Fall seems to be a hard time for many companies and businesses, especially ones that focus on sales. Why is that? I’m no expert but I can certainly share my perspective on the subject and how you can increase your productivity and quality of the service you provide your customers.
It’s hard to say goodbye to summer, especially in climates that have winter and where winter lasts longer than summer. Take Canada for instance, some provinces are lucky if they get two complete months of good summer weather! Some provinces are luckier than others but most of the country has 2, maybe 3 months of the year of warm weather. If you are a business owner, or a CEO of a major company, you may find that the productivity of your employees gets slower this time of the year. Employee’s seem to be groaning more because summer vacation is over, the days are getting shorter and darker and when your staff is not happy, they don’t work as much or as hard. So, how do you change that?
There are 3 places that I have noticed and learned from, well two places and one person. So I will share these first and then let’s look at how to incorporate this into businesses, companies and even in schools so that we can start to notice how things might be better if we only incorporate a few of these ideas. The first and only person I’d like to point out as an example of creating and putting together a productive place of work is Vishen Lakhiani. If you are not aware of who he is I would recommend looking up MindValley! He created a platform for wellness and learning and became one of the most successful men in the field of education and spirituality that I know. The next place is Japan. I watched a show about how a company set itself up for success by setting their employees up for wellness! I’m sorry I can’t remember the show or the company but I thought it was truly bloody brilliant! Let me share some of the things this company did. First off:
– Employees had a cafe or restaurant in the building and all meals ….were PAID for! They never had to spend extra money on meals. They were allowed to go have lunch whenever they were hungry and wanted to go as long as by the end of the day, their work was complete!
– There was a gym that was for employees to use and this as well could be accessed anytime they wanted as long as their work was complete by the end of the day.
– They could go home when their work was complete.
– They allowed time for employees to go to appointments, go pray or even take a nap if that is what they needed to do, as long as their work was complete by the end of the day.
Now, this probably really sounds foreign to a lot of companies, but this model allowed the employees to exercise, eat for free and have time to incorporate time for errands and appointments in their work day. The exercise of course gives people more energy, it takes away that “lull” or Sleepy phase of the day where you know, right after lunch your employees get tired and some may even fall asleep on the job. Setting up the workplace so that staff has X amount of work or projects to get done by the end of the day and everything else in between can be done as the employee sees fit, makes a lot of sense as you have happy and healthy employees that want to work and complete their work because they are given freedom to look after themselves and have the perfect work and life balance.
The next place is Mexico. Yes, that’s right. I recently came back from Mexico and I was enchanted by the people and the culture there and this is what I learned! The expats or “Gringo’s| have money and bring the business to the Mexican people so that they can earn a living for their families. In return, they help each other out for instance if a family member needs a wheelchair, the Gringo’s get together and pool their money to buy a wheelchair for the family. when they would not normally be able to afford one. The Mexican’s provide very valuable services to the gringo’s in terms of – Translation, transportation, information, services etc. So, truly, I was amazed when I watched the beautiful partnership between the two. They existed together so well, it taught me many lessons in life.
Most of us have to work, we want to work and companies need employees. Does it make sense to be at work more than at home? I think our society and country has it wrong. Maybe we could implement some things that these places and people implement for their employees to increase the productivity in the workplace. Here are some things that I think would improve your employee’s desire to work hard for you:
– Meditation – Meditation and even group meditation is very powerful. It improves health, many health benefits and that’s proven! So, why not put Meditation into the day?
– Group meetings/huddles – The one thing that I noticed with employees of MindValley was that they really Loved, being at work! They wanted to be there! They meet every morning and do talks, check in’s and not to mention a lot of workshops that improve their life and the life of the employer and company.
– What a concept! Have flexibility with your employees so that they can balance their home life and emotional wellness during a day without struggling to get exercise etc in the day when they are exhausted.
– You want your employees to be “invested” in the company. If you allow them the flexibility and balance they will work hard for you! I will guarantee you!
I wanted to give you a list of things that I think would benefit companies, they are maybe “out there” but I’m going to throw them out. Here goes:
-once a month lunches for staff that are healthy, how about based on Ayurveda even and their doshas. You may have to look into that one…Once a month lunches that have wellness training for them, or built in massages or some other form of alternative healing.
– Incorporate cultural activities if they are needed such as prayer.
– Incorporate meditation
– Incorporate and allow your employees to have time to tend to their responsibilities and their families.
– Create a environment of appreciation, gratitude and wellness.
I hope that companies and employers can find benefits and see the importance of changing the workplace for their employees. I mean, if we spend most of the time at work, and work hard yet feel undervalued, underpaid, and underappreciated the relationship won’t last very long. So let your employees know how much you value them by showing them how important you think their wellness is to you!
Leave a Reply