6 Ways to Help Your Employees Beat Stress and Work More!
December 30th, 2005 (Leadership)
If you would like your business to be ran by motivated and high-energy level employees then investing more into their atmosphere and helping them reduce “work-place stress” may be the trick. Research confirms that if your employees are stressed, then that will cost you more money in missed workdays and increased on-the-job injuries over both the short term and the long term.
In addition to these negative repercussions of having stressed out employees, your business may experience lower productivity and poor quality of output. Having said that, it is both clear and obvious that some very cost effective strategies would be to minimize stress on the job and provide your employees with opportunities to reduce other stress related issues.
Below is a list of ways in which you can help your company reduce stress for its employees while increasing the output of the business:
1. Try to provide an attractive and comfortable work environment whenever possible to reduce stress. Pleasant surroundings can do more for a person’s attitude then we realize. Create a less formal atmosphere, add plants, etc.
2. Supply a quiet room for your employees to take their breaks in. This area should be separate from the normal “hustle and bustle” of the work-place itself. This will give your employees a quick 10 minute break from the word stress that they may be experiencing.
3. Instead giving orders 100% of the time, try to create opportunities for employees to make decisions that will directly affect their job performance. This gives both a sense of personal power and also less stress because a deadline is set within them, and not hammered by “the boss”.
4. Give thanks to your employees for work accomplished by recognizing them for exemplary performance.
5. Choose the most ergonomically sound equipment, tools, and furniture for workstations.
6. Go out of your way to create opportunities for the employees to meet, socialize, and build working relationships. An example may be to set up a bowling team from work where you gather and play once a week. Another example may be a softball team, or even a book club, for employees only.