Balancing your staffs work load and encouraging staff entertainment

As business owners we know that the main aim of our business is to be successful and productive. We pour endless hours, ideas, investments and prayers of faith that everything will turn out great, but in the process of pushing toward new product launches, satisfying customers and monthly promotions, your employees can easily find themselves overworked and burnt out. The company’s employees are one of its most valuable assets, and managing them can be one of the most important—yet challenging—tasks required by you the business owner.

In the beginning, overworked or burnt out employees start out with poor quality of performance because they are not as productive as they should be. In the long-term, there can be significant health consequences for employees under ongoing states of stress. This can cause factors such as high blood pressure, weight gain, and heart conditions. Any one of these can cause loss of productivity and lost work time. Even healthy employees may start to complain, creating a negative and less productive environment. In the end, employees can only put up with so much before they will leave. If it comes to that, it will result in huge costs to the company.

HOW DO I KNOW IF MY TEAM IS OVERWORKED OR BURNT OUT?

• Poor morale

Staff will generally be unhappy and apathetic after an extended period of overwork.

• Fatigue

Some staff members will be able to sustain a reasonable energy level, but eventually after a prolonged period, most teams will become more lethargic and less responsive to input.

HOW DO I HELP MY OVERWORKED STAFF?

• Engage Employees with the Plan

By having an honest view of the road ahead, employees can help to pace themselves for the amount of work they need to do. Is the situation only temporary, or is this the sustained pace that employees will be expected to maintain indefinitely? Is the goal realistic? If this is the expected ongoing pace of the organization and the team is encountering burnout, it may be wise to re-evaluate expectations of employees, and determine if the workload is appropriate.

Listen to Employees

Engage employees in discussions of the issues that may be causing the overwhelming amount of work. Ask them for suggestions, not complaints — embrace your team as part of the solution, not the cause. Are things being assigned to your team that is not their responsibility? Are individuals being delegated tasks that they should not be working on? If so, there may be opportunities to address these issues with other teams or managers.

Encourage Work/Life Balance

Employees are people, too! And in the middle of hitting targets, demanding customers, and pressures from this critical industry alone, sometimes we need to be reminded that everyone needs to find their own work/life balance. It’s one thing to ask employees to put in some extra time here and there or work an extra shift now and then. On the other hand, employees are not obligated to work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week indefinitely. Remember that your best and brightest — the ones with the most opportunities — are the most likely to leave first.

Once you’ve balanced some of the workload, you should see a discernible difference in your team’s morale. Employees who feel positive about their work are generally happier, more likely to work longer hours, and do better quality work. Not because they were directed to, but because they’re more personally invested in it. In the end, happy employees mean better productivity, and revenue, for your business.

Even businesses that have a very few people listed on their employee payroll still need to pay attention to how motivated, productive, and satisfied their employees are, because all of these things can impact the company’s bottom line.

Each employee is an individual, and what motivates one may be totally different for another. So now you ask yourself, “how do I determine what it takes to motivate each of my staff?”

The first step is making sure you hire the right person for the job. Most employees are self-motivated and will be very productive if they’re doing something they like. New employees are usually very keen and eager to do a good job. However, this initial excitement won’t last forever, and it’s important to have some key practices in place to ensure that the employees’ enthusiasm doesn’t fade. A happy staff is a productive staff.

Some questions to ask yourself:

• Are my employees highly productive and hitting their targets?
• Do my employees believe that their job is important to the company?
• Do they feel valued and appreciated?
• In the past year, have they had a chance to learn and grow?
• Are my employees showing up for work each day feeling passionate and purposeful about their job?

Now you might feel that in order to increase staff productivity and achieve job satisfaction, you will need to spend large amounts of money or resources to adequately meet the needs of your employees? Definitely not the case, in fact it may be simply a matter of adjusting management styles or if it does require some investment, then it is often returned by boosting the company’s productivity in the end.

HOW?

• One-for-One

Benefits do not always have to be expensive—in fact, some may actually help a business increase its profit margins.

For example, incentives such as flexible work schedules can improve worker satisfaction by improving an employee’s work-life balance, making employees feel happier and more productive. This is an especially attractive setup for workers that have small children at home. At the same time as making employees’ happier, telecommuting and flexible work schedules can reduce overhead costs by limiting the amount of energy, supplies and office space needed.

• A little time for play…

Another way to increase employee motivation and job satisfaction is to make investments in corporate culture. This can be as simple as recognizing employees on their birthday or instituting monthly cocktail hours, or putting an entertainment-filled break room in the office. Employees will likely appreciate the attention being paid to their job satisfaction, a factor which will often be seen in their productivity and performance.

• Corporate Culture

Corporate outings and events that aim to improve corporate culture can enhance team building, which can thereby increase overall company productivity and friendly competitiveness. These can be turned into fun fitness things like yoga classes or charity runs. After all, healthy employees are not just happier employees—they tend to have fewer sick days and can be more focused.

• Be a cheerleader

Encouraging high performance can sometimes be as simple as rewarding it. Programs such as employee-of-the-month that recognize and reward high-performing employees not only make the worker feel more satisfied with his or her job, but they also set an example for other employees and encourage them to work harder.

Your employees are your business. Nurturing their passion for their jobs will only help your business grow and succeed.