When a workforce can sustain high levels of productivity, the business they work for tends to grow fairly rapidly. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of reasons why your staff's productivity wanes; and, yes, some of them are your fault. One element that you may not have put too much stock into is the fact that people tend to be more productive when they are comfortable.
For a long time, making people less comfortable at work was the norm. If a company gave people what they needed to do their jobs, they had done enough. Even if those things have grown in number and gotten more expensive, today’s workers expect more from their company; and, it’s shown to reap rewards if done properly. Let’s go through three ways companies can make workers comfortable while working for them.
Give them Hope Enough to Focus on Work
The number one reason people leave a job isn’t because they don’t like the people, they don’t get enough time off, or they can’t stand the company culture. They leave because someone will pay them more or give them a better avenue to improve their career. Almost every business would love to see their employees succeed and work their way up in the company, but it is evident from the spike in turnover rate that workers aren’t always willing to wait for their opportunities.
Part of being comfortable is thinking freely. If your workers are going to be constantly stressed out about things outside of work, the worse they will perform at work. Paying your staff commensurate with their talents isn’t always possible, but employees will perform and commit themselves to your company if they have the opportunity for advancement and to work on projects that they enjoy. Most people are looking for a little challenge in their work, give them that and a path to achieve their measure of success and you won’t lose them to the competition so easily.
Extend More than Fringe Benefits
It isn’t just restaurants that have a pretty serious food and beverage bill for the month. Today, a lot of businesses have started to provide workers with little benefits that aren’t included in their pay stub, but it is the big things that most people will appreciate most. By big things we mean health and wellness programs, retirement and other money market programs, and debt relief programs such as student loan repayment.
Many of today’s workers don’t have any assurances beyond their paycheck, and it is a main reason why workers are always trying to seek out better opportunities. Investing in your staff doesn’t just mean paying them and providing them the tools needed to do the job, it also means investing in their wellness. The more creative things you can do to ensure that your workers are being looked after will go a long way toward keeping your organization’s turnover rate down.
Provide a Pleasant or Flexible Work Experience
The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way that workers looked at work. Many realized that they are giving up far too much of their lives to the organizations in which they work. In fact, many of today’s skilled workers are in year two in a whole new way of thinking about work. If you can provide a workplace experience for your employees that will allow them to spend more time with family or accomplish the things they want to do when they aren’t working for your company, it will go a long way toward keeping them comfortable.
Remember, some people will not be able to embrace the remote working environment, and others won’t want to, but for the people (and businesses) that do embrace remote operations there are more opportunities than ever and allowing them a pathway to work from home more or have more flexible schedules can be big when looking to retain your company’s best talent.
What are your thoughts about the makeup of the productive office? Do you think that by investing more in your employees your business can improve its ability to compete and keep your best workers around longer? Leave your comments in the space below and check back soon for more great productivity content.
