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Remote workforces: the new employee engagement challenges
The face of the modern workplace has changed dramatically over the years, primarily where the pursuit of work-life balance is considered. A healthy quality of life is dependent on balancing career, family, health, and wellness. Flexible schedules and the ability to work remotely are 2 ways in which companies are providing these opportunities for their employees.
Recently Gallup published an article that stated, the results of a study they conducted on "benefits and perks" they found that 37% of employees would switch to a job that allows them to work off-site at least part-time.
Now before you get the idea that working from home is just a perk that benefits the employee, consider that studies have found financial benefits to the company as well. Global Workplace Analytics released their State of Telecommunicating in the US Employee Workforce findings in 2017 and found that employers saved over $11,000 annually, per employee, who worked remotely part of the time. Savings were found mostly in the areas of real estate, absenteeism, and turnover.
Advances in technology have made much of what an employee can do at the office available for them to do anywhere they like; whether it’s at home, at the cottage, or at a local coffee shop. Things like cell phone plans, high-speed availability and cloud-based software have led this revolution, but it's still the desire of the employee that is driving this trend upwards.
Telecommuting amongst full-time employees has increased 140% in a little over a decade! Though this has mostly been the case for companies with more than 500 employees, many small and medium-sized companies are starting to offer this as an option.
As if engaging our workforce wasn't difficult enough, engaging a remote, or dispersed, workforce poses its own set of challenges. What we’ve discovered in conversation with business leaders is that they can struggle with employees that may not be as strongly driven by the company's vision, and are more difficult to motivate than others.
If you currently have employees who sometimes work off-site, or are considering offering remote and/or flexi-hours to your workforce, it is critical to think more strategically on how to involve your workforce in engaging activities that make them still feel connected to the organization.
How do we engage our remote workforces? Here are a few suggestions:
Set up a medium for regular communication
Providing tools in which managers and team members can regularly communicate with each other is key to cultivating a culture of collaboration. We know that a collaborative environment supports employee engagement, and engaged employees provide their best work, no matter where they are located.
Let them create their own schedule
Giving control back to employees to manage their own work schedules lets them fit in the things that matter the most to them. Employees with children, for example, may struggle with pick-up and drop-off schedules for school and sports. Flexible schedules give them the opportunity to balance family and work so they can continue to provide meaningful contributions to the organization.
Recognize their efforts… Publicly!
It's been previously stated that a genuine THANK YOU can go a long way to showing an employee that they are a valued part of the team, but a common problem with employees who aren’t in the office, either regularly, or at all, is their feeling of not “being connected” to their colleagues. This can make recognition difficult or seemingly less effective since there is nobody there to witness it. A modern rewards and recognition program, like Qarrot, can provide the ability to engage and interact with an employee, publicly recognize their efforts, and offer peer-to-peer recognition that is visible in a social feed. This can foster a sense of belonging and create a greater feeling of working together.
Continue to provide learning opportunities
Quite often, simply offering professional training and development can increase an employee’s feeling of importance to a company. When an organization is willing to build the skills and qualifications of their workforce it shows the employee that you truly value their contributions. Modern learning initiatives give management the ability to track what learning content their employees are engaging in, and keeps track of what they accomplish when they are not in the office.
Simplify the process
Qarrot is the all-in-one software solution that makes employee engagement easy, fun and effective with peer-to-peer, milestone, and goal-based recognition. When you use a rewards and recognition program that is visible, transparent, and inclusive, you’ll simplify the process of motivating and engaging your employees, no matter where they are.If you have an established team of telecommuting employees, or are considering offering flexi-schedules, or even if you have a full team of dispersed, remote employees, Qarrot can help eliminate some of the employee engagement challenges.
Recognize and reward your people on your own terms with Qarrot - book a demo today!
5 ways to make your employee recognition program easier to manage
Your workforce is the heart of your business, but if they are not properly motivated to be sales and service minded, you could be losing opportunities and potential revenue.
One way organizations are motivating their staff is to create rewards and recognition programs. It may seem that awarding top performers should be a no-brainer but many still do not, or if they do their rewards and recognition program remains, primarily, a manual process. Companies without a solution are using email and spreadsheets to manage these services, but identifying top performing employees, and keeping them motivated to do their best work, is a big job, and can quickly encumber be abandoned by those running them if not thought through.
So, how do we build a better reward campaign and make the entire program easier to run?
Ask yourself why!
There are endless resources to suggest that an engaged workforce is a more productive workforce, but knowing the precise business objectives you are trying to achieve is something of a different story.Since every industry has its own policies and procedures, and each company is as unique as the people in them, there is no one-size-fits-all for defining business objectives.
Starting with the question why, will help you to design a process that supports your outcomes.
