As a boss, it’s important to know how to get the best out of your employees. This is an art and not a science, as people often have very different drives and interests. However, one of the best things you can do for an employee is to facilitate their best self being expressed without forcing them to.
What you do have a degree of control over is the atmosphere of your office, and the facilities you provide. Often the bedrock of the employees satisfaction is the office. This is an area where you can exercise the most control. The mini-motivations of the productive employee often reside here, and we’re here to ensure you stimulate all of them. In the following article we will list a few areas in which you may find it purposeful to inspect and improve regarding your office.
Facilities
It’s important for your employee to feel catered for. This means that the facilities that your office has to offer need to be well maintained. It might not be the case that your firm can justify a breakfast bar and full catering, but at the very least a competent kitchen should be considered. You should also never ensure that your employees must eat at their desks. When working upwards of nine hours a day in the same spot, sitting there for lunch as well can be the opposite of what an employee wants. For this reason, providing a space where all can sit and eat at varying periods (stagger lunchtimes if you need to) allows for a distinct separation of work and a break.
Also, consider your office toilets. There is no place in your firm that will demotivate employees more than dirty restroom facilities. You should hire regular cleaning staff to rejuvenate this space every single night, and preferably at intervals throughout the day. It should always be stocked with the essentials. The plumbing should always work and never lead to restroom downtime. You can find materials such as black malleable iron pipe fittings to refurbish your sink setup, or to allow for more toilets to cater to more people. When an employee can stay hygienic, they stay happy. With this in mind:
Cleaning & Organization
A room is the externalization of your mind. Look at your home bedroom and you’ll see this to be the case. People who often have their lives in the best shape will care about ensuring this space is maintained and tidied. So, consider the life of an office employee. It might be great that you have worked your way up to owning or managing parts of a business, and this might have come with your own office space to boast about and keep clean.
The standard employee might not have this luxury. This means that it falls to you to ensure every desk space an employee has is enough. This means giving them enough desk space to refer to files and also store them, even if they are privy to two monitors. It means providing under desk storage solutions, a compatible way of organizing their desks, and nightly cleaning services that ensure they come to a fresh office each morning.
Also, consider the air purity in this room. Bring in many air filters to allow for a pleasant breathing experience, and open windows to allow good ventilation in the summer months. Organizing the seating plan is just as important. Being right under a ventilation duct, a cold window breeze or other certain circumstance can demotivate an employee without you knowing. Ensure you allow for feedback forms to gauge the response to your office setup, and listen to see if any positive ideas can be implemented.
Celebration
We all enjoy seeing our work rewarded and praised. This means that allowing your employees to thrive in good work well done will motivate them to achieve it. If you can, lend weekly emails that praise great work well done, and keep everyone happy for their efforts. Keep an employee of the month board in full view of the office. Also, allow your employees to somewhat decorate their space with fun. Allow for an employee notice board to be fully in centre. This might house images of the team at a social event, or even celebrate the personal lives of some of your employees. For example, someone climbing a mountain might be a great feat to appreciate, and with their blessing could take up this space.
When you celebrate the people in your firm, everyone feels like they’re part of a great big family. These three words are those you should hope to foster in the minds of all your employees, and doing so does take a little effort. However, the first and foremost step is showing your employees you appreciate them. This is surely a wonderful place to start.
With these tips, you can be sure to enhance the daily mini-motivations of the productive employee.
