Positive Productivity: Five Tips for Creating an Upbeat Workplace

Offices are often far less productive than they can be. All it takes to turn things around for an office, though, is a thoughtful and well-informed office manager who cares about how his employees are treated. When productivity in an office seems to drag a bit, it could be time to take stock of the way your employees feel. Try these five tips for a more productive working atmosphere at your office.

Heartfelt positive feedback can go a long way

Managers read about how they are supposed to offer praise and positive feedback from time to time to keep morale up. Often, though, they don’t truly understand what it means to give and receive praise. Praise isn’t about a few pleasant words before going back to business as usual.  Praise only matters when the giver truly believes in what he says.

How does one offer praise that really counts?  For some managers, it can take a complete shift in how they think about people and relationships. It can take a shift in personal philosophy to truly see the good in people and to appreciate it. Training sessions can help.

Let your employees rest their eyes once in a while

Office work often involves looking at computer screens for extended periods of time. Doing computer work or paperwork in an office lit with fluorescent lighting can make for tired eyes before long.

It can help to boost productivity if workers are simply encouraged to rest their eyes for a couple of minutes once every hour. They can be given a quiet sanctuary with acoustic seating placed around the office for just this purpose. You can also arrange to have them learn a few eye relaxation exercises that help them soothe their tired eyes.

Longer breaks to help the mind calm down can be helpful

It’s only natural for the mind to lose its ability to focus when one is made to work on something for long periods of time. The mind isn’t built to work like a machine. To help workers in an office be productive over long stretches of time, it can be a good idea to give them time away from work for a few minutes once every few hours. You can even offer some soft seating around the office where workers can go to relax and be alone with their thoughts. Office décor outlets such as http://www.rapidoffice.co.uk offer an impressive selection of such seating.

Encouraging your workers to take a walk for a few minutes could make sense, too.

Help everyone in the office feel like a real team

One of the main complaints that people have about working from home is that the homework environment denies them important socialization opportunities. People prize the opportunities to befriend other people at their place of work. It can be an important morale boost to recognize and encourage these relationships.

Office outings once every quarter can make life at work much more friendly and productive because it boosts team spirit. A day out at a sporting event or an office dinner can be an excellent idea. The better the people in your office get along together, the more productive they are likely to be.

Encourage a little humour around the office

A study done at a major American university has found that when trainers use humour in their training sessions, their students get better test scores. Humour can work wonders in just about any kind of situation. At a time like the present when work-related stress is said to cause heart problems many people, you may imagine how harmful it may be to productivity around the office. It’s a good idea to encourage your workers to be informal and to kid around. People work at their best when they are happy.