- Are you looking to raise sales volume throughout your organization?
- Would you like to increase your overall company morale?
- Do you want to raise the productivity of your workforce?
- Have you considered a program to promote your company culture?
- Do your employee engagement levels need work?
- Did you say yes to all the above?
- Setting your performance targets ahead of the game will take the guess-work out of rewarding staff for their accomplishments.
Ask yourself who?
Once you know the benchmarks you need your workforce to strive for, you need to find a reward that can motivate them. Never underestimate the power a genuine “Thank You” can have on morale, but it is also important to note its delivery.
Awarding your staff with rewards is a good way to acknowledge the effort your employees have put into achieving the goals you’ve set for your organization. When determining what you will offer as the incentive, you can be creative, thinking outside of the box, but it’s best to keep employee values top of mind.
As the millennial generation overtakes their boomer parents in the workforce, business owners need to realize that these new generation workers have been known to value incentives over salary.
Rewards should be something that matters to the employees earning them; time off of work, preferred parking, travel bonuses, and gifts are amongst the popular choices. But we’ve also heard of handwritten notes, new equipment for the office, and charitable contributions made on an employee’s behalf, as well as any form of public recognition to be highly motivating.
Find a solution that works!
Even the best thought-out strategies can be tedious to manage without a proper solution behind them. Investing in a program that is easy to use, quick to set up, and is customizable is a personal decision, but a product like Qarrot is a flexible employee recognition platform designed to be used as an engagement and motivation tool.
The dashboards are easy to use, and alleviate administrative effort by centralizing recognition in one place, eliminating email clutter, automating most processes, and removing time-consuming manual processes, resulting in less friction when earning and cashing in on rewards.
Qarrot is more than a rewards system, it operates a SaaS-based employee motivation and engagement platform for all industries. Its platform enables users to recognize employee accomplishments, launch goal-based campaigns and to celebrate milestones like birthdays and work anniversaries.
Get buy-in from management!
Truthfully, once you’ve implemented a system that removes the manual processes, and offers real-time reporting tools to help set and meet business objectives, it’s pretty easy to get managers to use it. If you are still using a legacy system, coming up with creative ways to get leaders to engage with your employees is key to motivating them.
Helping employees to understand the impact their performance has on the organization’s goals is essential to helping your workforce see the value they bring to the company. By providing clear expectations of behavior, performance and outcomes you can have managers communicate these expectations to employees. This way there is a clear connection between what managers say are important attributes and what behavior is actually rewarded
Simplify reporting!
A good solution will provide targeted reporting for you. Setting and meeting goals to establish a link between effort and value is crucial to determining a real ROI for the program. Stakeholders will require these reports regularly and your system should take the guess-work out of providing them.
Don’t forget to measure the impact on both employees and the company. Everything from revenue, absenteeism, productivity, engagement levels, and retention can be affected by a well-executed rewards program.
Understanding what information is important to which stakeholders will help make reporting easier too. The sales department may want your recognition and performance reports to identify employees deserving of a promotion, for example, where your finance department may want the overall expense report.
Request A Demo
An employee recognition program, like Qarrot, can help you to leverage your workforce to increase sales, customer service and overall employee satisfaction. Keeping it simple, but useful, with your workforce’s values in mind will not only help you get more out of your rewards program but make it easier for you to manage overall.
Request your free demo of Qarrot today!
3 strategies for helping managers improve employee engagement
I was recently speaking with an HR director exploring ways she could better equip her managers with tools to motivate her company’s staff. Her focus on managers was interesting. She understood what a growing number of HR professionals have come to realize: The importance managers play in attracting, motivating, and retaining talent within organizations.
According to Gallup, companies stand to increase revenue per employee by as much as 59% by employing four key human capital strategies. Having a great manager accounts for nearly 50% of this potential revenue increase. Great managers have the ability to develop employees’ strengths and get the best out of each person.Speaking with Marina Byezhavova, a human resources professional in our hometown of Montreal, only reinforced this perspective further:
“I conduct culture audits of companies and I see that most hiring managers and HR professionals who are interested in a happier workforce focus a lot on work conditions, social atmosphere and team building. However, studies show that 80% of employees leave because of their managers! Happiness is important but a long-term strategy ensuring employees are loyal and content should focus on leadership training instead of the bells and whistles.”
Marina’s comments ring true for me, not only because of the various conversations I’ve had with other HR professionals and business owners alike on employee motivation, but because I’ve managed people for years. And, I have to say I think she’s right.
With that in mind, here are 3 three strategies to help your managers develop their abilities and to improve their employees’ motivation.
Train your managers to be better leaders
As Marina puts it, “bells and whistles” are nice but on their own aren’t substantial enough to develop long-term employee engagement. Rather, companies should focus on leadership training. Developing your managers’ leadership skills provides your organization with a much more robust basis for attracting, motivating, and retaining talent.
