great workplace experience?
We have collected five tips to create a better workplace experience, so your employees can't wait to go to the office.
Relationship is the keyword
As a workplace manager, building relationships will be key to your success and promoting a positive work environment.
In most cases, you are one of the first people a new employee meets on their initial visit to the office. This touchpoint can have a lasting impact on how well an employee integrates into the workplace culture.
Not to mention, you're one of the few people in the company that can develop relationships with folks on every team.
This allows for opportunities to collaborate, help make connections, and impact workplace culture.
Here are some ideas on building workplace relationships:
- Learn better who people are and call them by their names: one of the best ways to develop a relationship is by acknowledging that you know who someone is.
- Ask folks for help and offer it: asking for and offering help is a vulnerability connection. Being vulnerable with others communicates investment in each other, and in turn, translates to stronger relationships and a sense of community at the workplace.
- Keep your promises. Always: and if you can't do it, tell that. Trust is crucial when building any type of interpersonal relationship. If you can’t follow through with a promise you’ve made, make sure to communicate that.
- Be genuinely interested in what people are doing: work doesn't always have to be about work. It can be as simple as asking them how they’re doing. You never know how a simple "good morning" can make someone's day better.
- Show appreciation for your colleagues: nurturing a culture of appreciation at work will also foster a productive culture because it helps people build confidence in their abilities and skills.
Food is always a good idea
LinkedIn has an article discussing the importance of providing food for the employees. The following were some of the findings:
- 55% of employees felt more appreciated by their companies, resulting in a happier culture on-site
- 49% felt an increase in productivity when meals, snacks, and beverages were readily available
- The accumulated benefit of providing meals was a 150% return on investment
While every business is different, everyone needs to eat. You can use this as an opportunity to delight your employees.
We have already talked in this article about how important it is to encourage lunch with colleagues, perhaps asking everyone to prepare something in turn. Or organize aperitifs and dinners, to get to know each other better even outside the office.
Sharing food is a great way to build relationships that otherwise, due to roles and workstations in the office, would not be built.
Let’s organize an event
Corporate events can cultivate your company’s culture and establish a comfortable environment. They don't have to be elaborate get-togethers, either: In fact, any excuse is a good one to celebrate.
You could organize something in honor of employee birthdays, or celebrate the achievement of a result or decide to organize a small party, on the last Friday of the month, to bring all the employees together and rediscover the pleasure of being together.
Think of events as an opportunity for employees to get to know each other better. It’s also a time for leadership to show appreciation for the hard work folks do day in and day out for the company.
The 5S system
Cleanliness and organization = high productivity.
A messy workplace can lead to a decline in productivity, or worse, someone getting hurt on-site. Plus, disorganization will reflect poorly on you.
Have you ever heard of the 5S System? It was developed in Japan to help manufacturing companies run efficiently.
The 5S stands for:
- Sort: distinguish the items that are needed from those that aren’t
- Set in order: keep needed items in the right place, so people can easily find them when they need to use them
- Shine: keep anything clean and tidy
- Standardize: make the previous 3 s a habit
- Sustain: keep these procedures.
Involve your employees
You can commit to always inventing new activities to engage your employees, but if you don't ask for feedback, you'll never know if your efforts are appreciated.
Ask for feedback regularly by using tools like Typeform, Tally, or Google Forms, for example.
This will give you and your team a pulse check on how the workplace is doing. You’ll learn what’s going well and where things can improve to create a better workplace experience.
As workplace managers, everything we do is a work in progress. Company and employees' needs change, and we have to adapt along with them. The last action that I recommend is having a good mindset. That will be key to your success.
And what do you do to make your employees feel involved?
