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Providing your team with the right environment to help keep them motivated is the responsibility of every business. Sure, businesses expect their workforce to do their bit when it comes to their own attitude and enthusiasm, but as the employer there’s a lot that you can do to help nurture this.

Office suppliers Viking have spent the last few years researching exactly what it is that keeps staff motivated, asking almost 14,000 people. From this research they were able to ascertain the biggest problems employees face when it comes to motivation, and how employers can take positive steps to improve it. So how can you motivate your workforce, and what are you doing that’s potentially having adverse effects on your team?

Your Working Day is Set Up Wrong

These days, the traditional nine-to-five is a thing of the past. Employers are frequently leaning towards modern ideas such as flexible working hours and remote working. From the research, it seems clear that most employees would appreciate a change to their working day.

60% of those surveyed said that they’d like to work from home, and those workers said that they’d like to spend as much as a third of their working week outside of the office, working remotely. It’s not always possible to facilitate this, but if your business can allow staff to work from home, it could bring about a boost to your staff’s wellbeing.

In general, there’s an obvious trend for people wanting to work a shorter week with longer days. Often known as compressed hours, half of people asked said they’d prefer to work a four-day week, with the ideal working day being between 8 am and 6 pm.

You’re Not Focused on Mental or Physical Health

Employers have a duty of care to employees to make sure their working environment doesn’t have any negative effects on their health – be it physical or mental. This is only further emphasized in the research, where six in ten employees said they are worried about the effects of constant sitting at work, with a further six in ten saying they have negative thoughts about their job on a weekly basis.

The fact that half of respondents admitted to regularly working over contracted hours could be a big factor when it comes to these negative feelings. Two-thirds saying they work through their lunch break, and 43% said they feel an unpleasant level of pressure to succeed. These negative indicators are all things that employers can influence.

The fact that over two-thirds of managers said they’d received no mental health training, despite 65% of them being approached with concerns, shows the gap between the need for support and the tools given to managers. It’s a similar story for physical health, with 43% of those surveyed saying they don’t feel informed about how to protect their health from the office desk.

Education is the best solution to the problems of mental and physical health in the workplace. Ensuring that all staff, throughout your entire company hierarchy, are trained in how to recognize and deal with problems is vital.

You’re Not Clear on Social Media Use

We all know how easy it can be to lose hour upon hour on social media, mindlessly scrolling and getting little else done. Rather than making sure we give our full attention to our jobs and steering clear of sites like Facebook and Instagram during our working day, over 85% of office workers said that they still access social media and other mobile apps whilst at work.

It’d be quite easy, and understandable, to presume that a company-wide ban on mobile phones or social media sites during work time is the solution. However, your workforce disagrees. 60% of people asked said that social media usage at work is either banned or strictly limited. Compare with the figure above and you can see many workers are side-stepping the rules to get their fix.

Further to this, 29% of people said they would be less productive if social media was banned. Social media can act as a good way to switch off for five minutes throughout the day. Banning it could lead to employees thinking you don’t trust them, a demotivating problem for businesses. 

Employees just want their employers to be clearer when it comes to social media policies. Half of people said that they either don’t have a social media policy or are unaware of it. Fixing this and creating the right solution for everyone is incredibly important.

You Need to Create the Right Environment

From office décor to bad colleague habits, ensuring you have the right environment for your team to work in plays a big part in staff motivation. Art could be the answer, with 54% of employees say every workplace should have artwork and half claiming they think it would reduce workplace stress and contribute to making them happier.

The habits of our colleagues can be frustrating, but you might be surprised to hear that one in four people have considered leaving their job due to a testing co-worker. The biggest issues raised were with those who are regularly late and those who complain all the time, with 28% of workers highlighting these as big issues. 24% claimed that their biggest pet hate in the office is the old classic – colleagues eating smelly food.

