Employee satisfaction and engagement are not purely the result of receiving extra pay or more benefits. In fact, for many employees, engagement is a factor of other factors that often rank higher in importance for employees than compensation. Employee recognition influences employee engagement in profound ways because it speaks to the individual needs of employees.
And for some employees, comfort and the ability to focus or collaborate, as the project demands, is a top priority. According to a Gensler study 3 out of 4 American workers function in a workspace that detracts from their innovation, focus, and ability to fully engage.
It makes a lot of sense to provide workspace choices as part of a recognition program. Many employees prioritise the ability to control their environment above monetary award programs. Surveys show that greater creativity, in-the-zone, and engagement occur when employees have greater ownership over their personal workspace and how they use it. As Employee Appreciation Day approaches, consider gifting your crew with a gift that will show them how much you value their work, and that will help increase focus and effectiveness all year round.
1. Give Employees Additional Control Over Heat
Often in the winter, being too cold is a key factor that distracts employees from really focusing. Older HVAC systems may leave the edges of an office cold or heat one room while failing to heat other areas. In the summer, your HVAC may over-cool, leaving parts of the office too cold as well.
Managing the temperature is more complicated than it usually appears at first glance. Some employees may complain about it being too cold, while others feel it is too hot. And, it may not be obvious to management that employees are suffering or distracted at work because of a too-cold environment.
Consider assessing if this is a problem in your workspaces through Thanks Polls. Many employees may be distracted but not vocalizing their discomfort. Polls can help you to assess employee discomfort and know what will make the greatest impact.
In some offices, space heaters or an HVAC upgrade may not be an option. Consider alternative options such as allowing employees to swap desks for temperature comfort or modify their hours to work when the office is warmer. Hand warmers, hot drinks such as coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and mobile heaters can help warm workspaces. Even a fitness area can help employees be warmer as workouts raise the body’s temperature and can help to keep an employee warmer for several hours afterward.
2. Provide Employees With Choices Over Cooling
Even while some employees are cold, others may be distracted by feeling too hot. Temperature preferences can range as much as fifteen degrees within an office. If Polls indicates that temperature is a consistent factor of employee distraction, consider allowing employees to give suggestions or volunteer for a committee that can make decisions around temperature control.
Allowing fans, moving computers, or strategically planning where heavy and heat-increasing equipment is placed can make a big difference in how high the temperature gets. Look at how you can increase airflow.
In some instances, a policy change can make a difference by allowing employees to open a window, close blinds, or make other changes that can help to control temperature.
Accommodating the temperature needs of your employees can be challenging, but through Thanks Polls, you can get a better feel for the importance of any changes you are considering. Then, you can assess traditional and alternative ways to meet the needs of your employees and empower them to have greater focus at work.
3. Allow Employees The Choice To Focus or Collaborate According to Need
One of the modern office styles has included layouts designed for optimal collaboration. Open floor plans and clusters of desks have increased teams’ access to each other. But, it has often also created a space that is noisier and distracts from focus.
In the course of a day, employees often have periods in which they must focus and times during which collaboration best suits their progress. Provide areas where employees can control whether they need to focus or collaborate by adjusting your space. If your workspaces are collaboration-centric, then consider adding additional quieter and focus-oriented spaces where employees can focus on an issue or problem they are solving, make phone calls to clients, or delve into a project without distractions or interruptions.
If your space is focus-oriented, consider creating additional spaces where employees can collaborate, discuss, or brainstorm together. These spaces should also have access to technology needs, the wifi, and be comfortable gathering places. Employee needs around focusing or collaborating can also be assessed using Thanks Polls.
4. Give Employees Choices Over Computer Display Screens
Employees’ needs and preferences are varied. Some employees prefer multiple screens, and some need larger or brighter screens to see more clearly. Still, other employees have other preferences.
In some cases, employees may have personal equipment that they want to use at work that makes them better able to focus and perform their job functions. However, one way to show appreciation is to purchase higher-quality and personalized equipment that needs each person’s individual needs in your team.
Utilize Thanks Ideas and encourage your employees to submit ideas around tools that would help with greater productivity. You can organize ideas around specific topics so employees can comment and add links or documents to the topic for greater clarity.
5. Give Employees Plants For Their Space
A view of nature or having plants nearby has been shown to make a drastic difference in employee morale and energy levels. Show appreciation by employees by gifting them a plan to keep in their personal workspace. Then, show your commitment by hiring a plant watering service to keep the plants in the office watered at the right intervals, even when employees go on vacation.
Employees will get to enjoy a bit of nature, the increased oxygen the plants provide, and the decreased stress brought by plants.
6. Make Employees Job Easier By Gifting a Desk Light
A desk light can make a great gift for recognizing an employee because it provides greater focused light and can make their job easier. The ability to control the lighting around work areas ranks high on the wish list by employees polled.
Inadequate lighting or excessive lighting can make concentration more difficult. A desk light can provide the increased lighting to employees who need it while not creating overlighting.
7. Gift Quality Headsets that Block Sound and Make Hearing Easier
In today’s world of high distraction and mobile workers, a quality pair of headsets is often a luxury that many workers don’t buy for themselves but appreciate greatly. Good headsets can block out distracting noises and background sounds while making it easier for employees to more clearly hear sounds coming through remote meetings or phone calls.
Headsets become even more valuable for employees who speak with many people throughout the day or may have small or great hearing loss. Headsets make working efficiently a lot easier for remote employees who must communicate through electronic means.
