The workplace is a stressful environment for a lot of people, and it can be hard for employers to manage that stress while also ensuring that your employees remain productive. Finding the balance between the urgency of deadlines and a sense of responsibility, versus giving people the leeway they need to de-stress or to cope with pressures in their way is something that experts are still trying to figure out.
One thing that some companies do is host corporate events, or send their employees to major events so that they can network, learn, travel, and feel rewarded for the work that they are doing. This is still something that is work-related, but because it is out of the office, it puts the fun back into work. Most people love to learn new things, and love to break up the monotony of day to day training. Having the opportunity to travel and to do new things is a lot of fun, and it is something that benefits both the company and the employee.
It’s possible to go a step further when it comes to corporate events, by having the best keynote speaker that talks on issues such as stress, work/life balance, and ways of coping with industry-specific challenges. For example, a worker in the software industry may be struggling with crunch time. In systems administration or medicine it could be the stress of being on call. In high-risk industries, it could be the constant pressure of safety questions. Whatever the challenge, everyone benefits if these issues are out in the open, and a good keynote speaker can discuss those issues, raise real-life experiences, and explain to people the ways of coping with them. Keynote speakers carry a lot of weight so their words can start a conversation that otherwise people might have been reluctant to have.
It Doesn’t End When The Conference Ends
It’s important to take stress seriously, however. Don’t make “de-stressing” be a one-off thing. Be open to feedback from your employees, and give them options to take some load off them, for example:
– Flexitime
– Working from home
– Training
– Flexible holidays
Create a culture where people are not scared to ask for time off, and where people are not scared to ask for extra resources or support with their work. Many people, especially those who have worked for smaller, over-stretched companies, may have an in-built nervousness about admitting that they cannot cope with the work that they are being asked to do, out of fear of being replaced by “someone who can.” Burnout is a real issue in a lot of industries, and too many employers simply replace burnt-out employees instead of letting them take time off or giving them access to resources that they need to stop the burnout from happening in the first place. If you buck that trend, you will retain staff for longer, and you will find that morale is higher. You will enjoy lower training costs and higher overall employee productivity.
