It’s no coincidence that information technology enterprises that made it to the Fortune list of the Best Companies to Work For boast a 5.9 percent turnover rate. This is miraculous, considering that job-hopping is prevalent in the info-tech industry as a whole. Its turnover rate is pegged at a whopping 14.4 percent.
 |
| 14 Hacks To Improve Productivity |
Happy workers truly bespeak productive workers. Happiness is what we are here on earth for, after all. If anything, we should be striving for happiness not only as its own end but also to ramp up productivity. But it’s easy to lose track of this desideratum when we are ensconced in the four corners of our cubicles.
These following hacks will make you and your workforce happier and thereby make your company more fruitful:
For Managers:
1. Money can’t buy happiness, but you can invest in good therapy. According to a study by psychologist Chris Boyce, therapy is 32 times as effective as cash in promoting wellbeing. The brain needs to be trained as an athlete trains their body for agility, strength, and longevity.
2. There is such a thing as a free lunch at work. As business leaders, you should recognize the importance of fuelling the workforce, i.e. investing in food. Google is even famous for feeding its employees with free gourmet food no less. You don’t have to put up a Michelin-starred cafeteria, in this view, but you can start by distributing, if nothing else, chocolate bars. Scientists from the University of Warwick have somehow linked chocolate to enhanced performance during tests.
3. Another perk Google offers its employees is an odd one: the freedom to bring their mutts to work. This is not a one-size-fits-all strategy, of course, but scientifically – It works. Researchers from Central Michigan University have found that the presence of dogs at work can actually catalyze collaboration.
4. Redefine the workspace. Again, taking a cue from Google, think outside the box—the box of the cubicle, that is. Short of offering remote work arrangements, see if you can allow the workspace to be reinterpreted as anything from a leafy enclave to a hummock. Basecamp founder James Fried delved into this at length in his TED speech.
5. But you don’t have to have the bottom-line of Google to be able to make employees physiologically happy, by way of a wellness program. Incentivize your employees to stand up from the desk sometime, be it to take part in office-wide intramurals, join a yoga class, or just take a lunchbreak walk.
6. For the same reason, encourage breaks. Not by installing alarm bells but by making room for such amusement amenities as pool tables, dartboards, etc. Fun in between work might spell all the difference in your productivity rates.
For Employees:
1. All too often we cap the working day by replaying what went wrong with it. Turn this negative habit around by remembering at least five things that what went without a hitch with your day. One of these can be as simple as being able to make your boss laugh or as massive as getting a promotion.
2. Keep a gratitude journal. Sure, you can be grateful about things in your mind, but there is more benefit to recording them. Writing down the things you are grateful for not only relieves stress but also gives you the hindsight to acknowledge things that consistently give you feelings of contentment. You will see a pattern in your journal and start seeking those things. Psychologist and author Martin Seligman recommends jotting down three things every night.
3. Exercise releases endorphins, the happy hormones. Take advantage of this fact and incorporate physical activity into your working week. With a trusty pedometer on hand, strive to cover 10,000 steps every day.
4. Sleep long and tight. Otherwise, sleep deprivation will make you prey to surly moods. Apparently, sleep deprivation undermines the hippocampus, the part of the brain that processes positive memories. If anything, you should be taking naps at work. A study published in The British Psychological Society’s Research Digest suggested that working without a nap makes you more susceptible to anger- and fear-related emotions later in the day.
5. Get in sync with nature. Over the years, our constant lingering in indoor workspaces has not changed our evolutionary makeup as outdoor creatures. That’s why your body will respond positively to a 10-minute break spent outside the office, amid lush greeneries, and under blue skies.
6. Start your day on the right foot. Don’t make a beeline for your email inbox. Mornings—or evenings, for those on graveyard shifts—can make or break your day. So devote the first minutes of waking up to biding your time and smelling the coffee, as the cliché goes.
7. Or dedicate the first minutes of your day to meditation. There’s a reason why therapists always prescribe meditation; it works. Meditation is powerful enough to alter ‘neuroplasticity.’ Among hundreds of studies on the benefits of meditation, one undertaken by researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital found that it shrinks portions of the brain associated with stress.
8. Take a different route to and from work. Sometimes the longest route may actually be the most scenic and thereby the most soothing to the soul. While we’re on the subject, make the most of your hour-long commute by doing non-work-related activities that you’re passionate about. Ever wanted to learn German? Play an audiobook en route to the office. Don’t pump up the volume though, for safety reasons.
If you’re happy and you know it
Whatever you do, remember that happiness lies in your own hands, not in the people. Fall back on yourself to make yourself happy.
 |
| 14 Hacks To Improve Productivity |
Keep in mind that our moods stem from our thoughts, not the other way around. If you center on happy thoughts, your reaction will follow. If you can find something to be grateful about amid adversity, then that’s even better for your wellbeing.
It may sound counterintuitive but making others happy would be the best happiness hack you’ll ever try. Helping others, whether through the company’s social responsibility programs or by your own volition, is the epitome of happiness as its own reward. Tap into those warm feelings of being able to give back without expecting reciprocity. As the singer Jewel noted: “In the end, only kindness matters.”
Post A Comment:
0 comments: