All work and no play is boring, even in a busy, vibrant workplace. Adding some fun to your office, store or manufacturing plant may produce happy employees who produce more.
Here are some suggestions for adding a little fun in your workplace to keep staff morale and company productivity high.
1. Create a sense of community among your business team
Have holiday parties and family cook-outs – get-togethers where there are no office titles, just some friends sharing fun time. Creating a sense of community is carried back to the office.
2. Bring in lunch on Mondays
First, it’s a low-cost fun thing to do; second, employees appreciate the free pizza; and three, you may see lower levels of absenteeism with fewer employees calling in sick on Blue Monday.
3. Create an open corporate culture
Good ideas and strategies can come from anywhere. Emphasize transparency and clarity in all workplace exchanges. Avoid management segregation – employees eat in the break room, managers in their own lunch room. Use lunch time to share, talk, discuss sports and refresh minds for the afternoon push.
4. Engage all employees
You may discover ways to cut costs and streamline operations from any member of the team. Encourage employees to “take ownership” of their responsibilities, and reward good ideas with an office-wide celebration.
5. Consider the office furniture
It should be ergonomic to prevent repetitive stress disorders, and comfortable to prevent lower back pain. Spend a little more for good office furniture. The entire office doesn’t have to have the same look. Create a brainstorming room with cushy, comfortable seating to get the creative juices flowing.
6. Emphasize the importance of a healthy lifestyle
Let your employees know you care about their good health, and back it up with action. Sponsor gym memberships. Lead daily walks around the building to get the blood flowing. Offer healthy alternatives in the office vending machines. Offer programs for smoking cessation and free flu vaccines in the workplace. Sponsor the company bowling team. Sponsor community health by sponsoring a town sports team.
7. Spiff up the office
Add some greenery, which can be good for the spirit. and can help your office looking fresh to clients, customers, patients or patrons. Add some art to blank walls. If possible, eliminate employee cubicles. Break up maze-like tiny spaces into a more open work area. If it doesn’t conflict with routine business activity, take down the walls.
8. Celebrate employee birthdays
Have HR compile a list of employee birthdays, order a cake, put up some coffee and enjoy a break in the day as you celebrate an employee’s big day.
9. Turn work into a game
Develop contests with prizes for the most productive, fewest absences, most improved, most creative – treat business as a friendly competition that also delivers prizes.
10. Surprise your employees
An espresso machine in the break room one morning is a nice surprise for the latte generation. And good coffee provides a little “oomph” throughout the day. Offer “reward days” - paid days off for extra effort, or a good suggestion, or just to shake things up a little.
The keys to making your office a happier place to work are to break up the routine, change the bare-bones, functional look, keep all doors open, and show employees you care about their happiness. In return, you may develop the long-term, loyal players who keep a successful business going and growing.
