4Cs Blog: Happy Employees = Happy Customers

According to a WHO questionnaire, around 27 working days are lost per year by US workers suffering from depression, nine of them because of sick days or other time taken out of work, and another 18 reflecting lost productivity.

Following these recent statistics, Ciara Morrison, Head of HR and Talent at Instant Offices identifies the early signs of Burnout and how to effectively avoid hitting rock bottom: 
If your work and family life are consistently stressful, you’re almost certainly at risk of burnout. Most people only realise that they are truly burnt out when it’s too late and then they need to work towards eliminating the symptoms, often while still having to deal with the stresses that caused it in the first place. 
But by keeping an eye out for warning signs can help you make changes proactively, making it easier to prevent burnout, while you still have the will and motivation to make the changes required.

More than ever, workers are looking for perks and benefits of a new workplace beyond just the number on their paycheck. As the ability to change jobs and careers increases, employers are doing more to compete for better workers. The next time you're on the hunt for a new place to work, look for these four things at your new office. 

Corporate Culture 

It's more than a buzzword in 2018. Corporate culture matters so much to young workers that a survey found most of them would give up $7,600 in annual salary to work in an environment with a better corporate culture. But what does that mean exactly? It depends on who you ask but many workers look for companies with aligned social values such as a commitment to sustainability or contribution. Companies are making it known what they stand for and what they can offer to their employees as a result, so finding the right place to work under this category is easier now than ever.  

We’ve all heard the crazy stories about the work environments of tech giants like Google or Facebook, which are noted for offering extravagant employee perks. From “nap pods” to on-site gyms, and even company-managed apartments and laundry facilities, there seems to be no limit to what companies will do in order to keep their workforce happy and engaged.

This might sound great to new hires, but problems are bound to arise when employees are showered with perks without consideration for productivity. There are certainly ways that companies can make sure they’re creating an attractive working environment without offering too much of a good thing. In order to understand how to do this, we must first look at some of the most popular perks, and how they might hurt your company if not deployed in the right way. 

An engaged employee is one who feels a strong emotional and personal connection to their workplace. They’re enthusiastic and passionate about their work, consistently go above and beyond and always want to achieve the best possible results. They’re the people who are proud to work for you, they do their job properly and help the business grow and prosper.
In contrast, disengaged employees do the bare minimum and often without any conscientious effort. They can be loud complainers who bring moral down. There is also the risk they could be looking for another job.

In 2018 you would be hard pressed to find a manager that didn’t acknowledge they are supposed to care about their staff and make their employees a priority, but the reality is that usually profits matter more, followed by customers, while employees end up last on the list. But this is the wrong approach because there is evidence that shows, as employees become more engaged companies thrive. 

When it comes to customer service, how does your small business stand out from the pack? From handwritten thank you notes to remembering little life details, MyCorporation blog chatted with 25 experts about the strategies they use to keep loyal customers and continue bringing in new ones for their business. We know that employee engagement and good customer service go hand-in-hand, but good ideas like these are key to keeping your best customers and keeping them coming back.

 Remote working is increasingly on the rise as emerging technology enables employees to have more autonomy and customize their work experience. However, managing remote employees and keeping them engaged through long-distance meetings can be a challenge that requires the right tools that enable you to lead with confidence. Powerful remote meetings are crucial to the success of teams that have a mix of in-office and remote employees, contractors and partners. Fortunately, several collaboration tools on the market today are great at bringing professionals together in an online environment.

VoIP Conferencing Platforms 

Effective video conferencing can help you deliver an effective remote meeting experience with features that boost employee interaction. One of the best platforms is ezTalks Cloud Meeting, which gives users HD video, screen-sharing, VoIP audio conferencing and a whiteboard for portraying concepts and adding annotations. Best of all, it comes with a mobile app participants can use on any mobile device. This makes the meeting even more flexible for remote employees, who can tune in from virtually anywhere. 

Zoho Meeting is another conferencing platform for hosting online meetings. Video conferencing, meeting scheduling, screen sharing, chat collaboration and meeting reports all take place within your browser. Hence, there’s no need to ask employees to install software on their systems.

Having a strong and appropriate company culture can give you a big competitive advantage. It helps improve efficiency, and it makes it easier to recruit the right people to make your company grow. 

But culture is tricky. It develops on its own, yet with guidance, it can be steered in one direction or another. 
As your company expands, the culture you have will change. But this change does not have to be negative. If you can harness the transformation, you can not only preserve your company culture, but you can nurture it to become a real competitive edge.

Here are some things to consider to help you maintain a positive company culture as you scale up:

Stressed-out employees aren't productive workers. For that reason alone, on top of the interpersonal benefits, companies should always be working to reduce stress in the workplace.

It isn't an easy task. With deadlines to meet and clients to land, everyone will occasionally be on edge. But by implementing certain policies and procedures, any workplace can improve in this area. 

The key is for HR and management to sit down and discuss this issue on an ongoing basis. By continually assessing and monitoring progress, business improvement strategies can be instituted to keep things running more smoothly. The following four tips will help any organization start to destress. 

1. Set Clear Expectations 

Few things are as frustrating as moving goalposts. When managers change expectations or — even more infuriatingly — deadlines, it not only makes that specific project more difficult to complete, but also leaves employees swimming in uncertainty about the future. 

Many psychological studies indicate this type of management is highly unnerving for employees.

While it’s essential to build solid bonds with your team, defining areas of respect, authority and productivity can be challenging when navigating the line between boss and friend. Instant Offices looks into the implications and shares some tips on how to be a boss and a friend.

The idea of friendship applies as much to our personal lives as it does to our professional ones. In fact, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs places a sense of belonging right up there with some of our most basic human needs. Studies conducted by Gallup, show having friends in the workplace makes you more engaged and happy, and that companies enjoy higher profitability and customer loyalty when friendships among colleagues are common. But how do you navigate the fine line of being a friend who also has to set boundaries as a boss?

Can Bosses and Employees Be Friends?

This year, a majority of private U.S. companies have or plan to give out raises averaging 4.3 percent to their best and brightest employees, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. But not all companies are in a position to reward employees with monetary incentives this year, which, of course, could have an impact on employee retention. 

However, there are some job perks that will make some consider working for less. In fact, more than 4 in 5 workers say they're willing to work for less if their employers offer some other form of compelling non-financial incentives, including long-term job security, flexible office hours and a management structure that emphasizes mentorship and a better career trajectory. 

Here are three ways to boost employee job satisfaction beyond giving out raises.

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