Having a clear policy on lateness and ensuring that staff have somewhere separate to eat meals could be a quick fix. When it comes to staff complaining all the time, it’s up to you as the employer to create a positive mood from the top, letting this filter down throughout the business.This research serves to highlight the most common problems experienced by employers and employees, showing that there are numerous common themes that occur across numerous workplaces. Taking steps to improve these will not only have a good effect on your employees working lives but also contribute to improving results for your business.

So often we think that when we leave high school or university, the turmoil of bullying is left behind upon entering the real world – the truth of the matter is, no matter how old one gets, bullying never ceases. Bullying is one of the few things that no matter how old we get, no matter where we go or what we do, will always exist.

When we enter the workplace, we go in with, at times a sense of naive as we think any bullying we experienced when we were younger will stop now that we are older and wiser. Though we can wish and we can hope, sometimes we find ourselves in situations that are not only uncomfortable but also unwarranted.

In America, it is estimated that 60 million experience some form of workplace bullying while 61% of those claim their bullies were upper management. From that staggering number of 60 million victims, 40% will go on to experience stress-related health problems, such as anxiety or panic attacks and even depression.

Set Your Limits

It is not always easy dealing with bullying – for some it is hard to know the lines between jovial and office banter to workplace bullying. At times, it can be a fine line but that is where one must set the boundaries and limits to what they consider to be bullying and what they consider to be just locker room talk. Though at times it can be intimidating and hard, it is important to set the limits of what you tolerate and consider bullying. Sometimes openly expressing what makes you uncomfortable is the first step to preventing if not stopping workplace bullying.

If openly expressing your limitations and what you consider bullying is still not respected then its important to start documenting.

Keeping Record and Keeping Track

With many identifying management as their workplace bully – it can be hard to not only stand up to them but to also report the bullying itself. Sometimes the best thing that can be done is to record and document the instances of workplace bullying. Keep a journal with the dates, times and instances of the bullying. It may seem as though this will do nothing – but when you need to file a report with union reps or to confront your bully, it wont be just your word against theirs, it will be documented and proven.

Bullying isn’t just verbal – it’s emotional and psychological

We often associate bullying with words; however, some of the worst forms of bullying and the ones that can have the most impact is the type of non-verbal and emotional bullying that is often associated with women in the workplace. More often than not, women are subtle with their bullying unlike men who tend to be explicit and direct.

The stress we experience in work can sometimes be enough to drain a person, add in bullying and sometimes you can find yourself exhausted emotionally and physically. Sometimes the best thing a victim of bullying can do is to ignore the bully’s advancements. Easier said than done but trying to keep your head up and ignoring their words, their actions can be a step towards silencing the bullying.

You aren’t alone – Don’t tackle bullying alone

With 60 million victims of bullying it’s important to remember one isn’t alone. In a workplace environment, we often may feel ashamed or even embarrassed that we, as an adult could be a victim of bullying but what one has to remember is that bullying does not discriminate. Bullying does not stop because we enter to workforce or that we are no longer on the playground – bullying can actually be worse as adults. More importantly, bullying when it happens in adulthood can have more repercussions on our health, especially with regards to our emotional and mental health.

Sometimes we don’t always know or want to deal with bullying – we think that it’s below us or that no one will want to help but the reality of it is, bullying is as much a mental health matter and issue and the impacts of it can have consequences that not only impact the workplace but also ones personal life. From esteem to confidence, bullying, when it is not addressed can push a person to their limits.

Bullying in the workplace can slowly break down one’s moral and it can be poison to the environment. If you feel as though you are a victim of bullying or maybe you know someone who is a victim of bullying it may be time to reach out to management to put a stop it to it. Depending on the severity and the situation, you may find yourself needing to take a mental health break, which could result in you looking into social security disability.  Don’t wait for things to escalate and don’t risk your well being for a joke – you never know when it may be too late.

Employees can waste up to three working hours every day on office distractions. Personal messaging, reading the news, answering to emails, online shopping. There’s always something to draw your staff’s attention from their assignments.