8. Invest in Standing Desks
Some of your employees may prefer to sit down; others may prefer to always stand while working. Others are likely to prefer the option to move between standing or sitting. If possible, provide standing desks as an option for employees who want to stand for part of the day. The additional choice can give employees a way to move and remain more active.
Standing instead of sitting can have a great impact on the health of employees who can stand. Even simply offering the choice to employees shows that you value their opinions and preferences.
Although standing desks can be more costly than regular desks, you don’t have to purchase a standing desk for everyone. Even offering a few standing desks that employees can rotate between during the hours of the day as individual needs and preferences change.
9. Encourage Employees to Personalized Spaces
Employees who have a personalized space have higher morale and get more done. The Harvard Business Review found that personalized spaces increased place identity among employees, translating into an increased connection with their employer and improved engagement.
Celebrate employee appreciation day by letting your employees choose some gear or other items to personalize their space. Offer to purchase picture frames, photo hangers, floating shelves, or other decorations.
Allowing employees to personalize their spaces gives them back some control and allows them greater ownership. It tells them you trust them and value their uniqueness, which is extremely important in employee recognition.
10. Offer Footstools
Footstools are a less common accessory that many employers don’t consider as a need. And, it often doesn’t fall into a fundamental accessory category. But, many employees love the variety and comfort a footstool offers to desk employees. Footstools allow shorter employees to have greater comfort. Pregnant, older, and many various individual physical features make footstools comfortable.
They allow employees to change their leg position and remain comfortable longer. They can also ease discomfort and make it easier to concentrate. Use Polls to find out how many employees would like to have a footstool for their desk.
11. Quality Desk Chairs
Say “Thank You!” to your employees on Employee Appreciation Day by purchasing quality office chairs for the team. Preferences and comfort levels on the various styles of chair differ from employee to employee. Let employees choose their own chair. Use Ideas to get employee input on their preferred chairs. Use Polls to take the suggested chairs and narrow it down to the most popular 4 or 5 chair styles you can offer to employees.
Simply letting employees be involved in a minor decision like this can boost morale and give employees a greater sense of control over their workday. It speaks to their sense of importance within the organization and is an effective way to recognize and value their opinions and wishes.
12. Allow Employee Input For The Office Layout
Most of the time, office layout is dictated by cost, external companies or ideas management finds online. But, allowing employees to have input and even make decisions about how the office is designed can reap drastic benefits. Employees can have a say in the layout of quieter spaces and team open spaces.
Employees can have a say in which spaces they prefer to work in based on comfort levels throughout your office space. Some of the preferences employees may express include lighting options, like windows and sunlight, noise, quieter areas, or temperature preferences, such as areas that run warmer or cooler than the rest of the office.
13. Give Employees the Ability to Change Spaces Throughout the Day
Give employees greater choice in the workspace by allowing them to move throughout the office during different parts of the day. Some employees prefer music and work well in a busy, active environment but may need a quiet space conducive to intense concentration during other parts of the day.
Allowing your employees to move between workspaces and customize where they work according to their needs assists them in finding the optimal work environment in which they can really thrive. For most employees, that can be one of the most rewarding aspects of their job.
14. Different Types of Spaces to Work From
Carve out niches within your office space that meet the needs of your employees. Use Idea to find out what needs and preferences your team struggles with or make their jobs easier. Narrow down the most important of those needs through Polls.
For many teams, places to focus with complete quiet and no interruptions and open places of collaboration are important. It may be important to provide a professional place where employees can meet with clients away from the hub and the general commotion of the team. Providing nooks with tables and natural light, privacy through plants or dividers, sound-absorbing materials, and other niches can have a big impact on your team.
15. Choice to Come to Work Late
The option of work flexibility ranks as one of the highest benefits for employees in study after study. Many employees report that they work best in the evenings when the office gets quiet again and can finish up the day’s projects.
Reward successful employees by giving them the flexibility to come in later and leave later, as their work projects dictate. This is often cited as a meaningful reward by employees. Add flexible mornings in the company store so that recognized employees can redeem points for flexibility.
16. Choice to Come to Work Early
You may have other employees that would prefer to come in an hour or two earlier than the rest of the team and work in the early-morning quiet. Allowing employees even occasional flexibility can reward employees with a more powerful impact than other forms of recognition.
Or, employees can simply be given greater flexibility during the summer or holiday seasons so employees can work around business and personal needs. Flexible hours can be awarded in quantities, such as “2 hours flexibility on normal schedule”, and added to the company store for employees to redeem.
17. Provide Ergonomic Equip
Add various ergonomic equipment to the Company Store for employees to redeem. This can include lower-cost items such as staplers, mousepads, or keyboards. It can also include more costly equipment such as monitors, desks, or chairs. Ergonomic equipment can be priced in the store for employees to choose from.
Conclusion
Recognizing and rewarding employees through workspace choices gives them ownership. It increases comfort and the ability to focus. Check out this article to find out more about why offering workspace choices increases employee engagement.
About Thanks
Thanks is a leading provider of a recognition-based platform that increases communication, builds teamwork, and makes recognition a part of company culture. Fast, easy and simple Thanks makes it easy to bring data-driven employee recognition to your entire organization. O.C. Tanner purchased the Thanks platform in 2019 to fulfill the recognition needs of smaller businesses.
Thanks, customers benefit from the same decades of research in employee motivation and company culture that O.C. Tanner enterprise clients enjoy, but in a product that is geared for fast, easy, and simple deployment. Whether you’re starting a recognition program or improving and expanding on what you already have, Thanks has everything you need to engage your people with effective, scalable recognition.