We all strive to attain balance in whatever big or small we endeavor to do. When it comes to balancing our work and personal life, the fight gets even more intense. Employees who can achieve the right balance between work and personal life are usually more motivated in the office because it allows them to spend meaningful hours with their families and themselves. Employees who cannot manage their work-life balance tend to burn out faster, affecting their health and well-being.  

In this tech-savvy age, it is not uncommon for employees to consider work-life balance important when considering a job. An American Time Use Survey in 2019 found that full-time employees worked about eight and a half hours on weekdays and about five and a half hours on weekends, including holidays. A Rescuetime Survey conducted amongst a target group of 850 and more knowledge workers revealed that 92% of them were working on weekends and evenings, much before Covid-19. 

Interestingly ever since the pandemic struck and employees were confined to working from home, the workday span seems to have increased in most countries. Australia recorded a 45% increase in workday span, while India recorded the longest workday span. (Microsoft’s Work Trend Index Report 2021). In the same report, it has been pointed out that at least one out of every five employees feels that their employer is not concerned about their work-life balance.  

A peek into the history of work-life balance 

Coincidentally, the concept of work-life balance has been around for decades, officially first coined in 1986. But, man has been trying to achieve this balance at his workplace for centuries. Robert Owen was the first person to introduce the term, back in 1817– as per him; a day should be ideally divided into three parts of eight hours each – first part for work, second for recreation, and third hour for rest.  

Of course, the concept did evolve through the past two hundred years or more. Today, work-life balance is not about equally segregating twenty-four hours in a day; it is more about priorities and choices.  

Since work-life balance is individualistic, employers could and mostly have dissociated themselves from the concept. After all, achieving work-life balance is good for the individual employee; how can it affect the organizational workflow? Contrary to what many business owners, CEOs, CXOs, and HR managers view work-life balance, this is one aspect that affects employees’ personal and the professional life of employees. And, anything that affects the life of employees should be of interest to employers because it impacts employee productivity levels.  

 Why are we talking of work-life balance here? Because ever since the pandemic has broken out, a great deal of discussion has been happening around the well-being of employees. The awareness levels about wellness, work-life balance and employee well-being amongst employees and employers are at one of the highest at the moment. Work from home acted as a catalyst for many employees who felt that finally, they could prioritize between work and home and create a balance between the two. While earlier the same employee would mind sitting late in the office and finishing off work, today, the person doesn’t mind completing pending tasks after office hours because they could happily dedicate some time towards their personal obligations during the conventional work timing. It is time to transition from being only a customer-friendly workplace to an employee-friendly organization! 

Ways to make Work-life Balance a reality in your workplace 

If your HR department is busy working out the right policies to ensure that the culture of a balanced work-life thrives for promoting teamwork, morale and productivity, here are some excellent ways to do so: 

1. Adopt flexibility

Microsoft’s Work Trend Index Report 2021 reports that more than 70% of employees prefer working remotely and flexibly. It further mentions that about 66% of decision-makers are now weighing options of hybrid work environments and even redesigning the physical space. As Satya Nadella, the CEO at Microsoft, says, organizations need to match stride with changing employee expectations and exercise flexibility in working out where, how, and when people work.  

Consider these options when deciding to offer improved flexibility at work: 

• Flexi-time – let employees choose their hours of work rather than sticking to the 9 to 5 schedule. It gives them time to cater to their social and personal life.  
• Friendly leave policies for employees – employers need to encourage employees to mandatorily take paid vacations and time off from work that leaves them rejuvenated and relaxed. Similarly, introducing paternity leave al maternity leave is also the right move.  
• Workation – this is a concept that is gaining ground fast. Employees have the choice to work and play simultaneously, boosting their morale levels.  
• Work from home options – it helps employees save time spent commuting or cooking homemade meals rather than ordering food from outside.  

2. Encourage a healthy work environment

Do anything that is feasibly possible in the creation of healthy working space. It could be a remote workspace or in the office. Continue sponsoring gym memberships to offering healthy food in the office canteen, organizing yoga and meditation classes – some employers are re-aligning physical office space to create designated quiet corners where employees can sit, relax, reflect, meditate, and so on. 

3. Empower your managers to lead with example 

While this one may sound clichéd, the truth is that your employees will be encouraged and confident of adopting a healthy work-life balance when it comes from the top. If the CEO, senior executives, and managers have an exemplary work-life balance, they are sure to inspire others around too. Additionally, ensure that your managers are empowered enough to keep a watch on issues like overwork, burnout, and workers struggling to manage their work-life. 

4. Give volunteering time off 

The concept of volunteering is fast catching up with corporate culture. It is a way to give back to society and strengthen your corporate social responsibilities. It is also an optimized way to get your employees to lend their hand and knowledge to social causes. Volunteering helps employees de-stress, also helping earn goodwill within the organization. 

5. Follow a ‘no work at home’ policy after office hours, holidays and weekends

A strict ‘no work from home’ policy can be implemented for offices transitioning to full-time physical workplaces. Recently, there was news coverage about Portugal banning bosses from sending text messages to their staff after work hours. 

6. Encourage employees to take up and spend time on their hobbies

Employers can encourage employees to take up hobbies and do things they like. It gives them the time to do something to suit their aspirations. At a personal level, your employees love to do certain things like painting, dancing, singing, etc. By encouraging them to do so, you can meet their needs for a good life.  

7. Provide child care facilities 

Parents of young children get stuck in the dilemma of leaving kids at home to attend to their professional commitments. It often gives rise to behaviors that get termed as unprofessional, forcing the employees to forsake their career progression many a time.  

Being sensitive to the needs of such employees and arranging for child care facilities can be a big help. Responsive employers are the new normal, and you should be looking at ways to communicate the same to your workers.  

8. Make team-building endeavors a compulsory part of your workplace culture

Team building exercises help improve interpersonal skills amongst employees, especially with remote teams impacting work-life balance indirectly. Team building endeavors effectually lead to building a friendly workplace environment marked by comradeship and team spirit. In such an environment, office work is no longer about coming to the office, completing the chores for the day, and going back home. There is more involvement, less work-related stress, and overall a feeling that there is someone on whom the employee can depend for support and help if need be. This, in turn, affects the employee’s well-being, improving his work-life balance.  

