Stress is, for many people, an unfortunate fact of life. Some thrive on it, while others are ground down by it. In the workplace, however, stress and unhappiness can have serious consequences for productivity, turnover, and profit. Research demonstrates that happy workers are 13% more productive, while reducing workplace stress boosts productivity by a third. A high-performing workplace, underpinned by systems that promote staff wellbeing and happiness, is central to growing a successful business.

So, if the statistics are convincing, the key question is how to run a happy, successful workforce that gets the best out of your staff and drives your business’ success.

Help your colleagues to feel appreciated

A feeling of underappreciation is one of the main reasons why employees leave their posts and pursue alternative employment. By constantly providing praise and recognition for your employees’ efforts, you will instantly increase their self-worth and help them to feel valued.

Staff don’t always want financial incentives – less costly mini-gifts, such as vouchers, product discounts, or inexpensive treats, will be appreciated. Often, however, a simple handwritten note or a public voice of gratitude will go a long way to increasing your colleagues’ job satisfaction and enable them to feel that they’re performing well.

Implement an employee benefits platform

Managing your employees’ benefits in a structured way will foster greater engagement and maximise take up so that as many colleagues as possible can reap the rewards. Employee benefits technology from zestbenefits.com is the leading platform of its type, and one of the easiest and most advanced of its kind, enabling managers to improve the workplace experiences of their teams.

With an employee benefits platform, colleagues can:

• Build a rewards package that works for them.
  • Understand their personal contribution to the business.
  • Enjoy personalised communications and understand their benefits more incisively.
  • Access personal information, including pay and pensions details.

Promote and support personal development

Employees who reach stagnation point become bored in their role and begin to crave new experiences that will make them happier. Personal development is a fundamental human need and is crucial for employees’ self-worth and value.

Continuous professional development is one solution – happy employees often feel that their future is being invested in through job-related training – but these are still work-centric; alternatively, subsidising evening courses, experience days, or online courses demonstrates your commitment to developing your colleagues as people, rather than as workers.

Improve work-life balance

The Covid-19 restrictions have forced many companies to reconsider the way they operate, with remote working likely to remain a feature of the business landscape for years. Happy colleagues not only need to feel valued, but also that their life outside the workplace is respected.

You can promote better work-life balance in many ways, including:

• Offering remote working as a regular option
  • Ending all non-essential communications, by email, instant message, or phone, outside work hours.
  • Providing discounts on local health and wellbeing programmes.
  • Increase support for parents or colleagues who have other care responsibilities.

Ready to make your workplace a happier place to be?

The benefits of a happier, less stressful workplace are clear, so why not implement some simple, cost-effective steps to improve the work experience for your employees?

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