The old way of thinking that employees should be grateful that they have a job is not always the best way to motivate them.
Nowadays, companies are becoming more aware of how the welfare of their employees can relate to the productivity of the office. With that in mind, employers should put in more effort into making sure that their employees view their offices as their second homes, and not just because they spend most of their weekdays in it.
Instead, employers should look for ways that can make their employees love staying at their office. A happy employee can make the quality of work improve and at the same time, it creates employees that are productive, motivated, and happy to work in the office.
Below are some simple ways you can make your employees love their office:
Keep your office organized
Nobody likes a messy home, and nobody surely wants a disorganized second home as well.
In that case, you should make sure that you are proactive in your quest to keep an organized office space as much as possible.
Knowing where everything is and where everything should be is one of the first steps to creating an organized office. By making sure that you have a classification for organizing office items, you make it that much easier for employees to interact with your office.
Keeping an organized office is especially important if you store important paperwork. You wouldn’t want to lose those, so you should make sure that you have a secure place to store them.
Make your environment comfortable
Comfortability isn’t the first adjective that you would associate with an office, but prioritizing this can make all the difference. After all, if a place is comfortable to stay at, then people would innately want to stay longer, wouldn’t they?
A lot of office design schemes prioritize low-cost office supplies and furniture, which is why, more often than not, office spaces aren’t the most comfortable of places.
Instead of looking for the cheapest furniture, consider ergonomic furniture, especially office chairs and desks. Aside from that, investing in some aesthetic changes can have a significant effect on the warmth of a space.
Comfortability is also about having a welcoming space, so make sure you invest in paint jobs or artwork that make a space warmer and more inviting.
Prioritize work/life balance
Although the additional effect of having an office that your employees love is that they like staying in it more, it doesn’t mean that you should make sure that they do clock in longer hours and spend less time outside of work.
Instead, you should also make sure that your employees prioritize the work/life balance. Ensuring work/life balance can help build loyalty between employees and employers.
It communicates to them that you value not only the work that they do but also their overall well-being. If you want employees to love working for you, then make sure that they can balance other aspects of their life aside from office work.
Promote workplace wellness
Speaking of encouraging employees to prioritize their work/life balance, one way to do this is by promoting workplace wellness.
You can make it easier for your employees to live a balanced life by providing spaces and sessions that help improve their physical and mental wellness. You can offer incentives to employees who bike to work to encourage them to do it more often. You can even set up a gym membership included for your employees. Maybe you can set up yoga classes on specific days of the week.
There are many options to choose from. Try to figure out what your employees need the most so that you find the best wellness program that is appropriate for them.
Offer perks
We mentioned this briefly with the incentivizing those who bike to work. Another way to make your employees love working for your organization is by offering perks. However, that perks shouldn’t be a replacement for salaries or other relevant employee rights.
Moving on, some of the perks you can provide are as many as the wellness programs you can set up in the office. You can set up a rewards program for employees who work hard, and you can give them free products, like movie tickets.
You can even consider rewarding an entire team after a long and arduous work process is over and done with. A simple dinner outside with your team for free is a great perk that can help employees feel like they’re a part of the team.
Make the workplace a community
With office perks and wellness programs, what you’re really trying to do is create a community for your employees. When people feel like they belong, then they are more motivated to work and do their best for the organization.
Although some people can work well by themselves, it doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t feel like they’re part of a community. Knowing that you have someone to help you during tough times and having a community of support is an effective way of creating an office space that employees love.
Try to set up team-building activities to build up or boost the sense of community in people every so often.
Give proper credit when and where credit is due
When it comes to giving rewards, you should always be timely and appropriate.
Give praise publicly and negative feedback privately. Plus, when it comes to giving people their deserved credit, you should make sure that people have what is due to them. Don’t hog the credit you can get from an employee’s work.
Aside from that, you should properly reward someone for the work that they do. The appropriate reward should range from a free lunch to even a promotion.
Wrap up
Making employees love the office is a long process that doesn’t guarantee success, but the rewards will be worth it. Plus, your business will be all the better with employees who love their jobs.
Photo credits: Pixabay
About the Author – Raymond Chiu is the Director of Operations for Maid Sailors, trusted office cleaning services in NYC. Maid Sailors offers its customers unrivaled office cleaning services that can address even the toughest cleaning needs. Matched with affordable prices, Maid Sailors is your best partner in helping you turn your office into a work-friendly workplace.