5 Tips to Help Your Employees Beat Office Stress

Increasing stress levels amongst workers, especially Millennials who are in the earlier stages of their careers, should be a cause for concern amongst employers. According to the American Psychological Association, a total of 76 percent of American Millennials report work as a significant stressor. This is compared to 62 percent for Baby Boomers. We've put together five tips for helping your employees minimize stress levels while maximizing productivity.

1. Focus on your organizational culture. Clearly, and repeatedly articulate your culture and values.   Facebook, for example, has posters hanging throughout their offices with messages such as “Done is Better Than Perfect.”

2.  Set clear expectations on when you expect your employees to be reachable.  Senior leaders can alienate their staff by sending emails at 5 a.m.  Set expectations and adhere to them yourself.

3. Encourage fun, this downtime is often when the magic happens.  When employees are able to connect with each other on different levels, through a friendly game of Candy Crush or a beer after work, team productivity and congeniality also increases.

4. Offer flex time.  Younger generations, such as the Millennials, are more apt to work less during the day (arriving later and leaving earlier), and are more receptive to working after leaving the office. Offering a flexible work schedule, which appeals to workers of all ages, will increase morale while also increasing productivity.

5.  Offer health and wellness initiatives.  Focusing on employee wellness, by offering perks such as yoga classes held at the office after work, gives employees an outlet for built up stress.  Google is a great example, they provide employees with three wellness centers, basketball courts and even horseshoe pits.

While technology offers many benefits, such as giving us the ability to complete tasks more quickly and professionally, it has also produced expectations from employers that are becoming more and more difficult to keep up with.  It is clear that stress in the work place has increased, and is an issue that employers need to address.  If you are interested in learning more about increasing productivity in the work place, visit our website at www.inwardconsulting.com.

How Leadership and Culture Impact Employee Engagement

Why is culture powerful? What specific criterion is necessary for developing a strong, strategically relevant culture that is likely to enhance your organization's performance? Before delving into this question, it is important to have a firm grasp on what culture is. According to California Management Review, "Norms—legitimate, socially shared standards against which the appropriateness of behavior can be evaluated—are the psychological bases of culture.” It is undeniable that company values are a key factor in developing a successful culture within an organization.

Strong cultures depend on two characteristics within the value category. The first being high levels of agreement among employees about what is especially valued. If each and every employee has a firm grasp on what values the company holds above all else, they are less likely to fumble through day to day activities, unsure of what to give the most attention to in order to succeed at whatever mission they have been tasked with.

The second characteristic is the high level of intensity felt by employees about these values. It is pretty obvious that if an employee honestly believes in the values held by the organization, their efforts are going to reflect it. If both of these characteristics are high, the end result is a strong culture, and vise versa.

So how does leadership fit into all of this? Creating and honoring corporate culture is a responsibility held by the leadership team. While leading through culture is a highly effective method, it is the leadership team’s responsibility to act on this strategy, and it is their responsibility to make the most important values clear and unwavering. If you are interested in learning more about how you can engage your employees through strong leadership, visit our website at www.inwardconsulting.com.