Reducing workplace distractions is hard work, especially if you don’t want to make your employees feel like supervised kids. So, quit the “no phones policy” and don’t try to keep your staff away from social media during working hours at all costs. These methods will put pressure on your workers and will create unnecessary tension inside the office.

Instead, try these simple steps to cut down workplace distractions without pain:

Set Clear Rules About Social Media During Working Hours

Statistics show that people spend more than two hours a day on social networks. No wonder you always see your employees with an eye on their smartphones. Every time the display lights up, they’re ready to check notifications.

Yet, restricting access to social media isn’t going to increase productivity. Even if you set your computers to forget about Facebook, you can’t force your employees to turn off their smartphones during the day. Instead, come up with clear rules about how much time they can dedicate to social media while working.

Organize Less Meetings

Companies spend thousands of hours in meetings. Most of these meetings are unproductive and bring in additional stress for the participants. Unnecessary meetings are a waste of time. You lose important resources coordinating schedules to make room for another meeting. Then your employees use this time to work on other activities or to think about personal problems.

Call for meetings only when they’re necessary. Make sure you have a clear agenda and that you communicate it to all participants beforehand. This way, they’ll have time to prepare.  Keep meetings short–no more than an hour to make sure employees remain focused.

Reduce Working Hours on Friday

Studies say, 40 percent of employers let their staff out early on Friday afternoons in the summer. It seems that most employees lose interest in their jobs mostly toward the end of the work day.

Letting your staff finish early on Fridays will motivate them to complete their assignments earlier. After all, employees achieve 80 percent of their goals in 20 percent of the time spent at work. In most cases, this friendly measure won’t bring any additional costs for your business. Most of your employees do small tasks or get distracted on Fridays,  they don’t spend this time working on serious projects anyway.

Set Measurable Goals and Clear Milestones

Sometimes, distractions appear when workers feel overwhelmed. Working on large projects consumes a lot of energy and brings little results in the long run. Employees are frustrated and lack motivation. You need to set clear milestones, to be able to count progress and reward your employees for meeting deadlines. Smaller goals allow employees to feel satisfied with their work. This will help them stay focused on the objectives and dedicate more attention to new assignments and tasks.

Reduce Noises in the Office

Cubicles and open offices are a permanent source of noise. In time, this becomes one of the main distractions for office workers. So, you need to control the noise levels, if you wish to make your employees more productive.

One of the easiest way to reduce noise is by asking your staff to be silent while working. Or, you can organize a quiet corner where people in your office can work on their creative tasks.

Discuss with your employees to understand how the background noise in the office interferes with their work. Then decide as a group how to fix the problem efficiently. Some of the most used methods to reduce noise levels are carpets on the flooring, plants, and headphones.

Help Your Employees Stay Organized

When your employees work in a chaotic environment, it’s easier to get distracted by internet and small talk. Furthermore, disorganization causes stress and anxiety. Simple changes can help you organize working spaces to avoid clutter and increase productivity:

• Give your employees storage boxes and containers to keep their desks in order
• Leave room for your staff to move during the day
• Bring more light in the office

Reduce the amount of papers by introducing apps in your daily routine. Apps and business management tools organize all the information your employees need in one place. This way, they don’t need to jump from one tab to another anymore.

Send Fewer Emails to Your Staff

Internal emails are consuming too much time and energy. Employees spend some of their most productive hours reading and answering to emails from their colleagues, instead of focusing on their creative activities.

In most situations, they could spare time and energy with something as simple as a phone call. Encourage your staff to think twice before sending an email. As an employer, you can start by reducing the number of emails you send to them.

Every time your employees answer an email, they waste around 25 minutes.  Call them or engage them in face-to-face discussions to reduce the amount of emails going around inside your company.

Small Steps Lead to Big Results

Countering workplace distractions is a permanent challenge for managers and business owners. But, sometimes the simplest methods bring in the best results.

Something as easy as calling instead of writing an email can avoid interruptions and increase productivity. With small steps, you can help your employees make better working habits and lose less time on workplace distractions.