When I was first promoted to a managerial position (many years ago), I got a hearty congratulations, some coaching, and then a nasty trial by fire.
Thankfully, I soon was able to get formal leadership training. So, it wasn’t too long before I began learning about performance reviews, setting goals for my employees, managing conflict, removing barriers for my staff, leading team discussions, how to listen and resolve issues, and so much more…
I also began to learn about creating a sense of urgency and rallying my team behind a vision. But it certainly didn’t come by magic. I was coached by a mentor and participated in as much leadership development training as I could.
And while many individuals are “naturally gifted” managers, the majority of people promoted into management or leadership positions (even those ‘naturals’) would benefit from formalized training to help them understand the ins and outs of managing others.
Key areas to consider include: communication, performance management, and managing conflict.
If your organization doesn’t have formal leadership training, consider informal or formal mentoring programs where more experienced leaders can help newly minted managers navigate their first year or so in their position.
Encourage managers to use SMART goals
When I was first introduced to “S.M.A.R.T.” goals, I remember thinking the acronym sounded too clever to actually be of any use.
As it turned out, the SMART methodology for goal-setting is critical for effective performance management and a key tool for managers of all stripes. Whether the acronym itself is explicitly mentioned isn’t relevant. Employees are more motivated when the goals they are working to achieve have the following “SMART” components to them:
Specific
The SMART approach encourages managers to set goals with their staff that include a specific target or destination.
Measurable
For a goal to be SMART, it must be measurable in that it can be tracked and quantified.
Attainable
The SMART methodology also requires that the goal be realistically attainable within the timeframe given to the employee.
Relevant
Of particular interest to me (and my personal experience), is goal-relevancy. To me, this is about linking the goal to the broader mission and vision of the organization. It helps employees understand how they’re contributing to the bigger picture.
Time-bound
Finally, SMART goals always have a defined timeframe for their achievement.
No manager should be without this approach or, at least, a good understanding of it.
Empower managers to recognize their staff
Recognition done well can be the secret weapon of an all-star manager. Often, however, it is left to managers to figure out how to effectively use this incredibly powerful tool.
Recognition plays into performance management, feedback, employee development, and much more. And, I think organizations are increasingly aware of the power of recognition to improve employee morale, motivation, and performance.
According to a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, giving your employees feedback about their “performance improvement opportunities” is fraught with the potential for error and puts people in a negative state of mind not ideal for learning and improvement.
Instead, catching an employee doing something well and taking a moment to constructively praise their accomplishment is a much more effective alternative. Instead of shoving your opinion about what they need to improve down their throat, you’re shining the spotlight on a strength they can build on and further develop.
This helps employees better understand what they did well and to build on those strengths and repeat them in the future. In this way, recognition not only serves as a powerful tool for boosting morale, but also for employee development.
I’m a big believer in these three strategies for empowering managers, especially as it relates to attracting, motivating, and retaining talent.
Uncover more ways your organization can benefit from a recognition process - book a demo with Qarrot today!
How to make the most of your mission, vision, and values
Despite conflicting opinions, employee engagement doesn’t only mean employee happiness. Employee engagement is also the connectedness an employee feels to their job, the understanding of their personal contribution to the process, and the motivation they feel for growth within the company. It all starts with defining your mission, vision and values. For starters, ensure that the “who, what, why” trifecta of your mission statement is answered, your vision statement provides motivation for the future, and your values define your company’s organizational culture and beliefs. Of the three, your company’s values are most connected to employee engagement by being anchored in your company’s culture. This will have a huge effect on productivity and make the most of your mission, vision, and values.
"Your Mission creates FOCUS. Your Vision provides DIRECTION. Your Values define BEHAVIOUR.” ¹
Breaking the Mold with Company Values
Values such as integrity, teamwork, and customer service encompass the top three most common Fortune 100 company values. Nonetheless, they are exactly that, common. These values won’t set your company apart from competitors, nor will they attract and retain top employees. Core company values need to be implemented into everything, especially all processes involving employees. From start to finish, your company values should be the base of every company decision. This can be particularly difficult because strong values are tough and often controversial, but in the end, they will keep the company unified. When implemented properly, strong values will actually cause pain before they do good, as strange as that sounds. This means that some employees will feel cast out or constrained by behavioral boundaries, in fact narrowing the operational freedom of your business. On the bright side, when an employee’s values do align with the company core values, higher employee engagement and productivity will thrive.
