Your team seems discouraged, doing an average job and it’s not rare to see gossip, not to mention the hallway conversations. If you want to turn this around, start to recognize not only when someone does a good job. Bring new strategies to encourage people to like more what they do and, thus, do better. Kate Harrison, Forbes collaborator, writes about sustainable development and strategic management of startups and has some tips for you to take more gratitude and enthusiasm to the workplace. Check out the best ones!
1. Entertainment =D
Your company doesn’t need to buy a foosball or pool table – if you can, great! – but can simply allow staff bring the videogame and play after work. Jay Graves, CTO of Double Encore, explains: “I like these types of things because they bring people together who might not normally interact on a day-to-day basis, and suddenly, are forming pairs or teams”. When passing some time together, in or outside the office, the team breaks the ice, exercises dialogue and keeps the company culture healthy.
2. Snacks =P
Alison Krawczyk works at a design agency and says that “With lots of work to do, we spend most of our lunches at our desks. So, we created Pizza Fridays for everyone to take a break away from the screens, and connect over something good to eat”. Tom Schwab, an entrepreneur, has also a good point: “Our lunches are great content for social media and it helps us build relationships with both vendors and customers. Not to mention that the year-end gift for employees is ready: an album with the best photos of our lunches.” Another good idea is providing snacks for mid-morning and afternoon, when the hunger pangs.
3. Exercise \o/
Some companies have gone beyond the good speech “we shouldn’t be sedentary” by offering gym memberships or subsidies and sponsoring yoga, pilates or crossfit to employees. The online payment company Gravity Payments created a weekly running club so that the team can take an hour off and run around the neighborhood. Ryan Pirkle is part of the group and believes that “it helps clear people’s minds, provide a mental break, and increases camaraderie among employees.” After the team is adapted to the exercise routine, how about promoting a monthly competition? These ideas cost little to implement and are prove that the company has a strategic management that prioritizes employee health.
4. Mental health s2
A brilliant example of rewarding the team is the initiative of Medallia, CRM software, where employees earn consultations with psychologists to understand and overcome their fears, personal or professional. The result is that some have taken professional boxing courses, others singing or dancing lessons, and one employee who never felt he was funny and didn’t like public speaking learned to do a stand-up comedy routine and gave a performance at the company which his wife and kids attended.
5. Time off ^^
More and more companies offer unlimited vacation days, such as Netflix and Hubspot, and encourage other employees to take the days they are entitled to. At Capterra, everyone has five weeks off every five years, while at Moz, each receives a bonus $ 3,000 for food, lodging, entertainment and transportation expenses, according to the CEO, “to keep amazing people on the team”. In addition, several companies begin to follow the 4 day work week. At Boogie, staff often works from 8am to 1pm, takes a two hour lunch break, and then works from 3pm to 7pm. “We work nine hours a day, 36 hours a week. On Wednesday, we close the office. Nobody works more than two days consecutively. Therefore, we have 52 extra days of vacation a year to handle our personal lives”, says Jacques Bastien, the company’s CEO.
6. Freebies *-*
Set companies offers free or at-cost versions of whatever they sell, as reward for a good job. Netflix and magazines subscriptions, tickets, furniture, language courses, free make-up and spa services, mobile phones, laptops and cars. With this, the company still gets feedback from those who work with the product/service and now use it for real.
7. Company retreat 8)
We are not talking about happy hour, which has its importance but is more popular (at least it should be). Here the idea is to revive the team by making a trip. For example, at Expensify, they make an annual trip for a month to an exotic location. In your case, it doesn’t need to be for a month or to a paradise destination. What you can do is open a vote to decide a very nice city in the region, and what better date for most people. Then hit the road!
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