Working from home, flexible working hours and shorter work weeks are all slowly and surely becoming common place in the modern working model, but is it productive and do we really trust them to be doing the work they should be?
The simple answer should be yes. If you have hired them and you don't trust them to do the job, then you have hired the wrong person.
However, sometimes when we let our staff work from home, the productivity of work is not always the biggest thing a business is missing from that absenteeism. It's the development of a culture and the coming together of new innovations and ideas that sometimes only come from peer to peer collaborations and being immersed in an environment that nurtures a team environment.
Intrapreneurialism is at the epicentre of some of the world's biggest brands like Google, Apple and Microsoft, who without their staff being there to offer innovative ideas, probably wouldn't be in the positions of global dominance that they are in right now. And you can bet your bottom dollar they would all say that it is starts with providing a nurturing and attractive working culture.
So, we think the biggest question you should be asking yourself as an employer, is not how staff can work from home more, but how can I make the experience of working in the office more attractive .
Well we've put together a few things you could try out.
Loosen the Leash
Give your staff the autonomy to dictate their own daily work routines.
By allowing them the ability to decide when they come in, when they leave, how long their lunch breaks are and how many holidays they take a year, will as strange as it sounds actually increase productivity and reduce stress. We all have our own routines, some of us are morning people and some of us are not, some of us work for 6 hours straight and most of us can only work in 2-3-hour stints before we drift off to the allure of any distraction available.
Forcing everyone into the same routine is not only going to force your workers to feel less in control of their lives, but also just means you're paying for them to do nothing¦ Let them control their day and their own productivity, end of the day if they aren't doing the job it won't change whether you keep them at the office for 6 hours or 3.
Create a Distraction Space
OK so this sounds a bit counter-productive, but half the reason why we procrastinate is because we are bored of doing the same thing repeatedly and we have some energy to burn. So, create a space in the office where your staff can just switch off for 10 mins and wake themselves up a bit.
We have a pool table, balcony, mini football goal and a games console¦. Which might be slight overkill, but it gives our guys just a space to interact with each other about something non-work related, burn off that energy and get themselves pumped before heading back to work.
Plus, some of the best innovations come from moments of clarity, so let your guys spend an hour together playing pool, you never know they may come up with the next big innovation for your company.
Do Something Unique
There is a plethora of unique experiences you can offer your staff, so if every Friday all you do is go to the same pub, with only 4 out of the 10 staff who drink, chances are 60% of your staff will probably not feel very valued.
Some of the biggest companies out there really understand how to think out of the box when it comes to making the place of work more than just that. EA Guildford for example have a bar on their rooftop and regularly run BBQ's and events, plus they have a gym and run regular exercise classes.
Maybe you can't afford quite the same facilities as a global company like EA, but what you can do, is instead of just doing Friday drinks, you could do Friday events and book silly things like Axe Throwing, or if travel is an issue you could just run events in house, like cocktail making classes, cooking classes or have a casino night in the office. There are plenty of events for hire that can cater for small and medium audiences.
Remember what Richard Branson once said, look after your employees and they will look after your customers, so don't just settle for the norm, do something that sets your culture apart, and makes working at your company irresistible.
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The new drink was launched to tap into consumers' growing appetite for non- and low-alcohol options. Even before lockdown, an increasing number of brewers were offering more no- and low-alcohol alternatives, while COVID-19 related restrictions have increased consumers' thirst for hangover-free options as drinking habits have become home-based.
It seems that this issue is isolated to Guinness 0.0 and does not impact any other Guinness variants or brands. However, if you have bought Guinness 0.0 and have a few cans stacked up in the fridge or stored in the backroom, do not consume it.