Unfortunately, there is no “one size fits all” answer for this, as every person has a different perspective on values. Creating clear definitions for your company values, whether they’re core values, aspirational values, flexible values, or accidental values, will help clarify the meaning of every term your company stands for. This will avoid confusion and only attract the warrior employees who strongly believe in your company. It’s important to remember that values aren’t about people-pleasing. Rather, they place core beliefs at the forefront of your company. Just as you wouldn’t implement a survey for an overall consensus on financial or strategic issues for your company, the same concept applies to values for them to succeed.
Give Them Culture and Performance Will Follow
A study from 2015 involving automobile sales challenged the question, "Which comes first, organizational culture or performance?" The results strongly proved that if an engaged culture is implemented, more consistent and adaptable performance will result. Categories such as sales and customer satisfaction increased, while absenteeism and employee turnover substantially decreased.
Company culture defines a social order that grounds behavior and clarifies what is accepted or rejected amongst a group of people. Ultimately, it culminates in a shared purpose that energizes a company to help it grow. Depending on your company values, your culture will likely thrive under one of the following eight shared company culture categories:
Caring
A caring-based culture focuses on helping and supporting one another. Teamwork is highly emphasized, alongside loyalty and positivity.
Authority
An authority-based culture emphasizes competition, drive, and personal advantage. Confidence and constructive criticism are highly encouraged.
Purpose
A purpose-based culture comes together by focusing on global sustainability. They are striving for a greater cause and an ideal world.
Results
A results-based culture is goal-oriented and success driven. They strive for accomplishment and winning to get ahead.
Learning
Creativity, curiosity, and cultivation of new ideas are highly characterized in a learning-based culture. Exploration of new knowledge is made into adventure and open-mindedness is embraced.
Enjoyment
Happiness, fun, and excitement are emphasized in an enjoyment-based culture. A sense of humor is welcomed and stimulation is found in play.
Order
An order-based culture thrives on punctuality, structure, and rules. Employees are cooperative and looking to conform.
Safety
Planning ahead is a big value for a safety-based culture. Risk-taking is set to a minimum, and thorough preparedness and caution are taken in any business strategies.
A recent Harvard Business Review study showed that the success resulting from a company culture is again not a magic formula. Factors such as region, industry, strategy, leadership, and organizational design all play a part in the calculation of success due to company culture. Therefore, it’s not possible to say that what works for one company will necessarily work for the next, but clarifying which category of company culture your core values align with will help you to make the most of your values. Clear company cultures help employees to feel involved, connected, and supported. Guess what that sounds like? Employee engagement. In fact, it’s a direct domino outcome of clearly defining your company mission, vision, and values.
Harness the power of appreciation through peer-to-peer recognition - book a demo with Qarrot!
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How to make the best out of this year's employee appreciation day
A recent Harvard Business Review article looks at the three myths of feedback. Sometimes referred to as the “Feedback Fallacy”, it’s interesting to learn that subjective feedback - from a manager to her employee, for example - often doesn’t produce the performance improvements most of us have been taught to expect.
In fact, it may be that improving employee performance is best achieved by focusing on their existing strengths and key accomplishments. Wait, what?!
That’s right: According to HBR, focusing on correcting gaps or deficiencies impairs learning. Whereas, focusing on what your employee is already good at catalyzes learning. Moreover, praising an employee for a strong performance or a great outcome focuses their attention on what worked, helping them further strengthen that ability.
Show your employees more appreciation this year
What better time to start applying this approach to employee performance improvement than on Employee Appreciation Day?
This year, National Employee Appreciation Day falls on March 1st. Since first introduced by Dr. Bob Nelson in 1995, this day provides an excellent opportunity for employers to create a culture of appreciation and express their gratitude towards their hard-working employees. After all, employees are, arguably, your most valuable asset.
Critically, appreciation should not be limited to one or two days a year. The more you build appreciation into your company culture, the greater the outcomes you can expect. Start by using Employee Appreciation Day as a “preview” or “trailer” for the types of behaviors you want your organization to employ all year round. Of course, March 1st is the “big event”, but there’s no reason it can’t be a springboard for a larger, long-term initiative.
With that in mind, here are recommendations for a great Employee Appreciation Day:
It's the small stuff that counts
It’s easy to take note of bit accomplishments like closing a new deal or launching a new product. Often times, it’s all the little steps it took to get there, and all the extra team members who contributed that go unrecognized. When you “don’t sweat the small stuff” someone else usually does, and wouldn’t it be lovely to be recognized for that?
Whose reward is it anyway?
Sure, it’s always nice to order in food or take the team out for lunch, but what’s new about that? Reach out to your employees and let them choose. Brainstorm ideas that combine two rewards like an outing and food, or an activity and drinks. As a bonus, this can easily double as a team-building activity with fun challenges, leaving your team closer and talking about the event for years to come.
