The How-to on Creating a Relaxing Workplace For Your Employees

A relaxed, but motivated, workplace improves employee morale, productivity, and creativity. It removes the stress found in the 8+ hour workday. This leads to better profits, satisfied customers, and new opportunities found in the experiments employees can do with their free time.

A Forbes article about the science of stress in the workplace environment is telling:

“The study of 22,347 employees across 12 countries including the UK and US, revealed that over half of those employees claiming to be experiencing high stress levels reported they were disengaged.  By contrast, only one in ten employees claiming low stress levels reported they were disengaged and half of this group claimed to be highly engaged.”

One would imagine, as a business owner, that outlets cause distractions. That employees are to be micromanaged and reprimanded when they divvy off course from their tasks. This couldn’t be furthest from the truth.

Adding Fun to Functionality

You see startups and Silicon Valley businesses with their rec rooms, free food bars, lax workplace environment, and fun & games. It seems childish at first glance. You wonder how anything is ever done when employees could waste away their day goofing off.

These are some of the fastest growing, profitable ones on the Fortune 5000 list. Coincidence?

Adding fun to the functionality of business is a rather simple exercise considering the drab environment that’s likely in place as of now. A few tweaks and upgrades will suffice without turning the place into a complete mad house.

These items could include:

·  Multi-Media Rec Room – Create escapism by providing a rec room that’s stocked with good food & drinks, comfortable sitting, and multi-media. Let employees unwind by offering great entertainment from DIRECTV packages, video game consoles, or table-top sports.

·  Comedy – Laughter increases the release of happy endorphins. Encourage comedy, interactive experiences, and humor in the workplace (within acceptable guidelines from HR). Create a channel in team client software for people to share funny pictures and videos. Let them browse fun sites like Reddit, The Onion, and other humor websites without reprimand.

·  Creativity Hour – Dedicate an hour of the work day toward personal and business projects employees have on the backburner. This lets them explore ideas and creativity while potentially delivering something new and exciting to the company. These developments can improve team function and interaction.

·  Exercise – Implement a health program at the business or create windows of opportunity for employees to exercise and lead healthy lifestyles. Consider installing exercise equipment such as a treadmill, stationary bike, or weights. This improves their well-being, saves you on medical, and improves their energy (and mental well-being) all around!

·  Collaborate – Improve your communication between employees and teams to prevent discourse and conflict. This open communication can help to present problems to the group and encourage teamwork. The stress of deadlines and individual mandates are removed and employees gain a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment upon completion. It shows that it’s fun and productive to work as a team.

If you don’t know what to introduce to relieve stress and make the place fun then do the simple action of asking what employees want. It’s that simple.

Saving Time & Hassle

A good company is one that understands that there’s more to motivating employees than more money and micromanagement. One would think performance boosts will keep employees productive but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Threats are also a quick way to lose employee morale and productivity.

Now we’ve eliminated the two frequent “go-tos” with motivating employees.

What’s left? Making the work fun.

Perhaps it’s time to loosen up and introduce a fun work environment rather than wasting time micromanaging employees and balancing the books to find ways to create financial incentives.

What would you do to make the workplace more relaxed and fun?