"The Enjoyable Workplace" Concept

[Young Spark]

Earlier when me and my fiance were heading back to her house I was thinking (as my mind is always known for doing) on random business issues... one that grasped my attention quite well is the simple concept of employees: Working for a Living or for Enjoyment?

Quite a hard concept you may think, but its not. The concept surround the issue around this one question: Are people working to make a living or are they working for enjoyment.

I see many people every day who seem like work is a stress burden (in which many cases it is) to them. They don't want to be there but they have to make a living, so they fake a smile and some happy attitude for a couple hours just to see their reward in the form of a small paycheck.

While thinking about this when I just got home, I questioned what ways many employers persue to generate a less stressful and more productive workplace. Here is an article I found quite the read in my opinion and gives some good ideas.

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http://www.allbusiness.com/human-res...g/11357-1.html
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So what is your take on this issue: Its a well known fact that employees are our key to success along with proper planning, but having a stressful and confusing workplace will only lead to decreased productivity. At the same time, in a sense of the saying... a cluttered space leads to a cluttered mind.

How do you (as an employer) generate a less stressful zone and generate more productivity for your business? How do you give your employees the satisfaction of actually wanting to come to work, not to look forward to the weekly or bi-weekly paycheck, but to actually ENJOY what they are doing. I am strong on this issue because what employee wants to live day by day not enjoying coming to work, it should be important to help create a more open environment.

[Young Spark]

Still awaiting, does anybody believe in constructing an "enjoyable workplace?" I mean, keeping employee's should be a major priority to keep your productivity high.

[Viraj]

Still awaiting, does anybody believe in constructing an "enjoyable workplace?" I mean, keeping employee's should be a major priority to keep your productivity high.

Yes, I feel businesses set themselves apart from their competitors by having a more relaxed workplace; this has pros and cons in itself - you need to find the balance between a relaxed and productive workplace. Google and Yahoo are probably prime examples of companies who have found this balance.

I stumbled across this article months ago but still had it in my favourites, I think you'll enjoy it: http://positivesharing.com/2006/10/1...ool-workplaces

[syia]

I do believe Dustin but how do you define enjoyable maybe be different from other people..so how do you propose to do this?

[Young Spark]

The link I provided give some ideas... I just suggest like making their day easier, giving them 1 or 2 more "minor breaks" where they can go and spend maybe 10 minutes outside or let them browse online and everything if you run an office, things of that nature.

It doesn't necessarily have to be break but you should get my drift though... its all about keep a positive flow/energy in the surrounding environment.

[Diamondman]

Maybe the employer could bring in a cash flow consultant to help the employees manage their money better.

[Young Spark]

^^ If your being sarcastic, do you at all have a life but to start with me all the time or is somebody lonely? IDK how many times I have to say you are annoying me before you get it through your head... really.

If you not being sarcastic, maybe you should read again on what a cash flow consultant is... I DO NOT manage money... that is a financial advisor's job.

[Diamondman]

There you go again taking things so sensitively, I was meaning that would allow them to manage their money better creating a more happy work place.

[Diamondman]

And I was'nt meaning you either.

[Young Spark]

Diamondman... there is a certain thing called "Sarcasm" --- definition, to take something that one finds serious and make it into a semi-serious funny statement.

The fact that you said "Maybe the employer could bring in a cash flow consultant to help the employees manage their money better" sounded sarcastic, especially if you knew what a cash flow consultant is, you'd know we have no affiliation with assisting in money management.

My apologies...

[Diamondman]

Thats ok apology accepted

[akula]

Still awaiting, does anybody believe in constructing an "enjoyable workplace?" I mean, keeping employee's should be a major priority to keep your productivity high.

Sure...there's a proven link between workplace environment and employee productivity, usually termed the hawthorne effect

This area attracts much research and there's a lot of literature on how to practice employer branding for the purpose of attracting, motivating and retaining the best employees

Now...in terms of adjectives..."enjoyable" is probably not the right word to aim for when trying to create the ideal workplace. Other words like "challenging", "inspiring", "prestigious" are more important, depending on the kinds of talent you wanna attract.

For example, with tech startups, the people you are attracting are highly qualified professionals who are quitting jobs with much better pay, and much more "enjoyable" work environments to join yours (and mine) miserable little garage, chop shops. If you wanna recruit an engineer from Google, she already has "enjoyable" and there's very little you can offer her - however, very smart founders like Joe Kraus are able to do it because they can understand the strength and weaknesses in their employer branding profile. Subsequently, they offer benefits which large employers can't offer (like equity, options and hackathons) to attract employees away from much more "enjoyable" workplaces.

In the end guys like Joe win and become very rich, successful and famous. The game is one of a war for talent. Your little startup is competing against the most advanced, wealthiest and aggressive corporations in the history of the world. Aiming for an "enjoyable" workplace isn’t gonna win the battle for you.