Shake up the pattern
A recent study done by the Huffington Post showed that the average person spends 13 years and 2 months, or 4,821 hrs, at work. This doesn’t include the extra time spent checking emails, prepping for meetings, and planning weekly to-do lists. This Employee Appreciation Day, consider rewarding employees by giving back some hours. Offer a paid day off, whether it’s this Friday or a different day of their choosing.
Keep it personal
Nothing is more meaningful than personal recognition. Employees can get caught up in their day-to-day work, allowing anxieties to brew. The moment someone shakes them up with a genuine ‘thank you’, any self-doubt is reduced and new confidence is sparked. This can be done in many ways, whether it’s through individual thank-you cards, in person with a grateful handshake, or an announcement to the team, you can bet it’ll go a long way.
Keep the party going
If you’re feeling cramped by a 1-day event, why not celebrate all month long. This leaves room for contests, multiple outings, and company-wide inclusion. Whether it’s one-by-one or all at once, showing appreciation to your employees leaves them motivated and productive. In turn, the rewards your company will receive will be higher morale, productivity, performance, and retention. This Employee Appreciation Day set the bar high for a productive year and see where it takes your team - the sky’s the limit! If you missed this year’s Employee Appreciation Day, don’t worry! You can show appreciation all year long with Qarrot. Connect with us to learn more about how to make recognition a part of your company culture.
Strengthen your workplace culture and values using Qarrot - book a demo today!
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How to reward wellness at work: consider this
Breaking a habit is one of the hardest things to do, nevermind establishing a new one. According to a recent study done at the University College London, it takes an average of 66 days to create a basic habit, and 21 days to break an old one. Combined, that’s a little under 3 months. A habit is a behavior, and one of the most difficult traits to change, especially when it comes to wellness, and therefore the most critical part of wellness. Behavior changes can be challenging to implement and sustain over the long-term and should be at the core of any effective wellness program.
Like other employee engagement initiatives, rewards and recognition can play a role in motivating your employees to adopt the behaviors necessary to put them on the path to making wellness a regular habit. When evaluating how to motivate employees to adopt wellness-related behaviors, consider these different ways of structuring your rewards initiative:
Participation
This is the most inclusive approach, as anyone who participates will earn rewards.
Progress
Keep your employees on the right path by rewarding pivotal steps or milestones along the way. These are given to employees who have actively been participating and pursuing their goals.
Outcome
Reward employees who achieve specific goals. Although this can be the least inclusive, it provides a strong incentive for participants who are striving to achieve long-term goals.
Will implementing a wellness program really succeed in making a difference?
The success of your wellness initiative is all about how you design and execute it.
Ask
Communicate with your staff and ask them what elements of wellness they consider to be important and they would like to see implemented. What do your employees need? Does this match the company’s goals? This way you’ll get a clear idea of what personal goals exist for your employees, making it easier to implement rewards.
Consider company culture
Using employee survey data, create a plan that combines physical activity with wellness education and incorporates core elements of the company’s culture. Continuous support and change comes from wellness being a core value of the company.The culture should be supportive of all aspects of health including financial, emotional, social, and physical well-being.
Strong communication
Create a comprehensive communication plan to keep employees aware of how to get involved, new challenges, workshops, rewards, and changes. For better results, communicating across multiple channels, with regular frequency (particularly at the start), and providing relevant content is recommended.
Budget
If employees can earn rewards or additional benefits for participating in your wellness program, then you’ll want to plan your annual budget. Studies have shown that rewards valued over 100$ correlate to higher rates of participation than rewards valued at less. However, this doesn’t mean your program needs to have a huge price tag. Other valuable reward options can include creative alternatives such as parking spaces or half days off from work, which are desired by most employees.
Administration
Using rewards and recognition software can be a great way to help alleviate the administrative effort associated with tracking employee participation and the rewards earned for their wellness achievements. It also encourages employee participation since they’ll experience less “friction” related to earning recognition and cashing in their rewards.
Measuring impact
While doing your homework upfront helps avoid unnecessary trial and error, it’s important to check-in frequently to see how things are going and allow for adjustments that suit your employees’ needs. 30% participation is the benchmark for success when it comes to wellness programs. Therefore, once you implement wellness rewards, a participation increase of 20% should be seen as a great improvement. More than just participation, measuring the beneficial impact on both employees and the company is highly recommended. For example, as a result of your company’s wellness program are you aiming to achieve higher employee engagement and productivity or lower health plan insurance premiums? If so, it’s important to have baseline comparisons established before launching the program in order to effectively measure changes thereafter.
Legalities
Employers are also always wise to consider their potential legal responsibilities relating to privacy and workplace liability. A wellness program opens the door to becoming more involved in employees’ lives by tracking personal health and activity-related information. Consider legal waivers to protect the company against the unlikely case of injury lawsuits that result from program participation. Above all, it is important to remember that all programs must be voluntary. If an incentive is offered, employees should never feel any sense of obligation to participate.