Work-life balance is important, not just for individual employees but also for the organization. A study by UCL says that overtime is not good for the heart. Human beings have specific endurance levels. The constant pressure can be harmful to the mental and physical health of a person. It is time that employers take cognizance of this fact and introduce healthy work-life balance initiatives so that employees’ health issues take a back seat. Plus, a healthy work-life balance means relaxed employees who can focus better on their work and achieve higher productivity levels. 

Employers around the world are looking at newer and better ways to drive employee engagement at the workplace. Improving work-life balance is definitely one of the ways, but it cannot deliver the desired results in a vacuum or solo. It needs to be intertwined well with innovative programs like employee rewards and recognition, encouraging personal development, promoting learning opportunities, etc.  

When it comes to employment, it’s a buyer’s market out there. For the past few years, the relationship between employers and employees has undergone a profound shift. Indeed, employers and business owners have to spend more time considering the strategies required not only to attract new staff but also retain them. Because the harsh reality is that in a competitive and constantly evolving business market, everyone has varied job experience. Some feel happy but also a sizeable chunk of the working population exists, where they couldn’t wait to get out, simply because they weren’t invested in the project/ job or outcome. This is where employee engagement comes in. It’s one thing to bring people on board. Though the perennial questions remain, what are the most effective employee engagement strategies?  How do you keep your people engaged, motivated, productive and happy? What do you think are the three key elements behind effective employee engagement? Here’s a clue: money isn’t one of them.

While a good remuneration package goes a long way to keeping an employee engaged, it doesn’t do everything. In fact, the top three elements have everything to do with a sense of belonging over monetary benefits. Over 2 decades ago, back in 1990, Professor William Kahn held in-depth interviews with employees. He found that for an employee to feel engaged, they had to:

• Feel that their work was meaningful and made a difference
• Feel valued, trusted and respected
• Feel secure and self-confident

In other words, the more an employee feels part of a community, the more likely it is that they are engaged with what they do. It seems quite simple written out like this, but it’s also easy and common to overlook these factors. There are however 5 easy touchpoints have been identified as hotspots for engagement initiatives, which can either maintain engagement, retain talent or help boost overall productivity. The COVID-19 slowdown might be the right time to relook and realign these.

1. Hotspot one: Recruitment – The role of employee engagement in recruitment is one that is often overlooked, yet engagement plays a big part in the hiring experience from the perspective of both parties – the candidate and the employer. In the process of selection and interviewing, the candidate is marketing himself or herself to you – and you are marketing your organisation to the candidate. When you take on a recruit, you don’t only hire qualifications and experience, you hire a person and their personality – and it is this that could determine how successful your hire is. There is much empirical evidence to suggest that employee engagement is key to improving productivity, innovation, customer experiences, quality and safety, as well as reducing absenteeism and staff turnover.

2. Hotspot 2: Onboarding – It’s a common routine that ends with a big mistake: the boss hires a great new person, walks them around the office on their first day, shows them to their desk, and then leaves them alone to do their work. They’re all set, right? Hardly. If you’ve ever been the new employee who had the first day like that, you know how it feels to be left to figure things out on your own: awkward, stressful, and lonely. Good onboarding practices can prevent your new hires from having to deal with all that. Every contact a new employee has with your organization is an opportunity for you to foster engagement. That’s why effective onboarding is so important.Now that you understand the links between effective onboarding and employee engagement, you’re well on your way to helping every new hire become an outstanding and highly engaged employee. How about sending a welcome-aboard package before their first day, with a company T-shirt and a card signed by everyone on their new team? Then, once they’re on the job, you could praise them for how quickly they completed their first training task or assignment. Good ideas aren’t hard to think of. Just put yourself in your new employee’s shoes and think of what would make a great impression on you—then do it.If you’re in a small or medium business, you may think improving onboarding and employee engagement requires the kind of time and money that only big businesses can afford. Not so. The right HR software can be a time-saving and budget-friendly way for you to streamline and simplify onboarding work and countless other HR tasks.

3. Hotspot 3 – In times of achievements and failures – It’s important to take care of the people who take care of you. By recognising your employees’ achievements, they will feel valued within the organisation and therefore feel driven to achieve the best for the company. 86% of employees are reportedly motivated by recognition and 65% say that they would work harder if they were better recognised, so it is important to build employee recognition within your company culture to achieve the best performance from staff. By acknowledging hard work from staff, you will also reinforce actions and behaviours you would like to see more of. Besides acknowledging effort and achievements, it’s also important to understand, accept and acknowledge failure.No one likes to admit defeat. But, regardless of how unwanted, it happens. Even the most successful business people will tell you that their road to success was paved with pitfalls. In order to grow beyond your failures, you need to admit your role in the failures. When you start to create an open dialogue with your team about both the good and the bad, you become a better leader and build stronger bonds in employee engagement. Make a conscious effort to not fall in the category of bosses who only reprimand and hardly appreciate.

4. Hotspot 4 – During life events – Building a positive company culture where employees feel happy and comfortable within, can be the key to maintaining engagement at work. A combination of company values, systems, beliefs, habits and relationships are all contributing factors to the formation of company culture and although building a strong company culture is easier said than done, there are a few things that a leader can do to help create a positive working environment; such as respecting your employees, being a part of their life journeys and their celebrations. Build a relationship with your employees, celebrate their birthdays and anniversaries and other personal milestones. That gives rise to a collaborative workspace.Relationships at work play a significant part in how happy people are at work and 70% of people state that their work friendships are the most crucial elements to happy working life and peers can also motivate staff to go the extra mile at work. Most employees want a collaborative, rather than competitive work culture, so a level of openness and exchanging of thoughts and ideas is a win-win situation for both the employer and employee.

5. Hotspot 5 – Employee exit – An exit interview should not only get to the bottom of why valued staff are leaving but form the basis of an action plan to stop them wanting to leave in the first place. Regardless of whether someone ‘lives to work’ or ‘works to live’, they lay their aspirations at the door of the organisation, they decide to join, hoping these will become a reality. When the time comes to leave, the extent to which the organisation has encouraged them to realise these expectations is brought into sharp focus.

How an employer handles the exit interview can have a lasting impact on the employee’s perceptions of the company. A sensitively-managed exit can ensure that their alumni become brand ambassadors who will speak highly of their former employer when asked: ‘So, what were they really like to work for?’ Perhaps even more important, the final interview also provides the opportunity for an employer to understand why valued members of staff leave and what can be done prevent it happening in the future.

