Let’s face it: the last thing you want to do is have an unhappy workforce. If that happened, productivity levels would plummet, and staff turnover would skyrocket! As you can appreciate, it makes perfect sense to have happy employees.

You probably know about the best methods, such as paying a fair wage and treating your staff like human beings instead of robots.

But, what you may not know is how there are several surprising ways to boost employee happiness in the workplace! Take a look at the following examples:

1. Improve Accessibility To Your Premises

One of the gripes that employees often have is when they must struggle to get into an employer’s premises. Accessibility should be easy for employees, customers, and visitors.

If people struggle to open or fit through doors, get them replaced with ones that are fit for purpose. Also, if wheelchair access is non-existent, consider getting some concrete slopes installed to make your premises more accessible.

It’s worth doing a review of your premises to find out how and where people are struggling with entering, exiting, or navigating your building. Taking active steps to addressing any significant issues will show your staff that you care.

2. Offer Free Lunchtime Meals

While some employees may bring in a packed lunch from home, others may spend lots of money eating out every lunchtime. As you can imagine, such costs can spiral out of control! One way to score some brownie points with your teams is by offering free lunch each day. 

For example, you could have a catering team provide in-house meals for everyone that are cooked to order, or you could have a snack truck arrive at a set time each morning for employees to use.

3. Promote Flexible Working

There’s no denying that the COVID-19 pandemic has meant there is now a greater emphasis on flexible working than ever before.

The pandemic is sadly still here, albeit not as severe as when it first arrived, so it’s worth keeping in mind flexible working options for your staff.

For example, you could let employees work from home, where possible, or do so on a part-time basis. Another option for flexible working might include starting and finishing later than standard 9-5 hours.

4. Remove Vacation Time Restrictions

Employers typically allocate a fixed number of paid vacation or holiday days each year, with those numbers often increasing annually with every year of service successfully completed.

Consider being a pioneer of your industry by having no limits on the amount of vacation days employees have every year. Believe it or not, staff will often only take a fair amount of days off annually and such freedom will help them be more productive with their work.

5. Create A Time-Out Zone

One final thing you can do to improve employee wellness and happiness is to create a time-out zone on your premises. Whatever you call it, the area should be a zone dedicated for people that want to spend some quiet time away from the office.

Employees could use the space as somewhere to concentrate and think about things in peace, or it could be a place where they can go if they’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed by their work.