Wellness programs can be implemented to help employees adopt healthier behaviors from simple daily adjustments to longer-term accomplishments. Gamifying behavioral health goals can keep your team motivated to succeed. Things like walking to work, packing a healthy lunch, or drinking more water, are easily rewardable and trackable. Prizes like gift cards for athletic wear or restaurants, and reusable water bottles make for great incentives. Challenges including long-term goals such as smoking cessation, 5-km runs, or weight loss can be harder to stick to, but with milestone-based incentives, as well as a larger achievement rewards, you’re sure to keep your employees motivated. What’s more, Qarrot is here to help! Our software is easy to use, allowing employees to directly enter results towards a given goal. Employees can easily track their improvement and feel inspired to continue on the wellness path.
Workplaces thrive when they adopt Qarrot - learn more by booking your free demo today!
Further reading
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6 reasons why you should incorporate workplace wellness
A corporate wellness program focuses on creating an initiative to improve the health and well-being of employees. Wellness programs can be implemented in multiple ways, such as:
- On-site fitness centers
- Smoking cessation programs
- Transit options
- Paramedical services
- Drop-in classes such as yoga, social dance, pilates, or Zumba
- Healthy lunch and snack options
- Siesta and recovery areas
- Employee assistance programs
- Outside-of-the-office adventures
- Health challenges
But what are the real reasons to invest in corporate wellness?
Ultimately this investment is going to save your business money on multiple levels, and increase the health, happiness, and loyalty of your employees. What else could you ask for?
Lower health costs
Corporations are the largest influencers in disease prevention, just simply by fluke. Companies would rather be focused on selling their products, but the outcome of a wellness program for their employees is too great to be ignored. Wellness programs change the behavior of your employees and the bottom line of health is behaviour. Bad eating habits, a sedentary lifestyle, smoking, and drinking are all habits of choice that raise the risk for high blood pressure, cholesterol, and depression. A wellness program changes those patterns and innately prevents disease. Less disease and health risk means lower health care costs for the company, ultimately providing both hard and soft benefits for the company.
Positive ROI (return on investment)
Your company is going to save much more by implementing a wellness program than the cost of starting one. In fact, the average savings from wellness programs reviewed in 22 studies conducted over a span of 2 years was $3.27 for every $1.00 spent.
Improved productivity
According to a recent study, presenteeism (working while not in optimal health) is more commonly found in people with poor lifestyle choices, such as bad diet habits, a lack of exercise, and poor sleeping patterns. Many links have also been proven between exercise and cognitive increase in memory and focus. A study from 2013 showed that those who participated in their company wellness programs saved 10.3 hrs and an average of $353 in productivity costs per person, annually.
Decreased absenteeism
Absenteeism is a sure way for a business to lose money, so any way to decrease this issue is a plus. It is said that 60% of absences are due to stress. Physical activity can decrease stress, increase energy, and allow for better sleep patterns. Recognizing that healthy employees are happier and more productive is the key to success.
Employee recruitment and retention
Wellness programs started out as an employee perk, but have now become commonplace for medium to larger-sized corporations. The better the wellness program, the more likely you are to attract the employees you’re looking for. Top companies such as Google and Microsoft offer extremely generous wellness packages, and other tech companies quickly followed suit. In the end, they are all fighting to recruit and maintain the best of the best, and what better way to do so than with top-notch wellness packages.
Heightened employee morale
Healthy employees are happier employees, and after all, employee morale is the make or break of any business.
Can wellness be incorporated into an employee recognition program?
Of course!
Show support and encouragement to those employees involved in a marathon, team, or simply dedicated to their fitness. Set your recognition program up in a way that allows for time and activity benefits like gym sessions, meditation moments, or vouchers for massage. Get creative and show your team you value their well-being. Foster a ‘wellness culture’ by having employees recognize each other’s wellness achievements. And of course, if budget allows, award your employees for reaching big goals. If an employee has a weight loss goal or is in training for a competition, reward those efforts with points that can be redeemed for rewards of their choice. Recognition will strengthen your wellness culture and provide additional motivation to your employees to stay on track with their health goals.
Incorporating wellness into your business doesn’t have to be costly or time-consuming, but it can be immensely beneficial to your organization. Whether you choose to implement a wellness program or to simply add wellness options to your existing recognition program, you will show your employees you support their well-being, all the while benefiting from higher productivity, retention, engagement, and positive employee morale.
Qarrot has the tools you need to drive better performance and engagement - book your demo to learn more!