It is important to devote time, attention and possibly even resources to develop a collaborative and happy workspace. One that works equally hard to realize employee expectation and achieves business success.

Employees are 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered and deliver their best work when their voice is heard. 

Employee Engagement is about the level of employee satisfaction at the workplace based on factors like infrastructure, good relations with managers and colleagues, appreciation at the workplace, attractive salary, work-life balance and several other big and small factors. And the corporate world has shown a tremendous shift in the recent past from just being consumer-centric to focusing on employees and their happiness. It is a continuous process just like a customer happiness journey that needs constant up-gradation and innovation. 

The year 2021 is surely a little different from the past few years for the corporate world as many organizations have shifted from work from home to a hybrid workplace where some of their employees are still working from home and the other half have started to visit the office space and perform their tasks. This brings in new challenges and a ray of new opportunities for both individuals and businesses especially HR leaders where they have to innovate or modify their engagement and feedback approach. 

Often, HR leaders start their year by running an Employee Engagement survey to understand their employee’s experience and track these metrics to create a better workplace. This year is nothing different but it surely needs a shift in approach and new metrics need to be calculated for a successful survey. 

These metrics help leaders understand how their employees feel and the things they seek from their organization to stay motivated and engaged.

Redefining Employee Engagement Survey

Given the hybrid work environment, knowing how your employees are feeling in the new normal is important and surely the questions we need to ask our employees need to undergo a makeover. 

Why and how can HR leaders work to redefine their engagement survey? Let’s take a look…

1. There is a need to create a more consistent feedback process

Running a yearly survey alone to understand how employees feel and why they feel that way by creating a comprehensive questionnaire will lack the accuracy of the data. In the hybrid work environment, we would suggest along with the annual survey you also offer a platform where employees can share their daily feedback, anytime and anywhere. 

2. Organisation today must ask the little things

The core of any employee engagement survey is to ask employees what they feel but are not very vocal every time about it. The formula to a successful engagement survey at the workplace is to remember every little detail shared by the employee as well as the nuances observed and analyzed by the leaders. The questions you asked last year might not be relevant this year and maybe you might have to dig deeper and ask more. 

3. Be a game-changer

Adopting a hybrid approach where the appreciation and recognition are given both ways a traditional one by thanking in person and giving a thank you note with some reward and taking on a social approach by recognizing employees and teams for their valuable efforts on a social recognition platform is a game-changer. So, the point here is to understand that they are recognized often and how it helps them in their daily work life. 

Let’s look at areas that need to be surveyed differently in your Employee Engagement survey in the current year. 

1. Work-life balance

For any individual to focus and grow in life there must be a balance in life. Remote working has surely impacted the work-life balance of every employee. While some feel that they were able to spend more time with family due to no travel and that helped them to focus more at work, whereas, a few others will tell you that they struggled a lot and were unable to disconnect from work life and focus on their personal life. 

With many organizations that have started to work from the office, it is important to know how are employees adopting this and are they able to manage a work-life balance. 

Sample questions to ask employees:

1. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much would you rate your work-life balance?
2. Do you think the organization has given you enough opportunities to enjoy a healthy work-life balance?

2. Relationship with peers

Human relation is very powerful. Peer-to-peer relation has a major impact on Employee Engagement as it defines the bond and collaboration between team members as well as colleagues from different departments. This sync reflects a healthy professional relationship with each other and also helps to complete any project smoothly.

To gauge peer-to-peer relationships, you can ask employees how often they feel appreciated and praised by their colleagues. 

Sample questions to include in your survey:

1. Do you feel your organization encourages peer-to-peer recognition? 
2. On a scale of 1 to 10, how comfortable are you to recognize your teammates?
3. Has any employee helped you during remote or hybrid working? How did you feel?
4. Did you recognize or praise your colleagues’ effort during remote working?

3. Relationship with managers 

It is rightly said that people join companies but they leave managers. The manager is the first point of contact for the employee during his professional journey at any workplace. The manager-employee relationship is so crucial in deciding the employees’ journey within the organization. How motivated and valued an employee feels, how transparent and open are their conversation, the trust and professional comfort clubs together to bring out the best in an employee. 

In this hybrid work environment where managers are team members are not able to sit and brainstorm together often but were they or are they still in constant touch with each other on virtual platforms and are they communicating with others will have a huge impact on employee engagement. 

Questions to ask employees in the survey: 

1. Were there any communication gaps during remote working?
2. Were you recognized and motivated by your manager? 
3. Is there anything you would like to change to improve your professional relationship with your manager? 

4. Workplace culture

Describing a workplace culture to your employees now and then and having employees who naturally adopt the work culture and feel happy at the workplace are two different things and having a natural adoption is true engagement of employees with the organization. 

During work from home having employees follow a certain kind of work culture could have been a task. Ensuring that your employees still connect to the culture is important.

Include these questions in your survey:

1. Is your work environment distracting?
2. Do you still feel connected and follow the work culture even during remote working?

5. Happiness at workplace

In employee engagement, happiness is an important metric to track. But alone a yes or a no answer will not be complete. Finding the ‘why’ reason is important in calculating the happiness index. The research reveals that happy workers are 12% more productive, so it’s worth knowing this and investing in happiness. 

Personal life happiness has a huge impact on happiness at the workplace so knowing the reason behind their mood is so important. 

Questions to ask employees:

1. On a scale from 0-10, how happy are you at work this week?
2. On a scale from 0-10, how excited are you to come to work?

6.Personal growth / professional development

Personal growth is one of the most important metrics to track when it comes to employee engagement at work. Every employee wants to grow – be it monetary, more responsibility, grasp more knowledge, more credit, etc. 

This is the root of your performance tracker for your employee. 

Sample questions to ask:

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 how much you feel you have grown in the last year?
2. What growth opportunities would you like your organization to include?

Now is the perfect time to run the Annual Employee Engagement survey 2021 and understand if the employees are still connected with the company as they were before the 2020 pandemic took place. Knowing how the previous years’ experience moulds their current year’s professional objectives, what they expect from the organization this year are all critical aspects that need to be collated and studied to work towards improving employee engagement in the post-COLD workplace. 

