Employers need to offer a variety of activities and physical environments to help staff switch off from work. This summer we hosted a range of events as part of our annual summer events programme, which included our own version of the Olympic Games, an outdoor cinema, and a huge tea party for all staff on site. We also transformed the park plaza into a beach for two weeks. The thinking behind this was to give employees a bit of downtime during the day to unwind from their various tasks and to provide them with an opportunity to engage with new people and experiences.
Employee benefits should also be a balance between boosting workplace happiness and providing services that essentially make the working day more enjoyable and working lives less complicated. It is possible to help employees ‘reclaim their weekend’ and provide services that would otherwise eat into personal time, for example, barber services, restaurants, a gym, dry cleaning, and car valet on-site services. It is fair to say that not all businesses can replicate this model, but providing a work-life balance helps employees switch off.
In an increasingly competitive business world, developing and motivating existing employees can help organisations avoid a high turnover rate and boost happiness. Organisations that constantly lose employees find themselves spending a lot of valuable time training new staff, but not reaping the rewards down the line.
At Chiswick Park Enjoy-Work, we have taken on a different approach and have built our own unique working environment based on making sure that employees enjoy work each day. We have now become known within the property sector as an industry benchmark for sustainable and motivational workplaces.
Carly Gibbs is events manager at Chiswick Park Enjoy-Work