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6 motivational holiday office ideas
The holidays can be an extremely stressful time for everyone. With the stress of buying the right gifts, balancing home and office life, as well as staying focused with all the decorations, music, and events going on, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. Of course, the “Holiday Bonus” is the easiest and most immediately satisfying way to reward employees over the holiday season, but for smaller companies, this can be a great, and unaffordable expense. The hard truth is that most people just want money. They want a raise or a bonus and unfortunately, a bonus is only a present if it’s not connected to performance. Thankfully, there are other ways to reward and motivate your staff, while also keeping their attention at work. Using the holidays to your advantage can really help incentivize your employees' tasks, and spike sales around this time of year.
Choose the Right Rewards
When choosing rewards, ensure the rewards allow for some flexibility to suit everyone. Gift cards and vouchers offer choice, and implementing a rewards program allows for various options and prizes. Consider the “Four Gift Rule” when choosing prizes; “something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read.”
Incentivize Achievable Goals
When planning holiday goals, they should be easy to measure, clear and specific, and just challenging enough to get done in time. Create a rewards program that carries over into the New Year to help combat the January blues. The easiest way to implement this is by creating a company rewards site where the employees can track their points, exchange them for rewards, or enter contests. Take care to communicate clearly so that the rewards program is office-wide and everyone gets a chance to participate!
Point vouchers: Vouchers can be varied, this way employees can choose to keep saving their points for a big item or trade them in early for several smaller prizes. Not only does it feel good to be rewarded for your efforts, but employees also have the option to give prizes as gifts and save on holiday costs, if they so choose.
Online scratch card codes: Once a certain level of points is attained, employees get a code to “scratch” on a company site for a chance to win prizes. Again these can be anything like gift cards, wine crates, or gadgets.
Trip incentive: This option allows employees to accumulate daily points throughout the holiday season to claim a holiday trip. These could range from local to international, including ski trips, spa weekends, or Christmas shopping sprees!
Grand prize draw: When reaching a certain level of points, employees get a code to enter a ballot into the grand prize draw. This can be “the Twelve Days of Christmas” or once a week in December. The more goals they reach, the more ballots they can enter, and the higher their chances for winning top prizes.
Reward Publicly
Beyond a rewards or point system, it’s important to thank and reward specifically high achieving employees publicly. Whether this is with an announcement in a meeting, a wall of recognition, or a luncheon, showing your gratitude in front of other employees is good for morale and gives a boost to employees who deserve a little extra recognition. In addition, say thank you to the employee’s family by sending flowers, or gift cards for a night out to a restaurant, movie night, or spa.
Flexible Work Hours
On the same note, allow for family days like a sick or vacation day. Give the option to work from home to parents who request it. A bit of flexibility helps to relieve stress in a season where there is a lot going on not only in the office, but personally as well. Some extra or flexible family time may be just what your staff needs to stay motivated and loyal into the New Year. Additionally, encourage employees to slow down, taking one task at a time. Distractions like social media, coupled with a massive to-do list and deadlines, produce unfocused work and more time away from loved ones.
Decorate the Office
With so many DIY decoration tutorials available on YouTube and Pinterest, it’s easy to get the staff involved in the process. Take an afternoon for team building and make a rewards game out of decorating. Perhaps let the winning team choose the office Christmas party location, or offer the option to split the budget by department. Remember that management leads the Holiday spirit. If you’re grouchy, then your staff will feel it and motivation will plummet. That being said, be respectful of people’s choices around the Holidays. Whether for personal or religious reasons, some people may not observe the festivities. Don’t pressure people for not taking part.
Practice Giving
After all, this is the season! Your employees also want to know they’re a part of something bigger; that the company is actually making positive changes in the world. This doesn’t have to be a grandiose gesture, but even looking up some local charitable activities like a food bank or clothing drive can get the office giving.
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How to incentivize creativity, innovation, and out-of-the-box thinking
Innovation starts, at its very basic level, as a disruption of the old. It can be implemented in processes, services, products, and strategies. Creativity can be a powerful ingredient for better problem-solving and innovation and has become an asset in every field. Once employees begin to think creatively, they can unlock the ability to dramatically improve a product, position, or company for the better. Most employees have interests outside of work and possess varied backgrounds. They may have acquired skills in previous fields that they don’t even realize can be applied to their current position. Bringing those skills to a job that doesn’t explicitly require them can create innovative ways of getting ahead. Take the example of someone with computer programming skills now working in a managerial role. What if she wrote a short program to shorten the amount of time spent analyzing data in order to spend more time on other managerial tasks? This employee’s efficient use of skills saves company funds and resources and allows for employee and company growth.