Remote working in some form is here to stay. Many companies are transitioning back to the office model, but work-from-home cannot be ruled out completely. Engaging a remote team is a challenge, but thankfully, online games are proving to be a great solution to build team camaraderie. Be it as an ice-breaker, a stress-buster, or an innovative way to start a meeting, there are endless possibilities available out there in the form of virtual team games.   

Here are five such interesting games to play remotely that can be played online and help make your teams collaborate better. The games have been chosen based on the extent to which they support problem-solving, collaboration, and assisting employees in getting to know one another personally.  

So let’s go… 

1) Online ludo with Ludo King 

Ludo is a much-loved game; most of us have tried our hands at the classic version during our childhood years. However, that was in the physical space with our close family and friends.  

A simple yet engaging game, ludo is fun. And why Ludo apart from the fun quotient? 

• It improves logical reasoning and interpersonal skills.  
• It is highly competitive, giving you an adrenalin rush every time your piece nears the home or an opponent’s piece.  
• It is a fabulous game to develop concentration skills, freeing it from stress and anxiety of work. 
• Above all, being a multiplayer game, it improves personal bonding between players. 

A befitting game for all with easy-to-use interfaces, Ludo King, is a free game and can be downloaded by players on their mobiles.  

How to play?  

Like the classic physical game, Ludo King can be played by two or four players. They need to choose from one of the four colors available. A dice has to be rolled to get the game started. Each player gets to roll a six so that their piece can move on the board. Every time a player rolls a six, they get an additional turn to roll the dice. Players need to strategize then and make game plans so that their pieces complete the journey of the colored path and reach the home or the center in the fastest possible time.  

Download the game at https://www.crazygames.com/game/ludo-king.  

2) A word game for the group: WordPlay 

Word games have been a part of our childhood too. And WordPlay has been developed on the lines of the web game Wordle with the green and yellow squares. Each player gets six chances to guess a random five-letter word.  

WordPlay is a free game and makes the right choice to keep getting better at the game with practice. You can set up group challenges and share the link with all team members.  

How can word games do good to your remote teams?  

Games like WordPlay are entertaining. Besides helping improve language skills like vocabulary, and spelling, these games are known to enhance concentration and cognitive skills, analytical and strategizing skills, driving a competitive spirit in the players. These games are best advised for team building and driving self-esteem in individuals. Games like WordPlay are great stress-busters and can be played often without your employees getting bored. In the remote working model, this game can be extremely beneficial for social bonding. 

The game can be played at the official site: https://wordplay.com/challenge/new.  

3) Guess the word with Skribbl.io. 

Another free game for team building is Skribbl.io. It is a multiplayer game with as many as twelve players permitted in private rooms. There is no need to download the game as it can be played in browser-enabled mode. Every game has several rounds. In every round, one automatically selected player has to draw a picture to represent a given word – the player has to choose from three given options. The other players need to guess the word and type it in the chat. They are awarded points accordingly. The winner has the maximum points at the end of the game. The way to win the game is to guess the word and type the same in the chat swiftly. The quicker a player guesses a word, the more points they get.  

This game definitely brings in the element of carefree play. It serves as a great ice-breaker because of its underlying childlike fun element. Participants need to be alert and attentive, pushing their competitive spirit and comprehension skills to win the game. Also, the game is simple to understand and play and does not involve any long-drawn setup processes. 

The game can be played at https://skribbl.io/.  

4) Be a master at Bluff games with Psych. 

A one-of-its-kind game, Psych is an interesting bluffing trivia game where the one who is the best at masquerading becomes the winner. No harm meant; the online game was developed as a party game by Ellen DeGeneres. It can be downloaded from Google PlayStore by Android users and the App Store for iOS users.  

How is it played? A question is asked to all the players, and each of them has to provide false answers. Everyone then votes for the answer that seems true or accurate – so players need to give believable false answers. The one who is the best at kidding others wins the games as players need to convince others that their answer is the truth.  

Psyche is a fun game letting people in a group find common grounds to crack jokes and get friendlier. Played in the right spirit, the game helps players get to know each other well. 

The game can be downloaded from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wb.goog.ellen.psych&hl=en_IN&gl=US.  

5) An Online Charades game – Heads up!

A trivia party game, the Heads Up is also the brainchild of Ellen DeGeneres and was first unveiled on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. The multiplayer social party game can be played with one or more people. There are about 75 fun categories to choose from or themed deck cards.  

The trivia game starts with one participant holding their phone facing outward so that other participants can view the phone screen. A clue appears on the screen. The person holding the phone facing outward has to guess the correct answer based on hints given by others. Each player gets only one minute to guess all the clues or finish as many cards as possible. There is an accelerometer that controls the game. At the end of each round, the scores are tallied up, and the one with the highest score wins the game. It is possible to record a video of the game so that everyone can have a look at the same later and have some fun. 

Since it is a trivia party game, it is fun and exceedingly entertaining. A brilliant way to break the ice! It can also be played as an energizer at the beginning of a meeting. 

The game can be downloaded from this link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wb.headsup&hl=en_IN&gl=US  

Hope you enjoyed the list and have some fun bonding sessions with your remote teams. 

For employee rewards and recognition, Buzzz has the perfect solution for employers across industries and different verticals. Touch base with us to know how Buzzz can add value to our employee engagement programs.

How leaders can manage a hybrid working team

If we know one thing for certain in these pandemic times, it is the fact that the workplace is different in 2021 and industry leaders now need to prepare for the changes that have come and are yet to come.

A quick recap of the known changes And training and retraining of employees is now part of any strategy for 2021, especially as the workplace is constantly evolving and the demographic of the workforce is also changing. Whether you start your start-up or have an existing company, you must take workplace trends into account when defining your office culture. Trends in the workplace are largely oriented towards Hybrid Work and hinting towards the need for more flexible working hours. New approaches to retention focus on how to build and maintain a strong and diverse workforce and a healthy work-life balance. Another fundamental change that is looming in 2021 is how business leaders and human resources teams now approach hiring and retaining employees. 2021 will be a landmark year for businesses and employees as they strive to preserve the best of both worlds, personal and professional. 

According to a news report by the Institute for Labour Market and Occupational Research, companies that fail to take account of workers changing expectations of flexible working hours could end up losing good talent. With more remote work, companies will also need to start focusing on ways to adapt to this new norm.

