Companies are constantly looking for ways to maximize employee productivity and engagement, but many are ignoring some of the simplest and most effective ways to achieve these goals.
As the founder of a wellness company and someone who help people stick to wellbeing habits like exercise, I know the obstacles that routinely throw people off track. It's not an "excuse," virtually no one is able to stick to getting up at 5:30 a.m., indefinitely. And unless you love to exercise (most people don't), pushing yourself to do it after work when you're mentally and physically exhausted, is just as impossible to sustain.
The #1 way I help clients stick to exercise and other healthy habits is to incorporate wellness into their workday. We spend so much of our lives at work anyway that when you think about it, it's the only strategy that most people will ever be able to stick to.
This is where what the employer wants (more engagement and productivity) intersects with what the employee needs--a path to sustainable wellness. Isn't it nice when you hit upon a solution where both parties win?
The simple and effective ideas I mentioned earlier, are things the employer has to invest in, but thankfully, these are investments that pay off. These ideas will boost employees' wellbeing as well as their productivity and engagement.
1. Playful Spaces
Play is not just for children; it’s essential for adults too! According to a 2023 Work in America Survey by the American Psychological Association, 65% of American employees report experiencing work-related stress. To help alleviate this stress, consider creating designated play spaces within your company. These areas can help employees blow off steam, clear their heads, and return to work feeling more energized.
Play areas can feature activities like table tennis, foosball, or mini golf, and if you set it up in a convenient location, such as by the breakroom, these activities will get used. Not only will having these areas boost physical activity, but they could also help build camaraderie among colleagues.
2. Fewer Meetings
If you haven't gotten the memo yet, most employees think they have too many meetings. A HBR study found that 70% of meetings get in the way of employees doing productive work. A partial fix would be to look at alternatives to your regular meetings such as using digital tools for brainstorming and shortening one-hour meetings to 40 minutes.
As the above HBR article noted in its summary: Your teams are full of talented and capable people doing what they do best, but they need space to do so. By better understanding how they want to work together, how meetings fit into that, and where meetings do and don't add value, you'll minimize the need for useless meetings.
3. Team-Building Events
Quarterly team meetings when designed as a combination of learning and team-building opportunities can help both the company and its employees grow. Some of the things we recommend offering during these events include role-playing exercises that simulate real-world scenarios, such as...
Customer service role-play: These can enhance communication skills and empathy.
Conflict resolution scenarios: These can strengthen problem-solving skills.
Sales pitch practice: Not only can this help to boost your sales, but they can help to boost employees' confidence and persuasion skills.
4. Increase Employee Engagement with 'Mindfulness at Work'
Mindfulness practices have gained popularity due to their positive impact on mental health and how they help with concentration and focus. We're strong advocates for mindfulness, and have developed Mindfulness at Work to help employers train their workforce in mindfulness in small doses.
With Mindfulness at Work, your employees can participate in 5-minute mindfulness training right at their desks. These sessions can include guided meditation, deep breathing exercises, and stress reduction techniques.
A few minutes of mindfulness during the workday can lead to better concentration, reduced anxiety, and better decision-making. But many employees might not take the five minutes unless the issue is forced, so if you were to hire us, how to do that with help from your IT or others, is something we would explore.
5. Bite-Sized Training Sessions
Employees often use software programs like Outlook, Excel, or project management tools on a daily basis and only get a fraction of the benefits from them. Like meetings, employees just don't have the time to get away for lengthy half-day trainings, which is where these bite-sized training come in.
These super short sessions can cover shortcuts, advanced features, and time-saving tricks to employee's skills sharp. We also recommend leveraging these short tips, into longer training sessions that are 100% driven by employee demand.
By investing in continuous learning, you empower your employees to work efficiently and stay up to date with technology.
6. Time Management Training
Your employees won't tell you this, but most of them suck at time management. Because it's such a critical skill for productivity, consider offering ongoing training on this too. Some of the time management techniques employees really need include:
Prioritization: Learning how to identify and focus on high-impact tasks.
Time blocking: Learning how to set aside specific blocks for different activities.
Digital detox: Learning to manage distractions from emails, notifications, and social media.
7. Flexible Work Schedules
Recognize that work-life balance is crucial and the only way to achieve this, ever, is to have a bit more flexibility to align with our personal responsibilities. Flexible work schedules allow employees to tailor their work hours to their life demands such as child and elder care, and their mental health needs.
From having the ability to annually adjust their start and end times by an hour, working remotely, or having compressed workweeks, flexibility promotes job satisfaction and reduces burnout. Trust your team to deliver results regardless of where or when they work.
8. Prioritize Employee Mental Health
Over the past few years, I've come to realize that most people lack a good understanding of what mental health is; that it's more than the emergencies we often hear about such as having anxiety, depression, and experiencing burnout. Similar to physical health, mental health exists on a continuum.
And just as with physical health, maintaining good mental health is a proactive practice. It involves regular stress management and cultivating habits that promote well-being. With this lack of understanding that mental health is on a continuum and requires ongoing actions to maintain and improve it, your employees are not doing enough to maintain their mental health. Most are only one stressful life event away from struggling.
Help to bring mental health education to your employees and educate them on the importance of prioritizing it. By raising awareness, providing resources, and fostering a supportive environment, companies can empower employees to prioritize their well-being. And since job-related stress is the biggest source of stress in your employees’ lives, maybe you as the employer or manager, should do more to support them in this.
9. Reward Wellness Participation
Consider tying wellness initiatives to annual bonuses or to other rewards. If you don't want to go that far, you can reward participation in wellness activities like these:
Step challenges: Offer discounts so that everyone can have a fitness tracker and make a company-wide game of promoting physical activity.
Make healthy eating easier: If you have the outdoor space, consider opening it up to a weekly farmers market program where local farmers and vendors can convene for 4-5 hours sell fresh produce and healthy items to your employees. Another great healthy eating option you might consider if you don't have a cafeteria is allowing a local restaurant to deliver sandwiches one day a week in a designated area.
Annual charity walks: Consider supporting a charity and encouraging your employees to support it too by promoting annual events they sponsor.
Happier employees are more productive and engaged. Luckily, making your employees happier may be easier than you think. While offering a company gym, access to coaches, and flashy wellness perks may not be in your budget or immediate plans, simple ideas like these don’t require a lot of money or time to implement.
Because sometimes the smallest changes can have the biggest impact!