You may have tried it all when it comes to motivating your employees. Team talks, improving your internal resources, fruit Fridays. But what if there are variables, unbeknown to you, affecting your employees?

As a business owner, an unproductive work force is the last thing you want. It can hinder overall quality of services, cause a plummet in sales, and cause animosity which is toxic amongst employees. Sometimes, the damage has been already done; no amount of ice cream socials can alter the negative vibes or lack of motivation exhibited by your employees. It’s critical for you to act fast, and become familiar with the potential factors that could be upsetting your staff.

There’s too much nice weather

You’ll never have guessed that good weather could possibly be a bad thing. Surely employees benefit from a calming, pleasant journey to work, warming sunny rays beaming in through the windows and pleasant lunch breaks where they can sit outside and indulge in some light reading. Well, apparently, good weather is actually seen as a bad thing for productivity.

A series of studies led by Julia Lee — a well established professor of behavioural ethics — has claimed that workers are more inclined to work better during bad weather, as they’ll be less distracted by the thought of going outside.

Researchers found that when it rained, Japanese bank employees were able to complete transactions quicker. And likewise, throughout gloomy conditions, Americans were more efficient in correcting spelling errors.

Your employees may not be good for each other

Work environments are pretty strange when you think about it. As a leader, you’re essentially bunging a load of random people in a room together and asking them to spend the majority of their days in each other’s company. It’s pretty unnatural, and explains why some employees may not be as productive as they could be amongst individuals who they don’t particularly gel with.

It’s essential for you to acknowledge that all of your employees are distinct individuals. Reevaluate your work force by assessing each person’s strengths and weaknesses. It may be that certain employees would perform better when placed next to specific colleagues. Or, it might be time to bring in new assets who would inspire staff.

Additional members could motivate present workers who are currently lacking, but have the potential to thrive in the right company. Research by Hubstaff revealed that “nabbing an employee that does fit your company culture is likely to energise other employees.”
 
 

There may not be enough social media usage within your office

Technology gets a lot of heat, particularly when it involves millennials and current work environments. According to Evolv “social users”, people who are prominent across social media — active in resharing information, posting regularly and present on various networks — are “better multi-taskers, more productive overall, and happier in their jobs.” Who’d have thought? Perhaps social media isn’t all doom and gloom after all.

There aren’t any cats…

A Japanese IT company in Tokyo have reportedly decreased staff stress levels and increased employee relationships by simply letting nine felines have their run of the office. Having rescued and adopted the furry companions, Ferry Corporation have indirectly elevated efficacious behaviour within their company, by improving the overall happiness of its colleagues.

It’s becoming common practice for firms to have an office dog, so why not visit a local cattery and inject some lovable animal activity within your workplace? CEO of Ferry Corporation, Hidenobu Fukuda says: “By having many cats we can relieve the stress from working all day in front of computers”.

Your staff aren’t napping enough during work hours

Perhaps your colleagues aren’t getting enough down time during work breaks. We know what you’re thinking, it hardly seems professional for your corporation to be snoozing on the job. But if the science is there to prove that a mid-afternoon siesta packs the power to resurrect employees from their dreary stupors, than why wouldn’t you want the innovative ‘desk bed’ designed by Athanasia Leivaditou of Studio NL?

A study carried out at Harvard University issued a number of participants with four sessions which they had to undergo across the day. Those who weren’t allocated a quick forty winks in-between, performed progressively worse as the day went on, yet the persons who were permitted a nap experienced normal performance levels continually until the day concluded.

Are you battling with unproductive behaviour in your workforce? Do you have any advice on what you have in place to help motivate employees? Let us know in the comments section below.