7 Workplace Innovations that Can Make Your Employees Happy in 2016
The fact that you are an innovative company already sets you apart from your competing businesses. However, aside from the innovations your company offers to the market, you must present it to your employees first, as happy employees contribute to a pleasant company.
On the contrary, there will be a few hiccups that will hinder your employees’ maximum ability, which may result in distraction among them and preventing them to be more productive.
In the recent study about employee’s behavior, it says that employees that are happy in the workplace are more productive than the ones who aren’t satisfied. It’s actually higher by a margin of 12% according to the latest research from the University of Warwick.
The leader of the research, Professor Andrew Oswald, remarked, “Companies like Google have invested more in employee support and employee satisfaction has risen as a result. For Google, it rose by 37%, they know what they are talking about.”
Considering that happier employees are crucial in having higher productivity levels, the possible ways to get your employees motivated for work would be gathering incentives for employees. But, there are also other ways to help your employees reach their maximum potential, and below are some new innovations that can spark that.
1. Swing Seats for Board Meetings
Sitting in swings can bring your meeting to greater heights, as swings seem to give us this feeling of carefree thinking—allowing employees to think outside the box.
The offbeat feeling of giddiness makes a person’s posture change, unconsciously make him smile, and make opening up easy by simply sitting, or swinging on a swing. This is usually best geared towards the creative department, and those companies who need quite an innovative room for the brainstorming moments.
These swing seats are also a great way to initiate camaraderie among colleagues, especially during break times, as it can also serve as an alternate dining room in the office.
2. Desks That Conform to You—Not the Machine
It has been tried and tested that sitting in front of the computer or laptop for long hours is bad for our health. But, doing the alternative, which is a standing desk, takes just too much energy from your legs, and can tend to be counter-productive if an employee is tired.
Maybe what we all just need in the office is a seat that can adjust to our desired position and let us move freely—be it sitting down, slouching a bit, or even lying horizontally without the worry of damaging the computer or laptop. Ultimately, allowing an employee to relax and lie down while working, upon seeing it as the best position.
3. “Hoffice” Home Office
A “hoffice” or home office may seem unrealistic, but you can try renting a big apartment instead of the usual, traditional office space in Makati, which can be quite costly as well. In this type of office, your employees can work comfortably without feeling too much pressure, either at their desks, at the kitchen table, or whichever corner they desire.
4. 6-Hour Workday
In the Philippines, it’s been a standard that the usual working hours should be eight. But, considering the benefits that companies from other countries experienced upon switching to a 6-hour workday is quite remarkable.
Their employees didn’t feel drained or fatigued even it’s just the middle of the week, are happy as they get to spend time with their family and their personal pursuits, and had better collaboration among other team members, as conflicts and arguments reduced significantly.
5. Do-Not-Disturb Light
Open offices are common here in the Philippines, and with that usually comes a steady stream of interferences from colleagues—be it for gossip, asking about the next board meeting, or borrowing a pen.
Certain inventions like the Luxafor, which is an LED light connected to your laptop/computer’s productivity apps analyzes when you’re working or browsing sites like Facebook or YouTube. The LED light turns green, meaning you’re open for a conversation, if you’re up on Facebook, or other SNS.
On the other hand, if you’re using productivity apps or typing away in your document, it turns red to indicate that you’re busy and can’t be distracted.
Having this kind of gadget lets other colleagues know when it’s okay to start a random conversation without having to ask and distract them from their task.
6. Quiet Space
Your employee can only kick back, relax, and focus on their work for that upcoming report if there are no distractions around like playful officemates eager to sneak up on them and start talking.
But, open office formats do just this, and it gives quite a lot of damage when it comes to an employee’s productivity and privacy, as this format enables co-workers to trap them in long-winded stories of this or that.
A way to combat this is this having a cubicle that’s meant for workers needing a break from the open format and focus on the task of the day.
7. Online Loyalty Program
Implementing incentives or rotating prizes can really boost an employee’s motivation and productivity as it gives them another goal aside from just actually getting their job done—which at times can get boring.
But, we all know how traditional performance-based rewards’ manual systems can be very slow and inefficient. Further, if employees don’t receive their rewards on time, the next time that you will implement rewards to them won’t likely yield the same level of excitement and motivation unlike before.
Online loyalty programs automate your reward delivery and process—leaving your employees with genuinely happy, as they receive their rewards on time, without a lot of paperwork and long process.
These are just the seven workplace innovations that can put a smile on your employees’ faces this 2016, and hopefully contribute to their loyalty much more. Take a breather and give your employees what they need, as they continuously do the same for you.
Image by Freepik
