We all have those days. Maybe it’s the Monday after a long weekend when you keep hitting the snooze button, or the Friday of a painfully long week when it’s challenging to drag yourself into the office. We know what that’s like and whether we like it or not, we know that our employees face the same challenges. We’ll never eliminate those days, but what if we could reduce their frequency? How would that impact the engagement and productivity of your team?
Our customers routinely ask about things they can do to improve the workplace and their culture. And, let’s be honest, we want to know how to be happy at work for our own benefit as well.
Since this is such a complex topic and an evolving area, we reached out to an expert and have invited her in to help us make sense of how we can best support our employees. Dr. Tracy Brower is a Sociologist and the Vice President of Workplace Insights for Steelcase. She is also the author of the books “The Secrets to Happiness at Work” and “Bringing Life to Work.”
One area that that tops her list for employee engagement is the need for a sense of purpose. In her book, “The Secrets to Happiness at Work” Dr. Brower states that to be engaged, employees want to have a sense of purpose. That sense of purpose looks like this:
1. Feeling connected to something larger than yourself
2. Knowing your work matters to that bigger purpose
3. Knowing your works importance to people
She goes further to state that employees want to know how they impact the bottom line, but more importantly, knowing how they affect people is what gets them out of bed in the morning without hitting the snooze button.
Another aspect to engaging employees is providing a comfortable work environment. When we ask people to come back to the office, we need to make certain it’s a comfortable environment that meets employees’ varying needs. Those needs are different for each employee and can even change throughout the course of the workday. Doing some brainstorming? Get with the team and collaborate in front of the whiteboard. Writing a report, a blog, or doing data analysis? Give them a quiet distraction free place to go focus. Different industries and workplace cultures have unique needs as well.
Want to learn more about how to keep your employees happy at work? We will be co-hosting a lunch presentation with Dr. Brower on Thursday, June 2nd here in Kalamazoo. Please join us for a conversation about how employee expectations have changed and what will make the work experience both magnetic and compelling. Dr. Brower will share research on fundamental human needs, what people want from their workplace, and how to lead not only to engage, but also to inspire.
Here's the link to register for the lunch:
The Future of Hybrid Work: Leading for Engagement and Inspiration (bronsonhealth.com)
We hope you can join us!