We believe that by 2021, many companies will make their strategies about introducing decentralized employment, decentralized work and a decentralized workforce. As employers and HR managers adapt to this new strategy in 2021, they will also in parallel need to focus on improving employee well-being. 

All this with one goal in mind – productivity

While some teams under the guidance of a great leader seem to get things done effortlessly, others struggle to even meet deadlines. Physical and mental well-being have always been the major reason affecting teams as well as individual productivity. A study revealed that even before the pandemic, around 61% of the workforce admitted that they’re burned out at their current job and nearly 31% experienced a high level of stress at work. 

Business leaders must join hands with team leaders and HR to work on creating a work-life balance to ensure smooth functioning and higher productivity. 

The goal of any HR leader and manager is to ensure that their team is productive even now. To ensure this, policymakers and leaders must provide contexts, create enabling spaces, and identify specific times that emphasize productivity. When employees experience positive vitality and well-being, they will be more productive. But when people are exhausted or stressed, or when their work habits become unhealthy, their productivity is exhausted. An enabling work environment allows employees to focus, and that too helps them to be highly productive. When attention is scattered, the focus suffers from a lack of coordination and communication between people in the team or even between different groups which results in low productivity. 

Looking forward:

The Glassdoor’s Workplace Trends for 2021 report identified several positive changes in 2020 that have worked and are forecasts that will continue to evolve. Here are five trends that companies should be aware of as they look ahead to 2021 while adjusting to the hybrid work environment. These are just some of the changes in the workplace that are likely to set the tone and trends for 2021 and beyond, but they are not the only ones.

• Don’t move too fast 

Individual preferences will take time to become clear and they might need time to adjust to the new change and so will the organization. With tomorrow being uncertain and no one knows what change in government norms and what side of the world will impact the business, the approach must be to take slow steps. In a hybrid work environment, rather than thinking about the long-term, leaders can go slow by setting milestones at shorter intervals, say  3 months instead of yearly milestones. These goals will help individuals to marry with their personal goals. 

• Install a robust digital infrastructure

Ensuring a basic level of well-functioning, and reasonably-priced digital infrastructure is a must. In a hybrid workplace where half the workforce is working remotely and the other half is performing their day-to-day function from the office, it is necessary that everyone is virtually connected and have access to every work-related detail, anytime and anywhere. Leaders must allow experimentation with commercial IP interconnection agreements to benefit innovation and growth in the overall digital ecosystem. But having a robust digital infrastructure alone is not enough, it is necessary to ensure that every individual is trained for using the infrastructure.

• Personalized motivation

There are multiple ways to motivate a team and one of the most popular ways to motivate team members before the lockdown was team lunch that not only motivated teams to achieve more but was also a great team-building initiative. In a hybrid workplace, arranging a team lunch is nearly impossible. Leaders will have to focus on personalizing motivation as far as possible. This is the way to future motivation. One of the popular ways that are gaining momentum with team leaders is leveraging technology and the use of gamification to foster motivation. 

• Drum up recognition

Turn up the volume of recognition, leaders. When work is not recognized employees are likely to feel disengaged. During remote working or hybrid working where teams don’t meet every day, it is difficult to ensure the recognition is visible to all. This creates a physical barrier that dilutes the power of recognition. To ensure recognition and appreciation is given at the right time and is visible to all, turn up the volume by making it accessible to all by publishing it on social platforms, intranet platforms, internal newsletters and other collaborative platforms. 

• Training and learning and development 

With the constant change in the situation, every step demands the employee to stay up for any new challenges which requires them to be up-to-date with the latest technology and knowledge. Other than that they may also require new skills to function in this new work environment. And another aspect is that conducting physical group training might not be possible now, leaders must focus on e-learning, self-learning and on-the-go learning.  

Lastly, there is no doubt that skill-based training and learning will play a key role even during hybrid working but a lot of companies have introduced self-care training during remote working, like regular yoga sessions, and have even shared easily accessible podcasts on various topics to promote on-the-go learning. These initiatives should continue even after the COVID-19 issues as this will help companies maintain a happier and productive workforce.  

In the year 2020 we have been talking about change, change, change, now change has become a constant factor even for everyday decisions. What everyone has learned is that the outcome may not have to change or be different, but how we bring about the same outcome with a different approach will determine one’s success. Therefore, success will largely depend on how quickly we adopt the changes and what innovations we bring in our strategies, processes and practices. 

Leaving you with a simple symbolic thought, take an example of a car, the current situation is very much like a broken down car. If you have a car that has punctured tyres, there is no need to change the entire car, all you need is to fix the puncture and the car will be mobile again. Net-net, repair or modify and keep going. 

To stay up to date on the latest developments affecting your business, subscribe to our newsletter and check our blog regularly. To re-define your workplace culture in 2021 and beyond, contact our A-team to understand more about small shifts that can bring a huge difference to your work culture. Contact us now!

10 Ways to Improve Your Rewards & Recognition Program

There was a time when people worked 14-16 hour shifts in factories because the production had to run 24×7. It was only in 1914 that the Ford Motor Company reduced the working hours of workers to eight hours. It was a landmark decision back in those days. It soon produced overwhelming results as the productivity of workers improved dramatically. Ford Motors went a step ahead and doubled the wages too. And, the rest, as they say, is history.   

It can be said that this was one of the earliest reward strategies that worked immensely well at that time. Today, eight-hour shifts are no add-on for an employee but an expected norm, and a wage hike is a normal course of action to award top performers. Employees today seek much more than this. That is why organizations introduce innovative Rewards and Recognition programs to create a holistic working ecosystem.  

Why does your organization need a Reward & Recognition Program? 

A Gallup study points out that employees, in most cases, quit their jobs because of a lack of recognition. Another Gallup study shows that employees who feel they are not being recognized for their work are more probable to leave their job than others. These studies clearly and rather alarmingly point out that employees feel that their employers ignore their best efforts routinely. The result – there is an ever-increasing flock of employees actively searching for greener pastures.  

Well-defined and realistic reward programs serve multiple purposes. These programs are a great way to engage employees, leaving them feeling appreciated and recognized for their work. Organizations today have realized that R&R programs can contribute meaningfully to their employee retention programs while helping improve the work culture. Here are the top reasons why an increasing number of employers rely on objective R&R programs that promise to deliver noteworthy results.   

