Each week I’m going to provide a round up of what I consider to be important and interesting articles on the future of work (not authored by me). These will include a variety of sources and topics ranging from workplace practices to robots and automation to leadership and everything in between. There’s a lot of information out there so I’m hoping that these weekly round ups will help make life a bit easier for you by giving you just the good stuff. Let’s get into it!
How To Make Work More Fun – And Why It’s Essential
There are several studies that have been done and a lot of research that shows there is value in creating fun in the workplace. It has been shown to increase productivity, attract millennials, and improve morale.
So what can you do to add fun to your workplace? This article, by William Arruda, gives several different opportunities of how to make work more fun with examples. One way is to incorporate fun through your office design. You can do this in an extreme way, such as Google has, by adding extras such as slides, bowling alleys, and massage rooms. Or you could do this in a more reserved, natural way. Arruda gives the example of a hospital utilizing natural light, adding color with paint and updating their casual dining spaces.
The other ideas Arruda touches on are outings, volunteer opportunities, and seminars/workshops for personal development.
New Technology Key To Employee Engagement, Employer Success
In today’s workplace technology is essential for employee experience and engagement, however according to a survey done by Oracle many companies are lacking when it comes to the latest technology.
This article talks about the 3 key areas in which technology benefits employee experience. The three areas mentioned are the onboarding process, ongoing engagement and skills, and career development.
Technology in the workplace can help employees to have a more in depth and personalized training experience when they first join the company, it allows supervisors to get more involved in the growth process of employees and it allows employees to connect and engage with peers and higher level executives throughout the company. All of these areas combined improves the employee experience and could improve loyalty and workplace morale.
How Sleeping on the Job Can Actually Improve Your Performance
Have you ever wanted to take a nap at work? Well, you are in luck because there are many new studies that have shown that a large number of people feel tired at work and sleep deprivation apparently costs American companies over $63 billion in lost productivity per year.
In order to combat the sleepiness there are several companies, such as Google and Zappos, who are embracing naps in the workplace. This article explores napping in the workplace and discusses some of the negative perceptions people have against napping and why these perceptions are wrong.
The 7 Things Introverts Need For Happiness In The Workplace
There is a lot of focus right now on improving employee experience and updating workplaces to encourage productivity and creativity. However, a lot of the main ideas are focused on an interactive, upbeat and fun workspace and this may not be appealing to every employee.
When improving your workplace it is important to keep your employees in mind. Introverts make up a large percentage of the workforce and some of these changes, such as open floor plans and ping pong tables, stress them out more than encourage them to work harder.
This is why it is important to make your workspace diverse so that there is something for everyone. In order to cater to both introverts and extroverts think about including both open working areas as well as some closed offices, incorporating one on one activities as well as large company wide events, and get to know your employees so you know which ones like to be acknowledged publicly and which prefer an email or a thoughtful gift.
My new book, The Employee Experience Advantage (Wiley, March 2017) analyzes over 250 global organizations to understand how to create a place where people genuinely want to show up to work. Subscribe to the newsletter here.
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