4Cs Blog: Happy Employees = Happy Customers

People around the world report that they feel stressed up to 80% of their time, with the number one cause being attributed to job-related reasons. Stress doesn’t only affect efficiency and concentration. In the long-term, it can impact a person’s physical and mental health, and that’s not to mention the damage absenteeism can do to business productivity.

So, it’s of little wonder that companies like Sage are offering guided mindfulness courses to help employees take some time to meditate at work. As companies realise the dangers stress can pose to business and employees, it’s worth implementing ways to reduce it and make work a more relaxing place to be. 

Meditation
Mindfulness is a specific type of meditation where you become aware of your thoughts and how the environment and people around you are affecting you. It can be hard to see what’s really bothering us in the heat of the moment, but finding a quiet place (or plugging in your noise-cancelling headphones) and taking some time to control your breathing and focus your mind can give you a perspective unlike any other.
Meditation has been proven to not only improve your problem-solving, multi-tasking, and creativity, but has even been shown to boost your immune system.

Reports show that by 2020 millennials will make up a third of the global workforce.
Instant Offices take a look in to what members of this digital generation really look for in a career.

The ManpowerGroup, whose job is to find work for 3.4 million people, about half of whom are millennials, surveyed the careers and working environments of 19,000 millennials to find out. The report aimed to find out how different they are from the rest of the workforce, which development opportunities they are motivated by, and why they choose to stay with employers.
The nature of millennials: They exist in a fast-paced world, and their work expectations aren’t much different – they want a career that offers variety and quick progression.

Millennials are positive about their careers.

Despite the role technology has played in disrupting business, corporate structure as we know it today isn't going anywhere. Now, it's no secret businesses that are able to scale operations and develop teams whose employees work more efficiently are better able to focus on tasks, and thereby create better synergy and output. 

Too much structure, however, and these efficient teams become silos, a term for departments that, like a mischievous kindergartner, don't like to share. Ultimately, this lack of collaboration leads to a lack of transparency. What's the point of sharing information company-wide if workplace teams are only concerned with their own department's goals? It's hard to quantify how much damage this situation causes. 

But Buffer, a social media management platform, demonstrated an actual business benefit of transparency. Specifically, Buffer posted the salaries of its entire staff, including the CEO, on its company blog — and the decision paid off handsomely: In the days following the announcement, Buffer received close to 3,000 job applications, a 229 percent increase from the 30 days before publishing the blog post. 

Is your company looking for ways to create better efficiency and harmony? Here are three tips that will help your leaders and decision-makers improve cross-departmental relationships.

 Perfecting the hiring process is about more than merely finding the right candidate — it should also be about saving valuable time and money for your company. According to research from Bersin by Deloitte, the cost to fill an open position has ballooned to $4,000 per employee — and nearly three-times that amount to train them. Talk about hiring right the first time!

Additionally, recruiters are bemoaning the fact that the time to find the right hire is increasing, too. While there may be no way around getting company decision-makers on board at the same time, there are steps you can take to enhance your hiring process and find the right candidates. Here’s how:

When we focus on methods by which to improve employee engagement levels, and how to boost productivity, we tend to think about performance management processes such as regular performance discussions and clear personal development objectives. We might also consider benefits such as flexibility and casual dress codes.

All of these elements are critical considerations, but what you might not know is that the physical office environment is just as important when it comes to improving employee performance.

Below are just a few ways in which the space around you — from lighting to temperature — can seriously influence the way you work.

Good lighting can make all the difference

A study conducted by the American Society of Interior Design found that 68% of employees complain about the lighting in their offices. This is something we should be paying far more attention to, considering our sensitivity towards light and the impact it can have on our moods and behaviors.

When you take an employee survey the expectation is that something is going to change and it will be for the better. But what if the changes don’t stick or just fail to make any real difference for employees? If senior management did not respond the first time, the survey won’t have much credibility if it runs a second time. But a second chance still matters because it is one more valuable chance to get employee voices heard so it is critical employees don’t blow it off.

Reasons employees will blow off a survey are varied. In our experience the most common reason is employees are worried they will rock the boat or there will be consequences if a manager finds out what their employee said about them. Fear exists in some workplaces so it is important that employee surveys - at least the data collection part - be managed by an independent third party. We know that there are plenty of "free" or low cost survey tools available that you can use to collect employee data internally. However, protecting employee anonymity - both in reality and in the eyes of your employees - is absolutely essential if you want to achieve the highest possible participation and if you're determined to get honest and reliable answers. Read how we guarantee anonymity here and why we believe it is a vital part of employee research.

Employee satisfaction has been declining steadily over the past few decades. In 1987, 61.1 percent of employees reported job satisfaction. By 2016, this had dropped to 45 percent. Compensation is the top or second-rated driver of employee satisfaction for employees of all age groups, Society for Human Resource Management research shows. Giving your employees a raise is obviously going to make them happier with their job, but it’s not always feasible for budgetary reasons. Fortunately, there are also non-financial incentives you can give employees that will help improve their satisfaction and engagement. Here are four ways you can boost your workers’ job satisfaction besides giving them a raise.

Countries like Germany, Norway, Sweden and France are proving that you don’t have to work eight hour days or more to be productive.

 For many people, being at work can often be a tiresome, frustrating and mundane experience. Being stuck in an office all day and the health risks associated with this, along with having bad relationships with co workers and feeling unmotivated to complete tasks, are just some of leading causes of unsatisfied workers. In fact, according to The Conference Board, a New York based non profit organization, fewer than half of American workers are satisfied with their jobs. As a leader, what if there was something you could do to fix this?

 
Outdoor activities for the workforce is a great way to re-energize your team. Whether it's some simple activities in the park near your office, or an overnight camping trip, getting people outside and engaging in team exercises has a number of benefits. Check out just a few ways it can help your team and the success of your business overall. 

1. Improves Communication

Until 2016, evidence supporting the benefits of telecommuting was mostly anecdotal. But a recent MIT study has provided real data to prove what many of us already know: telecommuting improves our relationships with managers, allows more time with our family and friends, decreases burnout, and increases job satisfaction. And thanks to the proliferation of software and technology, telecommuting is not only easier, it's also more productive.

 We get it. Working from home has its stigma, because it's just hard to believe that anything could be more effective than face-to-face collaboration. But that stigma is now proven false, and if your business doesn't offer more flexible employee work options, another company will. Luckily, all it takes is a few software options to make it all possible and easy. Here are five helpful tools to help you provide a beneficial and productive telecommuting workplace policy.

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