[Young Spark]

^^ Thanks for the response Akula... was definitely looking towards your thoughts on this issue.

To re-phrase myself cause it slightly (notice I said slightly) we're on 2 seperate pages. My focus on this is to provide a "relaxed" (sorry if that is another word not built for this subject) environment. My motivation is to want to make the employee's feel good about coming to work... not having to wake up each day with the thought of "another hassle of a work day." I want them to be able to walk in, socialize and smile and enjoy what they are doing... keep a positive attitude all day and all of that.

Me myself... I don't enjoy going to work for other people a lot of the times... that's me, because its the same distinct thought of "another day, another dollar" as the saying could be put. I was just wondering on your thought of small businesses doing this. Like, for example: I were to start a advertising office (just an example) --- and in each office each person gets a complimentary breakfast (courtest of McDonalds for the sake of the example again) --- and we run contests and giveaways and allow time for social activity and just general "fun" activites that does 2 things... relieves them of the work day stress and second, increases their attitude for more productivity in the workplace.

Hope I was understandable... so can I get your advice on that Akula?

[Xanifur]

Ok, check this out:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/humanres...cle179274.html

[akula]

Sure...well, I'm taking an open approach to interpreting your question

In other words, "What is the characteristic of a successful workplace that makes successful employees and, by extension, a successful company?" and by extention, "How does a company determine what employee incentives it is to provide"? There's a lot of available words (and incentives): "enjoyable", "relaxed", "challenging", "supportive" etc..Which word is best one?

The truth is, anyone one of these words (or incentives) can potentially create a culture of success in the work environment (and higher productivity), and really, the challenge for HR is to pick the word which best fits the company's context.

For example: Government departments with lots employees who have families may flounder if they try to build a "challenging" workplace because men and women in these kinds of jobs need more work/life balance, or they'll leave the employer. On another hand, in startup tech companies, providing extended maternity leave, and childcare facilities won't necessarily attract and retain young techies whose needs are to be challenged and recognised.

To answer your question: Would free breakfasts/lunches and "fun activities" increase productivity in your workplace? The answer is "it depends on the expectations of your employees". Firstly, if they can get these incentives as standard with any other employer, they'll have the same productivity with you as they'll have anywhere else. Thus, you will have failed at creating a super productive company. Secondly, if their expectations are for other kinds of benefits, such as an ESOP, which you are not providing, then again you will have mismatched your productivity incentives with the needs of the employees. Thirdly, the problem with employee incentives is one of control and measurement.

For example: Let's say you've done the surveys and your employees want an ESOP to stimulate productivity. Let's say you have then provided the ESOP (or the free lunches, or fun activities, or maternity leave or whatever). These things are then an extra cost to your business which you need to recover. But how do you measure prodivity and the ROI on the incentives you provide? Let's say you've figured that out and you can actually monitor whether the incentives are working or not. What happens if the incentive isn't working? Let's say the new ESOP isn't generating any ROI. Do you get rid of it and show a lack of faith in your employees or do you retain the useless ESOP and experience larger overhead? These are the kinds of issues you need to think about when making decisions about employee incentives.

In the end: Ultimately, however, in addition to doing the surveys to find out what your employees want, your incentives mix is gonna be determined by the market. You're gonna have to differentiate your self and say;

"I know you could be working for IBM at 20% more pay, I know that IBM offers free food, I know that IBM offers company retreats, but come work at my company and we'll give you benefit XYZ which you can't get at IBM and which is worth more to you than 20% base salary, free food and travel"

Like I've already mentioned - employer branding is a marketing exercise and, as with all marketing, the attributes of your competition, are gonna determine your employer branding marketing mix

^^ Thanks for the response Akula... was definitely looking towards your thoughts on this issue.

To re-phrase myself cause it slightly (notice I said slightly) we're on 2 seperate pages. My focus on this is to provide a "relaxed" (sorry if that is another word not built for this subject) environment. My motivation is to want to make the employee's feel good about coming to work... not having to wake up each day with the thought of "another hassle of a work day." I want them to be able to walk in, socialize and smile and enjoy what they are doing... keep a positive attitude all day and all of that.

Me myself... I don't enjoy going to work for other people a lot of the times... that's me, because its the same distinct thought of "another day, another dollar" as the saying could be put. I was just wondering on your thought of small businesses doing this. Like, for example: I were to start a advertising office (just an example) --- and in each office each person gets a complimentary breakfast (courtest of McDonalds for the sake of the example again) --- and we run contests and giveaways and allow time for social activity and just general "fun" activites that does 2 things... relieves them of the work day stress and second, increases their attitude for more productivity in the workplace.

Hope I was understandable... so can I get your advice on that Akula?