Coming to the office means working hard because you can only have fun when you get home in the evening! This is a mentality that many people have, but it is totally wrong. Research has proven that happy employees are more productive. To ensure your employees are happy you must ensure that they have fun at work. How can you do this? Here are five tips you will find useful.
Create Social Gathering Areas
Staff should not only talk about work but also about other topics. A social gathering space allows them to do just that. Actually, a talk over lunch hour can give birth to some great ideas. Not all awesome ideas come from the boardroom. You could create a tea room where staff can have coffee and snacks during their free time and interact. You could also create a simple game room where people can gather and have fun games. A gathering area gives your staff a chance to interact and get to know each other better. This is a lot more fun than being stuck at their desks and only making work-related stops at each other’s desks throughout the day. To top it off, supply some free snacks and everybody will love the new hangout spot.
Encourage People to be Themselves
When hiring, look for the best candidates who are not only qualified for the job but also have a happy personality. Well, happy personalities tend to rub off on others and before you know it everyone becomes happy. Encourage employees to be themselves. Do not make the workplace so serious that one cannot even crack a joke. Allow people to interact freely and enjoy each other’s company. This also applies to the managers. Freely interact with all employees and try to generally have a good time at the office.
Surprise!
Your employees will definitely be expecting your congratulatory message when you reach a given goal. This is almost routine and it is a good thing. However, doing more will come as a surprise to them and they will feel appreciated. Appreciated employees will enjoy working with you more and in turn, they will be more productive. You may give them anything from bags to electronics to branded clothes. Look at some suggested gifts for employees and coworkers and have a pick. You may buy a gift for each one but group gifts are more economical. A good and unique choice would be a smoke eater. This is particularly important if you have several smokers in your team. You can allow them to smoke in the gathering areas and this machine takes the smoke away so that even the non-smokers will enjoy using the room. Everyone is happy.
Organize Meetings Away from the Workplace
Whether in the form of team building or organized lunches, a team’s interaction away from the workplace is important. This gives the team members a chance to have fun with each other whether they are eating or playing. This will help reconcile workers who may have had a misunderstanding at work, help know each other better, and allow open channels of communication. Plus, when the team comes back from the activity they will have something to talk about and this creates a fun environment in the workspace.
Personalize Desks and Offices
Your house is a home because of all the personal touches you have added to it. Your office should also have those personal touches so it feels like a place you want to be at. Do not shy away from bringing in that framed photo of your entire family. You may also bring in your favorite desk games and stick inspirational quotes on a corner somewhere. Whatever makes you happy, just do it and your desk will feel like it is part of you. As a manager, encourage your coworkers to personalize their desks. This makes the office feel more familiar and fun.
With just a few moves you can make your office fun. You can make it a place that everyone wants to get up in the morning and come to. All you need is to put in a little effort and you will have a motivated team to work with.
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