• To drive employee motivation: A well-created R&R program infuses motivation in employees, giving them reasons to stay on track and collaborate with their colleagues positively. It is not rocket science – just simple human psychology – if a person is rewarded for doing something right and in the best possible manner, the individual is motivated to repeat the performance, over and over again. 
• Develop a positive work culture: Recognizing people for their work and rewarding them encourages friendly competition amongst peers. It brings in an enthusiastic and proactive rivalry where each team member tries to do the best each time. 
• Improve productivity: When employees are motivated to better their previous work or maintain consistency in their performance, there are high chances of improving employee engagement. It makes individuals and teams more efficient and productive as they are more invested in their work. In the end, all of them will ensure to contribute high-quality work.  
• Retention: Motivated employees are more likely to stick around. Employees appreciate employers who recognize and reward their work. It is a natural give-and-take philosophy.  

R&R programs can help in creating a positive company culture. When there are a bunch of happy, motivated, and appreciated people around, it usually catches onto others. Everyone tries to put their best foot forward; there is enthusiasm and involvement with work. All of this helps create a good place to work.  

Is your R&R program delivering the desired results?  

Probably not! If the mere presence of R&R programs were that effective, all organizations would be reporting top performances of employees. But that’s not the case? Why? Because rewards & incentives need to be aligned effectively with employee needs and expectations.  

It is crucial to research ways to optimize rewards & recognition programs to achieve the best results. All the benefits mentioned above are reachable and realistic, provided the company’s R&R program is custom-designed for matching the unique challenges of your organization.  

As mentioned before, there is no rocket science involved in designing a reward and incentive program that works. It needs to psychologically appeal and impress your employees and practically deliver what they expect.  

Here are ten ways to upgrade your Reward & Recognition program: 

Clarity around reward programs 

Ensure every employee has clarity and know-how about earning rewards as per company policy. Ambiguity leads nowhere other than frustrations. In the process, it alienates people. If the very people who the program is meant for are not aware of the program, what good can it deliver? Plus, there is the risk of employees misunderstanding and sidelining it off as biased and unfair. Communicating what the program entails is important. For example, if your organization is ready to launch a wellness program, be sure that your employees know what they are required to earn the rewards.  

Infuse unicity in your rewards and incentives program 

It is important to be unique as that arouses intrigue and interest. What is important is that the rewards program is attuned to the unique culture of your workplace. There are many ways to make the program extraordinary. It is crucial to discover what your employees want and value – take feedback – delve deep into their minds. It could be that they are looking for freedom. Or, a few fun parties, or maybe a volunteering opportunity. Also, make sure that top performers are appreciated and recognized publicly, through an e-dashboard, company newsletter, email, etc., with peer recognition taking it to an enhanced level. 

Ensure rewards are present for big and small achievements 

Big achievements are worthy of celebrations, but so are the small ones. Employers often forget the little fish. What they forget is that small feats add up to become big achievements. All the small ones add up, so let’s not forget these. It is vital to make your reward programs layered. While the bigger wins can get monetary rewards, the smaller ones can get little words of appreciation, a pat on the back, and more.  

At the core of a great team is teamwork. Reward teams to amplify teamwork 

Let’s accept that most of the work done well is due to collaborative efforts. If the team is lagging on teamwork, the productivity of individuals is affected. Hence, the reward system should acknowledge the contribution of the entire team. It leads to fueling team and inter-departmental relationships.  

Create a healthy competitive environment by gamifying rewards 

One way to induce friendly competition in the workplace is to take advantage of gamification. Competitiveness should be in moderation and not overly competitive because that can lead to burnout and unhappiness. Gamification helps introduce a fun element to the reward program, making it easy for everyone to be on board.  

Inventing new ways to reward top performers 

Bring in new ideas to the rewards program, now and then. Innovate to give your people real-world rewards. It is natural for boredom to seep in with regular stuff, thereby, decreasing the overall value of the reward system. To ensure that your employees are consistent in their quest to perform better every time, it is essential to refresh your R&R program from time to time. There should be an ever-evolving reward system for employees to feel truly incentivized to avoid stagnancy and a taken-for-granted attitude. 

It is all about personalization today 

Ensure rewards are personalized too. This can make a key difference in employee engagement and the recognition process. Be it consumerism or human resource retention policies, offering tailor-made incentives can make top performers feel acknowledged and recognized even more. For example, lunches can be a one-to-one affair with a senior manager or one of the top bosses. Small efforts like these can reflect that the employer cares for what the employee has achieved. Such endeavors also motivate others to excel in their job.  

Inundate rewards programs with personal development factors and causes close to employees 

Personal development is a topic close to every employee. Be it junior or senior personnel, everyone wants to progress in life. Giving opportunities to employees to develop their skills and improve their know-how is one of the best rewards. Plus, upskilled workers can add value to your organizational goals too. Yes, such endeavors can be expensive. But, the end results are brilliant and worth the time and money.  

Another way to show your employees that you care is to let individuals give time to causes that they are passionate about. Company-level feedback can be taken on what is close to their heart, and the company can choose to align with causes that most feel about. Or let individuals make use of volunteering leaves. It can have an everlasting impact in enhancing the company’s corporate image, helping attract deserving talent. 

Nurture self-esteem of employees 

Motivating employees just doesn’t come from financial rewards. Intrinsic motivation comes from giving employees control over their work. Give them the reins. Keep the communication channels open and celebrate achievements. Give them opportunities to train and teach others. Offer them coaching support in case of setbacks. Feature them on your brand website as Top or Consistent Performers. There are multiple ways to strengthen the self-esteem of individual workers. 

Research before gifting your employees 

Another way to ensure that your R&R programs are truly motivating is to find out what kind of rewards they want from your people. There are innumerable choices of gift cards, staycation rewards, event tickets, monetary incentives, creative rewards, etc. Give employees the freedom to choose because that can drive maximum employee satisfaction. 

Conclusion  

Many factors affect employee productivity, and a strong forceful Rewards & Recognition program is one essential element of making the workplace performance-oriented, engaging, and fun. Thankfully, modern technology has helped evolve various high-tech platforms that facilitate rewarding and incentivizing seamlessly. Buzzz is one platform that helps you comprehensively implement, monitor, and track your R&R program. Features like peer-to-peer recognition ensure that appreciation and positive feedback can occur even when workers are remotely working. Contests can be integrated to infuse healthy competitiveness in the workplace. Instant rewards, instant recognition, gamification, and a centralized dashboard can provide a strong impetus to your R&R program. 