Unfortunately, not all employees are going to take on such initiatives on their own. Sometimes an incentive or reward can do the trick, but according to a study in a Harvard Business Review article, these incentives are best reserved for a job done well and are not as effective as a general motivational tool. Offering a financial reward only to accepted ideas that were implemented into action motivated fewer, but higher quality proposals that were more likely to succeed. On the same note, some research shows that financial incentives for innovation can actually stifle creativity completely. So what is the real key to incentivizing creativity? Getting your employees to care, feel connected, and challenged, which requires more than simply offering a reward.
How to boost innovation:
Create a strong team
Create a strong team that will help turn their creative ideas into reality. If you want your team to be innovative, start at the beginning: think outside-the-box when you’re hiring. Someone who doesn’t necessarily fit the psychological profile of the office will add different ways of thinking to create fresh ideas. This diversity should be applied to leaders as well, ensuring they have been assigned to the right role. A creative employee’s eccentricities are often what help them to be innovative; they question the norm and push boundaries for results. Involve your employees early, this will help them feel invested and more likely to implement innovative ideas from start to finish. Use techniques for brainstorming such as mind-mapping and lateral thinking, and emphasize the importance of homework vs. teamwork. Brainstorming should be done individually and in a group, this way employees all have innovative ideas to contribute and bounce off of one another to create stronger thought patterns. If your team is lacking in new ideas, work with your existing team by jostling their way of thinking. Prioritize trust and learning by getting to know your employees personally and recognizing their specific skills. This will help you assess what creative assignments to put them forward for, who to ask for ideas, and when. This will also help assign a project outside of their norm, use incentive deadlines, balance tasks with rewards, and raise the stakes just enough to create a challenging and exciting motivation for creativity. This will automatically trigger a new way of thinking and perhaps sprout new innovative solutions.
Implement an innovative culture
Implement an innovative culture by encouraging a growth mindset in the workplace. This requires openness to ideas, change, and failure. Make employees feel comfortable offering any innovative ideas they may have, even if they’re not the right fit. Encourage them to let you know their ideas through an email, a message board, an idea box, or any means that will be regularly checked and acknowledged by management. This way if the employee is enthusiastic about an idea, they know it will be heard either immediately or in a timely fashion. If it is not an opportune moment to acknowledge their efforts, hold back from brushing them off. Assure them you’re interested and will check it out soon. This way, employees from all levels within the company can feel free to implement ideas, because you never know where a fresh change could come from. Additionally, try the simplest perspective trick to encourage positive results. Using the words “Yes, and” rather than “Yes, but” creates an environment of encouragement. It recognizes the obstacles in the idea and promotes the employee to continue digging deeper.
Start solving internally
Start solving internally by encouraging employees to bring forward job or company problems as well as their solutions. This will help the employees air their frustrations and be heard, and in turn, help them feel more in control of their tasks. Keep track of an efficient employee’s shortcuts, even if they were unauthorized. Sometimes these loopholes are created by the employee to get through the mundane and bureaucratic tasks quickly and are actually very innovative ideas that shouldn’t be overlooked. If the ideas ultimately don’t fit, and the merits and downfalls have been considered, let the employee know why they won’t work.
Then get out of the office
Then get out of the office, literally and figuratively. Experiment with open concepts, designated rooms with creative atmosphere, or spending some time with the team outdoors. Look for ideas in other industries to study how they encounter and solve complications, for a different way of thinking. Allot a specific time for employees to work on ideas away from their daily duties, hold creative workshops, or monthly meetings outside of the office. Not only will this change be an incentive, but employees will look forward to this time and be motivated to innovate. The change of environment will change the mindset of your employees to think out-of-the-box, as they will literally be out-of-the-box!
Encourage failure and risk
Encourage failure and risk, and in turn, stifle fear. The enemy of creativity is fear, and failure is one of the main engines of anxiety in creativity. There is an element of vulnerability to creation that if stopped by fear, will be extinguished. Realistically, not every idea will be the best one, but by encouraging employees to take a risk, you will establish trust by allowing an employee to feel that they can fail and try again. Let the employee know where their idea is lacking and encourage them to keep trying.
Execute employee ideas and reward successful innovation
Employees feel motivated and empowered when their creative ideas are chosen and implemented. Initiate a strategy to execute innovative ideas and embrace change. If ideas are never taken to action, employees will view their efforts to be useless and lose motivation to bring ideas forward. Create an idea management system that clarifies where and who started the innovative idea. Keeping track of this will help motivate innovation at any level and keep the company growing. Once a successful idea is chosen, then reward the employee. This can come in the form of financial compensation, flexible work hours, remote assignments; something that suits the specific employee’s needs and keeps them happy and motivated to create more innovative ideas.
Creativity is a tricky thing - you can’t force it. As much as you try to motivate it, it will equally disappear. Creativity and innovation come when there is an environment of trust, patience, freedom, and purpose.
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