Real Life Activities Benefit the Workplace

September 19, 2019
Company Real Life Activities

Real Life Activities

More than ever before, businesses are getting their employees out of the office to interact in real life activities. The reasoning and research behind this are pretty solid. We spend too much time with electronic social interaction. Therefore, not enough time in the real world! Amazingly real life activities stimulate the brain, body, and emotions in ways that electronic social interaction never can. In this article, we’re going to explore how your business or company can benefit from getting out of the office.

 

Benefits in the Workplace

Think about it for a moment; you have a company barbecue out at a beautiful park. Everyone brings their family members and provides a dish to share with the rest of the company. You bond, you eat, and you get to know people. How is your workplace going to be different come Monday morning?  Compare this to an office that only interacts briefly and/or electronically? It’s plain to see that real life activities can benefit the workplace immensely, improving social interaction, creating a great company culture, promoting inclusion, and well-being.

 

Bringing People Together

Going back to the barbecue. Bringing People TogetherNow imagine that someone from accounting meets someone from the IT department for the first time. Their kids play, their spouses chat, and for the first time. Two people are coming together that might never have even shared an email before. A connection is made. Now when accounting has an IT issue, there is a face that goes along the name. It is easier to reach out because the ice has been broken. When one department has an issue, it will be easier to approach others to ask for help in a resolution. Ideas are easily exchanged. This creates trust and bonds. Face to face real discussions start to happen verse quick emails. This is the secret to a solid company. Bringing people together is what is known as inclusion. Inclusion happens when you bring everyone to the table.

 

Inclusion

Since it’s such an important word these days, we’re going to focus exclusively on it here. Bringing people together is a form of inclusion. However, true inclusion is about valuing, respecting, and honoring each individual on your team. Regardless of their background. It’s about giving equal opportunities and making sure each voice is heard. Applying this to real life activities. Why not schedule activities or events that bring people together and celebrate unique backgrounds? Do you have a Persian team member that has a favorite local restaurant? That would be a fun opportunity for the team to get out of the office and explore something new. Perhaps there is a native American employee. That would be a great opportunity for the team to get out and explore the local Native American Museum together.

Inclusion is about valuing our differences. When we value each other differences, we hear what others have to say. Employees start thinking “we” verse “they” when referring to the company. Employees become engaged and connect with the organization.

 

Employee Engagement

When employees are engaged, they start acting and thinking positively towards the company. Employees feel connected and give more to the organization. When engaged there is higher employee retention. Additionally, there is lower turnover and increased employee loyalty. This creates a great company culture.

 

Create Company Culture

The culture of a company can truly lead to its rise or fall. The reason for this is that company culture creates workplace well-being. Ultimately leading to company success. If you have a company culture that is about speed, fast electronic interactions that get the job done and nothing else. As a result, you’re going to see that well-being will plummet. Employee turnover will be swift. If your company culture is geared towards taking the time to do things right. In addition, valuing everyone, then the company has a better chance to succeed. A solid company culture that employees can get behind creates a sense of purpose and belonging. Therefore, vital for the workplace.

 

Promote Work/Life Balance

You can’t just assume your employeesBalance are finding their own life/work balance. However, it’s a lot harder to do than you think. If you’re actively supporting this balance by creating time for family, exercise, volunteering… then your employees will truly know that you care. Not only will they feel respected and supported, but they’ll also be healthier in the long run! The more employees can find this balance, the fewer sick days they’ll have. Subsequently, they can focus at work. Actively give your employees the time and space to find this balance.

 

Exercise, Fitness, Health & Wellness

This is vital to have healthy, thriving employees. Consider an inclusion based wellness program that promotes exercise, fitness, health & wellness. Our wellness program uses our mobile app to connect employees that want to do fun things like play sports and workout. In addition, HR can create team-building exercises, volunteer activities, and company social events. When employees do these activities with co-workers or others (like family and friends), the mobile app reports back to the wellness program dashboard. Recording general details and assigning points for doing activities employees love. The employees get more points if they organize events and/or participate with co-workers. It is up to the individual company how to reward employees: time off, financially, credit for health care… Our program promotes inclusion, a sense of belonging, engagement, health and wellness.

Real life activities promote well-being and belonging. These two things are essential for healthy company culture, and ultimately, healthy human beings.

 

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