Bring love to work: The ultimate way to engage employees 

Stephen Stills had once written – “If you can’t be in the job you love…love the job you’re in.”  

Love is a very strong human feeling – a sentiment that connects two or more people, a person with activities, inanimate objects, etc. The feeling is blended with emotions, gratitude, purpose, and more. However, love takes effort. 

Our topic today is about being in love with work. We mostly limit love between two or more individuals or between individuals and hobbies like cooking, music, dance, etc., but here we are extending the concept to how viewing work from the lens of love can help improve organizational work culture. Loving work is being emotionally connected with the tasks at hand, is about looking forward to being occupied and doing something meaningful.  

What is love? The essence of being in love with your work  

Leaving aside the fairytale stories, love is when two people bond with one another, have affectionate feelings that they mutually share, and are drawn into a relationship of commitment. The bond is marked with feelings of care and mutual respect. The relationship is about filling their lives with positivity, warmth, and a general sense of being appreciated and seen. Can this analogy be extended to the workplace?  

“The bond is marked with feelings of care and mutual respect.” 

Ideally, yes. It would be great if employees love their work with as many emotions as they love their family and friends because love brings out the best in an individual. Love filles people with positive energy. They become enthusiastic and motivated. Thus, they would give their best in every aspect of their job, be it the tasks at hand or maintaining a strong emotional connection with employers, managers, peers, and subordinates. But, that’s too utopian because, in reality, most employees are not as motivated as you want them to be. Considering that only 15% of the total workforce is engaged with their work, most employees come to work every day not with a lot of love.  

There are enough and more statistics about employee engagement at the workplace that indicate that love is missing in the workplace or, in other words, employees work, but they do so because of various reasons and compulsions and not per se because they love to work. That special feeling or attachment seems absent in about 85% of the workforce. Consequently, it is leaving an ever-lasting impact on their productivity, which in turn influences your organizational goals and business performances. Thus, understanding the essence of ‘being in love with work’ and doing your bit as an employer, manager, or HR is important.  

You would want to have employees fall in love with work for obvious reasons. When they love what they do, they enjoy it and go the extra mile. For example, we love being with our close-knit group, which accentuates our best form, our true self. We are comfortable in our skin, have no pretension, and have the best time ever. That is how it should be at work too. When employees are in love with work, they are bound to enjoy coming to work, day after day. Not just that, they will happily go the extra mile to collaborate and work as a team with their subordinates, colleagues, and superiors and contribute willingly towards a better organizational culture.  

Is it practically possible to always love what one does for a livelihood? Maybe not because every job has certain aspects that are not too pleasant. Being in love with work does not mean that one has to love everything about their task. We don’t love everything about our partners, kids and parents, do we? We love them despite it. We love them because the moments of joy and contentment experienced with them are more than the moments of discord or unhappiness. 

“The essence of loving work is that it inspires the person to do his job well.” 

Bringing love to work – strengthens trust, builds a collaborative workforce 

Being in love with work can be very rewarding because it helps employees search and look for positive things, bringing optimism and trust to the workplace. Loving work generates the passion for outdoing the previous performance. It is a big turn-on, not just for an individual employee but people around him because pragmatism attracts like-minded attributes. Work is no longer a monotony that one has to get through daily since the individual enjoys the job at hand. It is a great way to bring in a constructive mindset and approach that can become the foundation for creating a collaborative workspace. 

This Valentine’s Season – set a goal for enhancing the emotional connection with work  

Being in love with work is more about the intrinsic nature of the employee. Employers might wonder what they can do to make their employees love work. There are two things that employers can do as facilitators of loving work:   

Create a culture where employees love their work and are emotionally connected 

Employers need to create a culture where employees are motivated enough to give their best and work dedicatedly. While most of the emotional connection with work is in the hands of individual employees, HR and employers can do everything possible to make the workplace fun, motivating, and inspiring. For example,  

• Continuous and consistent performance analysis and management. 

• Create a high-trust work environment.  
• Ensure inclusiveness in team meetings, work distribution, etc. 
• Ensure pay parity and fair treatment.  
• Frequent, open, and honest communication  
• Fair and justified rewards & recognition system in place.  

• Offer career growth and learning opportunities.  

 Fortify love for work with reinforcements in daily life

If your employees love work, you can keep them motivated by offering reinforcements. Such motivations assure employees that they are on the right track. One of the best reinforcement is peer-to-peer appreciation.Verbal acknowledgment or an electronic message in cognizance on a public platform from a peer reinforces his philosophies about work. Similarly, another aspect is about being appreciated by seniors and team leaders. A pat on the back, a listening ear, and an empathetic outlook can work wonders for employees trying to work self-assuredly and give their best.   

Conclusion 

How do you show appreciation when you love someone? The easiest and the quickest way is to compliment them. Buzzz by GRG India is a Reward & Recognition platform that can be used to appreciate team members with peer-to-peer recognition features. Such platforms encourage open feedback and communication that can be used as an effective medium to help enhance confidence in employees to keep loving their work. 

“Employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person – not just an employee – are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled. Satisfied employees satisfied customers, which leads to profitability.” These are the words of the former CEO and Chairperson of Xerox, Anna Mulcahy.  These words should be the gospel for all managers for all organizations, irrespective of business scale and industry type. These words should be resonating in their attitude and approach when dealing with their team members. 

Unfortunately, organizations have always tended to focus more on their customers and fairly so because their customers drive sales and revenues. Employees are usually taken for granted! Or, let’s say that organizations are not too ready to spend time, money, and efforts on employees. It was the common state of affairs in the last century. However, in 1990, Kahn introduced a unique concept called ‘Employee Engagement‘ in his article titled “Psychological Conditions of Personal Engagement and Disengagement at Work.” It kind of laid the foundation for modern-day employee engagement, as we know though the term was coined much later. 

Employee engagement has been defined in hundreds of different ways. Simply said, it is about employees being genuinely positively connected to their work. As a result, their level of engrossment in their work is unmatched – almost inducing envy in the competition. Such employees are people who would not mind replying to an email at 6 PM, taking it in their stride, invested as much as they would be to any such demand in their personal life. 

