Keeping Your Employees Happy

We all have tough times at work which can leave us feeling overwhelmed. Taking a proactive approach to de-stressing may be the best way to handle such pressure. In fact, with regular use, some of these ideas may even keep you and your team from ever reaching that dreaded point of overwhelm.

Before digging into that pile of emails and phone calls that you must make, take a moment to brighten up your office and boost your team’s morale with the following ideas and activities!

Part One: A little more serious…

-When you arrive at the office, always give a greet your team: You would be surprised at how many people we speak with who say that their bosses/supervisors just walk into the office and then proceed to walk right into their office or cubicle without saying a word to anyone on a regular basis. It’s true that this is not the end of the world, but at times it can make for a slightly daunting work experience. Greet your team and co-workers…make that human connection!

-Have an open-door policy: Always convey the message to your employees that you are always willing to discuss concerns and questions that your employees may have with their job, the office, or the company in general. If your day is too hectic, then have your concerned employee schedule a meeting with you on your email calendar.

-Keep up to date with your employees: Make sure that no one is stuck on a project or other work for more time than they need to be. For instance, see to it that they are not stifled by the difficulty dealing with a hard to please customer demanding that their software ticket be resolved within an hour or that a delivery be made at an exact time during the day. You must be in your employee’s corner if they get stuck dealing with issues such as this that they don’t necessarily have the power to control themselves.  The knowledge of having your support will almost guarantee that they will ‘go to bat’ for you if you need them to do extra work from time to time.

-Always seek your employees input on ideas for your office: Your staff could be full of ideas since there are more of them than there are of you.  For instance, your Tier one support reps could have a multitude of useful ideas for the direction the company could take since they are usually the first point of contact for your customers (and are usually seeing these customers when they are the angriest).  Perhaps you could ask your entry level people, “during your calls with customers, are you noticing that customers are still having trouble understanding the layout of the customer portal on our website?  Do you have any suggestions on how to make the layout easier for our customers?” Displaying this level of respect for your employees’ input will almost guarantee a much happier and respected workplace! Or perhaps you could take a lighter approach and ask your employees something as simple as what color mouse pads would look best.  Just value their input and they will value you and therefore everyone will be happy!

-If you feel that a certain employee is prepared to be groomed for a promotion, then have them assist you with some of your managerial tasks: Perhaps your protégé can help with scheduling meetings or sit in on calls with the sales department or some other similar task. Ease them into more responsibility with the intention of inspiring them to stretch further than they thought was possible. This will be no problem for you, remember that you are an intuitive and inciteful supervisor, you will know what your protégé can achieve! Once they are reaching their new work standards, your protégé will be highly inspired and happier than ever! In fact, if this is executed correctly, your other employees will see themselves as potential promotion candidates as well if they use your valuable guidance. As a result, you will have wall to wall happy employees!

Part Two: A little lighter…

-Celebrate employee birthdays: Have you team sign birthday cards. Have fun on those special days! Again, it is surprising how many offices do not take advantage of a simple opportunity like this to brighten up the office. 

-If your office has a spare room or two, offer to create an exercise space! Put in a sit-up bench, some exercise bands, maybe even a treadmill, and other easy to use exercise equipment that you and your team can use on breaks or even before/after the workday. For everyone in the office, a little bit of exercise will ‘do a body good!”

-Have a catered lunch once per month: You could turn lunch breaks into a fun part of the workday by having it catered by that new restaurant near the office or some other fun food that your employees have always been wanting to try.  

-Have a fantasy football league: Now you and your team will eagerly look forward to Mondays! Imagine that!!! People interested in fantasy football will look forward to having bragging rights in the office when their teams do well over the weekend. All in good nature, of course!  Post scores on your walls. Have funny names for your teams. Yeah, this one is hard to mess up!

-Put up a recipe board: This could serve as your office’s version of ‘Pinterest.’ Just put up a bulletin board in plain view at your office so that everyone can take a picture of their favorite dishes along with recipes. Almost everyone gets happier at the site or idea of good food…especially if they get to look at it all day long in your office!

-Share stories of “your first job:” You would be surprised how much fun this can be! Everyone can bring in their “employee of the month at McDonald’s” or similar pictures. Post them in your lobby or other evident area. Your team will have loads of fun sharing photos of the old hairdos, corny uniforms, and younger versions of themselves!

-Put in a game room: Stock it with fun puzzles and games such as Jenga, Hungry-Hungry-Hippos, etc. Have miniature basketball hoops, ping pong tables, shuffleboard, etc. Make it a stress relief zone!

-Spend some time with your staff outside! Perhaps take 20 minutes once per week and take a walk around your building or just hang around outside just to recharge your batteries and loosen up!

-Throw a party! Let your staff organize it.  There simply is no better way to promote team- building and unwinding than having a party! 

Take a moment and share your ideas for creating a happier office in the comments!

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