Make Your Team Happier and More Productive in 2021
Matt Archer
February 2, 2021
2021 - The year of Team Contentment and Success
With 2020 finally behind us, many workers (possibly your team) have become burnt out from all the change management, shift to virtual work and having to balance their work and home lives simultaneously. For businesses, this can impact worker morale, customer satisfaction and ultimately your bottom line.
2021 then may be the perfect time to shake things up a bit to help improve your worker’s morale and get them feeling good about their work again. Below are some areas companies can focus on to help workers feel good again.
Make Work Fun
Keeping workers engaged is very important to help them feel valued. When they feel valued, their quality and amount of productivity usually increases. People generally are more likely to try harder when they’re doing something they enjoy, and it also feeds into a better workplace culture, especially now during 2021[1].
In the past this was accomplished by providing a recreation area at your office space or encouraging employees to socialize during break time. With those things being less accessible during this time, we have come up with some alternatives to bring more fun to work.
Shift Their Sleep Schedule
Many people are not at their best first thing in the morning. When we’re most awake and productive is less about discipline and more about genetics. Having a business that promotes flexible work hours for people who aren’t morning people helps people stay happier and be more productive.
Now that so much work has shifted to a remote/work from anywhere style, it’s easier than ever to connect with your team and determine what type of schedule works best for them.
Mike Sholars at DropBox agrees as he says, “…in remote work, as virtually all communication becomes digital, we have the opportunity to do more of it asynchronously, so that you can work (and sleep) when it works best for you. Sleep equity will be made possible by turning toward a non-linear workweek.”[2]
Some may prefer to work during the middle of the day and others may prefer to work later into the night. If your company has the option to do so, it’s worth investigating to help your workers better balance work/home life and make them feel like they’re being listened to and given more control over the direction of their work.
Provide Feedback/Support during Ups and Downs
People want to feel valued, and not just criticized when they do something wrong. As we know, 2020 had a lot of downs and it was next to impossible to safely conduct in-person meetings in most businesses.
We suggest having regular catch-up meetings, using an online meeting platform such as RingCentral Video, where you and your team can share successes and support each other through challenges during this ever-changing time.
Additionally, hosting semi-regular informal office parties or gatherings online where people can stop in for a while and chat with some of their colleagues in a less pressure-filled environment can be very helpful to relieve stress.
To make it easier to communicate in smaller groups, you could use Zoom break-out rooms that allow you to create one or more additional meeting spaces within one meeting that people can move between at will, so they can talk with the finance department in one meeting, the sales department in another meeting and then rejoin the main meeting all from the same interface.
Focus on Results, not Hours Worked
According to becomingminimalist, one of the major factors of team member happiness is creating a culture of flexibility. To them, “a culture of flexibility suggests a results-driven focus—one that is more interested in you successfully completing your job with excellence than clocking in a set amount of work hours during a specified time of the day.”[3]
As much as it’s easy for businesses to focus on keeping their workers doing steady work during their shift, with so many interruptions and changes due to people working remotely such as unexpected power/internet outages, children needing help with school, elderly parents to care for, pets to take out and more, it’s not fair to expect the same level of consistency as things were prior to 2020.
The focus should instead be on results, and if your workers are getting their jobs done to a high degree of quality, this should be recognized as success instead of looking at whether they were able to follow their regular shift schedule.
Final Thoughts
There are many more ways businesses can help workers feel more productive, valued and successful at their jobs than what we listed. With the focus being on virtual work, communication is more important than ever, and this likely means utilizing one of several cloud/communication tools to be able to stay in touch with your team.
Positive Results™ helps businesses like yours to implement exactly the applications they need to fill in gaps you may have in your current business process. As a partner of a wide variety of cloud/unified communication solutions, we find the best fit for your business’ needs and work with your team to customize these applications to fit your unique process and requirements.
If you have additional questions or need support, contact us at:
Positive Results™ Custom Business Solutions
440.499.4944
[1] https://www.zoho.com/blog/cliq/5-major-drivers-of-employee-engagement.html
[2] https://blog.dropbox.com/topics/work-culture/sleep-equity--good-for-night-owls-and-early-birds
[3] https://www.becomingminimalist.com/12-factors-to-look-for-in-a-job-other-than-a-paycheck/