Is employee engagement a saga for modern corporates, or does it really work?

Data from different studies prove that employee engagement is not a whiff in the air – an unnecessary commotion created by HR experts. No, it is something that is subtlety present – waiting to be recognized and addressed meaningfully by managers. The more prompt you are in understanding it, the better opportunity you have to stimulate it positively and redeem its benefits. 

Does ABBA’s “Money, money, money” apply to employee engagement?

Many managers think that their team members are driven by money. But, coincidentally, a study reveals that about 36% of your employees would happily give up money equivalent to 5,000 dollars per annum just to work peacefully at work. The Pyramid of Employee Needs lists four things that engaged employees to want from the employer/manager:

1. Enjoy independence at work
2. Have the genuine feeling of being a part of the team.
3. Feel that they are making a difference to business performance 
4. Get real opportunities to learn in the workplace and grow professionally. 

What can managers do to support building high employee engagement?

1. Support the personal growth of team members

Personal growth is crucial for each individual, for everyone wants to grow. In his book Drive, Daniel Pink mentions that there are three components of personal growth – autonomy, purpose, and mastery. 

• Autonomy – Each team member of yours wants to feel in control. That is basic human nature.
• Purpose – syncing with the organization’s mission and vision arouses the right passion in employees.
• Mastery – learning how to get better at things. 

How to support personal growth? 

• Offer your team the opportunity to learn and grow. 
• Micromanaging can be harmful – give space to your team.
• Keep your mission clear and simple for everyone to understand and work in accordance.
• Talk to your team members continuously to understand what is stressing them at work. 

2. Thanking team members

Employee recognition is all about acknowledging work well done. It is very simple, but leaders and managers over complicate things. Sometimes, they are too engrossed in their work to notice who’s doing good. And, when they notice someone doing good, they are usually unsure about how to handle it. In the process, they lose a great opportunity to leverage team engagement. 

Having an effective recognition program can resolve these issues optimally. 

What can managers do to recognize productive workers?

• Keep rewards and recognition separate. They could be interlinked, but each has a separate entity. 
• Recognition is as simple as patting the back or giving public applause before the daily meeting. 
• Invest yourself in becoming a mindful leader. 
• Use a high-tech platform that has a dashboard for public acknowledgment of good work.
• Sending an email or a handwritten note can be done too to engage team members. 
• The big question – how often should team members be recognized? As per Gallup, it should be once a week, at least.

3. Integrating feedback

What is feedback? It is a form of communication where the team members are informed about their performance. Ambiguity is uncomfortable, and it creates unrest and distrust in the team. The truth is that feedback is over-amplified so much so that most managers do not know how to give feedback or are scared to put things into perspective. Typically, in most cases, it is the annual performance appraisal when team members get to know about what the manager feels about their performance. 

What can managers do about feedback?

• Keep it a continuous and regular process.
• Give corrective feedback. 
• Avoid negative feedback. Make your feedback system constructive.
• Ensure that your tone, words, and body language are not negative. 
• Ensure that the feedback has a specific outcome attached to it. Try not to leave it open-ended, confusing your team member even more. 
• Keep neutral. Managers should avoid bias of all types.
• It is the behavior of the person that the feedback is all about, not the person. 
• Be straight, to the point while giving feedback.

4. Focus on becoming a good leader

In various studies, most people leave their jobs or are unhappy at their workplace because of the manager. Organizations need to be responsible when they hire managers. 

What can managers do?

At their individual level, managers need to work on three aspects to create a positive environment in the office:

• Create a work setting where your team members are comfortable approaching you and communicating with you.
• Focus on regular reviews and not annual ones to gauge how your team members are performing.
• Get into the learning mode – attend leadership training and workshops to acquire skills and better understand team management.
• Learn to see the strength of your employee rather than the weakness.
• Connect one-to-one with your team members, and do so regularly.
• Instead of encouraging negative competition amongst your team members (some managers believe it works), focus on arousing a spirit of friendship in your team.
• Practice flexibility to promote quality work-life balance. A little understanding does not hurt, and the pros will reflect in the year-end performance. 
• Do not look for big wins – those will anyway happen. Focus on the smaller ones. Small wins are always the foundation stone for bigger wins. 

5. Making your team members your brand ambassadors

When your team members become your brand ambassadors, you can be sure that you do things right. For example, if someone was to ask them for a good job opening, would your team members refer your organization! If they do, they are your brand ambassadors. If not, there is a lot to do.

How to convert your team into brand ambassadors?

• Use proactive tools to measure how likely they are to recommend the brand to peers, vendors, customers, and more and measure the metrics.
• Conduct focus groups to understand what stops them from being your brand spokesperson.
• In brand evolvement campaigns, ensure that your team is involved to whatever lengths possible. 

6. Show your care for your team members’ well-being

It is essential to make your team members feel that their well-being is very important for the organization. It can fuel employee engagement and accelerate it beyond discernible results. Your team needs to have a good work-life balance to come recharged to the office every day. 

What can managers do to ensure the well-being of their team?

• Do not set unrealistic expectations from your team.
• Do not assume that they are available 24×7 for work. 
• Respect their right to personal time and space.
• Encourage your team members to follow healthy food and lifestyle habits.
• Look for ways to bring calmness to your workplace. It can make work a lot more peaceful and stress-free.

7. Getting your team on the same platform 

Many organizations play the policy of hide-and-seek. They are not transparent and honest about what is happening, about the bigger picture. On the contrary, as managers, you can push employee engagement by following transparent and ethical methods. 

What can managers do to keep everyone on the same level?

• Integrate company values in day-to-day activities and workflows.
• It is good to remind your team about the values during weekly meetings and Town Halls.
• Reinforce the company values and mission during onboarding sessions.

Employee engagement is not a farce, the imagination of a psychologist, or the fancy of an HR manager. It is real; it is something that your competition is addressing dynamically. Engaging employees results in a productivity boost, better innovation, better services to your customers, and fewer chances of leaving the organization.

Remember, highly engaged organizations are listening better, are more purposeful and inclusive than those that are not. If you are looking at driving employee engagement with purpose and inclusiveness, consider the resourceful buzz platform.