As crazy as this sounds, I have a client company that is struggling with employees spending so much time and energy in their work perks that they’ve noticed a huge dip in productivity. What once was designed to fully engage and spike motivation and productivity has caused a reverse effect. This organization is discovering that work perks are creating entitlement and in some instances team conflict. Both of these byproducts are slowing the flow and slumping bottom line.
To be specific, this particular organization offers numerous perks including meditation, prayer and nursing spaces, support and interest groups which they can attend during work time and a full range of fitness and wellness activities also available to them during working hours. There are physical perks too, including onsite food services and personal and mental health support as well as weekly engagement activities.
My role is to help my client’s team members proactively avoid conflict and tune back into work priorities and increase productivity. Yes, I am often called on to address these hard truths with employees, which eases the burden of supervisors. In addition to one-on-one coaching and group training on productivity and goal achievement, I focus on creating processes, programs and projects that help stimulate awareness of the personal career costs of loss of productivity. One example of this is a week mapping exercise that helps illustrate time vampires and inappropriate prioritization. This is especially eye opening when a team member has concerns about stress or they are feeling overworked and underappreciated or are struggling to meet deadlines.
While work perks are awesome and should be part of any organization’s benefits package and culture, they can sometimes have the reverse effect. Thoughtfully use your work perks but watch your time management wisely so work perks don’t cause a dip in your and your team’s productivity.
How to Be Career Happy? Avoid Work Perk Distractions