Your business can’t be at its best unless your employees are. If your team seems unmotivated or generally unfulfilled, it’s going to reflect in their work. You don’t have to go to unreasonable lengths to boost employee morale, however. Here are four affordable ways to get more productivity and satisfaction from your employees.
Better Refreshments
The break room should be where your employees re-energize, not where they space out. However, if they’re just given shoddy coffee and meager vending machine snacks, how are they supposed to get the fuel they need to thrive? Bring in some healthy and tasty refreshments, such as fresh fruit. Give the coffee an upgrade too. Swap out mediocre blends for a great variety of K-Cups. Treat your employees to some guilty pleasures from time to time, such as bringing in donuts on Fridays.
Plants
There’s a reason you see so many offices decorated with plants. They definitely look nice, but they can also increase productivity. When around plants, employees can feel less stressed, as if they’re out in nature and not cooped up inside an office. Look for a few attractive plants to decorate your office with. Put out enough so that everyone in the office can see them from their respective work area.
Acknowledgments
It doesn’t cost anything to pay someone a compliment. Your employees shouldn’t feel like they’re just working for a paycheck. Let them know that their work has been noticed and appreciated. Talk about areas they’ve improved in and how they could go even further. Be sure to make these specific, and refrain from just complimenting everything your employees do. They’ll be able to see through phony praise after a while, and that can make it harder for you to bring up issues in their performances.
Rethink Your Lightning
The harsh glare of fluorescent lights can make your workplace feel anything but cozy. Get rid of these and put in some LED lights. Not only are these far more bearable than typical bulbs, but they last longer and are better for the environment. They also don’t need to be changed as frequently as other light bulbs do. Take advantage of that big light bulb in the sky as well. Open the blinds to let natural light flow in. This can really pick up your employees’ moods with a great dose of vitamin D.
Keeping your employees productive means making them happy. None of these tips are expensive, and they’re all easy to implement. When you see more pep in your employees’ step and improvements in their work performances, you’ll know you’re doing things right.
Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most of her time hiking, biking, and gardening. For more information, contact Brooke via Facebook at facebook.com/brooke.chaplan or Twitter @BrookeChaplan
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