One Basic Change That Can Drastically Improve Productivity

In today’s challenging business environment nearly every business is looking for ways to increase productivity and customer satisfaction. Studies reveal that companies who are thriving and expanding have a high level of employee engagement and enviable staff retention. So what changes do we need to make?

The most significant issue a business can consider is comfort. Increase your staff’s comfort and they become happier, a happier workforce filters through to your customers improving their experience and loyalty.

So before you implement any other employee engagement program, ask yourself this question; are your employees comfortable at work?  We discuss here in more detail how comfort relates to employee engagement and some ideas for making the workplace more comfortable.

Uncomfortable is Unproductive

If you haven’t fully considered your employee’s level of comfort, you could be negatively impacting your workplace productivity and employee’s level of engagement. This could be directly or indirectly, we explain further here:

• Discomfort is a distraction. Uncomfortable environments and clothing can slow down work processes. There is less distraction or irritation when employees are comfortable at work which means performance improves. Uncomfortable footwear, ill-fitting hand protection, or being too hot or too cold in their work environment all cause distractions from the job at hand.

• Comfort is caring. When a company priorities comfort, the employees know the company cares. If employees feel their company invests in making their jobs and lives better, they become more engaged and willing to invest themselves back into the company.

• Increased comfort equals increased morale. Adding more comfort to a workplace can bring an overall boost of morale to your company’s culture which in turn increases productivity.

This may have made you have a quick think about your own workplace – that’s great! Next week we look further into other factors to help you improve staff comfort and engagement.