Have you thought much about the work/life balance of your staff? If not, it may be time to reconsider how you structure your office environment and treat your team. An imbalance between work and life can lead to increased stress and burnout. In turn, this can cause problems with productivity and conflict in your business. But there are some things you can do as a business owner or manager. Here are 5 tips to get you started.
1. Encourage Breaks
When you see your team is overwhelmed, you need to make sure they can step away before the stress negatively impacts their work or other team members. Don’t allow your staff to eat their lunch at the desk. Encourage them to take time out for themselves during the day. It will improve their overall productivity even if that seems counter-intuitive.
2. Provide Healthy Foods
Another simple way you can affect their work/life balance in a positive way is by providing healthy foods in the office as an alternative to salty or sugary snacks. Your employees may be trying to make smart choices for their healthy food consumption at home, but if this is not reinforced at the workplace, they can quickly fall out of the habit.
3. Enforce Vacation Policies
Another thing to consider is the enforcement of vacation policies. Many employees fear taking time off because they don’t want to feel replaceable or that their impact doesn’t matter. But time away from the office is essential to productivity and engagement. Don’t allow your employees to bank their time. Encourage them to take it and treat them fairly when they’re out of the office.
4. Offer Flexibility
You can also help your staff by offering flexibility for their schedules. Maybe you can allow work from home situations. And if that isn’t possible all of the time, there may be an opportunity to do it occasionally. You can also allow them to have a flexible start and end time, which could help with their commute or their family obligations such as school events after hours.
5. Increase Fun
Finally, make sure that your team is having fun while at work. Do this by providing spontaneous fun events. Host a pizza party or an ice cream bar. Allow them to wear jeans on Fridays in the summertime. Give them a flexible summer schedule to work four 10 hour days and have one day off a week. There are a variety of ways you can help them stay engaged on the job by using fun as a motivator.
Are you doing more to increase your employees’ work-life balance? Contact Harvard Resource Solutions Staffing Agencies in Detroit MI to learn more today!
