Question

groups 4

provide a  3-4 paragraph answer for the following questions

1-What are 4 key things you learned about the topic from reading their paper?

2-How does the topic relate to you and your current or past job?

3-Critique the paper in terms of the organization and quality.

Many companies are searching for ways that entice their employees to be more productive at work. These companies are hoping employees will want to come to the workplace rather than working remotely with new entertainment options offered. Not only do employers want employees working on-site to increase productivity, they want their employees to enjoy coming to the workplace. In the ever-changing corporate world, many companies have transitioned to remote working, which is a situation in which an employee works mainly from home and communicates with the company by email and telephone (Cambridge Dictionary, n.d.). While working remotely can decrease costs for companies and make life easier on employees, it can decrease productivity as well. Large corporations have provided many forms of in house entertainment that can keep employees happier and more productive at work. Types of entertainment options that are being provided by companies to increase productivity include employee recognition programs, relaxation and sport programs, complimentary food and snack stations that keep up with the latest food trends, company gyms, and a push on how these options can foster employee relationships.

            As companies strive to keep employees working on-site, they must also strive to show employees how appreciated they are. This can be accomplished through employee recognition programs. These programs can show that the employer values the work put in and thus they are rewarded with a special event just for them. Business dictionary defines these programs as one where management rewards employees for reaching specific goals or producing high quality results in the workplace. While employee recognition programs should strive to award the well-accomplished employees, it should also be catered to their interests. With many millennials entering the workforce, employees must focus on the aspect of catering to the needs of the employees when forming these events. Our textbook states that a downfall with millennials is that they have a “constant need for entertainment and stimulation” (Cascio, 2016, p. 131). While catering to the interests of the employees and especially millennials that have entered the workforce, these programs can be used as a way to ease their minds from the normal workday tasks and provide one day to step away from work and simply relax or a way to stimulate the brain in another situation. When employees are given the ability to relax and refresh, they come back more ready than ever to be productive in the workplace. The Grable Group explains, “Many Fortune 500 companies swear by employee recognition programs as they improve employee morale while recognizing the work of their valued employees” (Grable, 2017, p. 1). This article also strengthens our point that having an event that is catered to the interests of the employees is very important. An event that gives the perfect performance is a way to guarantee the employees will talk about the event for weeks to come. Why is it so important for the top employees to talk about the event they were given? When other employees hear of the event given to top-producing workers they will strive to be a top performer as well. Like our textbook states, millennials search for constant stimulation. Since millennials are part of the generation that is entering the workforce, having these events and making them a top hit with the employees will give the new workforce of millennials a push to be more productive and able to attend these events.

            High performance and a high rate of productivity are important qualities that employees can possess within a company. While employee recognition programs are a great way to show employees how much they are appreciated. Other forms of entertainment can be used to show them appreciation as well. Another form of entertainment that creates productive employees is relaxation and sport programs that combine both team work and relaxation methods. For example, programs such as Ping-Pong, corn hole, team sport days and even yoga can engage employees with one another in a different form of team work that they would not normally receive through office work. An engaged employee is considered to be emotionally attached to the organization, passionate about his or her work, and cares about the success of the organization. (Othman et al., 2018) Othman, Mahmud, Noranee and Noordin also explain that when employees are deeply engaged there is a heightened sense of positive and intense feelings. These positive feelings can provide for an extremely successful employee. Our textbook refers to happiness leading to productivity in the sense that if the “employees are happy, the customers are happy and the shareholders are happy” (Cascio, 2016, p. 256). This statement is great to show that the well being of the employee is at the best interest of the company and shareholders. Without a happy and productive workforce, the company can suffer. When employees are more engaged they are positive and ready to be as productive as possible. However, an engaged employee does not only have to be engaged within each other but also engaged within themselves which means being centered and relaxed. Positive and engaged employees are something that Google strives for daily. At the Google campus in Mountain View, California they provide “futuristic nap pods that allow employees to snooze in the middle of the work place inside of a pod designed to put them to sleep with soothing noises” (Barberio, 2017, p. 5). Google is a perfect example of a company that utilizes many forms of entertainment to make their employees feel appreciated and helps to increase their overall morale. Many companies began to follow Google and create other places in house where employees can be in tune with themselves and have the ability to work at their best. Another great company that helps their employees relax and engage within themselves is Twitter. Twitter provides free Cross fit and yoga classes for all employees in hopes to help them engage with one another and work towards a more productive environment (Barberio, 2017, p. 16).

            Another form of entertainment that can be used to push productivity and give employees the recognition they are searching for is complimentary food, drink and snack stations. This type of program has seen a rise in the past few years since Google began offering complimentary homegrown and organic food options across their 500,000-square foot Googleplex (Messieh, 2012, p.7). After Google showed their ability to award their employees with many different kinds of food, drinks and snacks, other companies followed this trend. Since food trends have become the social backbone in our society, companies that keep up with the latest food trends are more capable of keeping their employees happy, productive and most of all full. While these food trends can be a way to engage employees it’s also a way to show that the company keeps up with trends in and outside of the workplace. While these stations offer employees to satisfy their hunger, thirst or craving, it also supports a space to engage with one another and collaborate on new ideas. Providing spaces for collaboration increases productivity thus increasing the bottom line for the company. It seems Google has a system to their free food madness. A journal written by Hezekiah Olubusayo, Ibidunni Stephen and Olokundun Maxwell, “Incentives Packages and Employees’ Attitudes to Work…” states that “the success and the survival of an organization are determined by the way the workers are remunerated and rewarded” (Olubusayo et al., 2012). They continue to explain that the amount of incentives given to the employees determines the level of commitment the employees have to their work place. This statement reminds us of the common saying “Treat others how you wish to be treated”, in the sense that if a company wants the full potential and dedication of an employee to their company, the company must show full dedication back to the employee. Google shows this by offering not only food and drink stations but also the nap pods that we mentioned earlier. Another company that provides complimentary food stations to their employees is Vistaprint. San Gentile of Thrillest explains in his article “13 Companies with the best, most insane food perks you definitely don’t get”, that Vistaprint invites food trucks to come twice a month and everything they offer is complimentary to the employees (Gentile, 2014, p. 6). Keeping up with food latest food trends helps companies to remain in tune with the interests of employees as well as shows that the company truly searches to provide the best connection and experience for their staff.

            As we stated above, food is the social backbone of our society and sometimes we are guilty of eating too much of those crazy food trends. This is why many companies provide in house gyms, workout programs, workout games and more fun exercise programs to promote the health and wellness of their staff. Healthy employees are more productive employees. Weber of “The Wall Street Journal” explains that a study done in the Midwest “found that employees who participated in an employer sponsored health program increased their productivity by 4% during the subsequent year” (Weber, 2017, p. 2). Some of the top companies like Google and Microsoft provide on-site wellness classes and gyms. Before this became a trend and other companies caught on, they may have thought it was a waste of their money however as we have explained providing spaces like gyms can produce a more positive and productive employee. This brings us back to how our textbook states that a happy employee leads to happy customers and so on. A local company that we are all familiar with, FPL has built fitness centers at 58 of their locations. Their website also explains that employees have participated in “various targeted programs, including Mindful Eating, Mindfulness at Work, a relaxation training program, a high-risk drinking screening indicative and a weight-loss program” ("Nextera Energy Health & Well-being," n.d.). FPL as well as many other companies that we have mentioned previously, provides everything possible to create happy and healthy employees. Why is being healthy so important in the work environment should we ask? Stephen Miller, a writer for the “Society for Human Resource Management” explains, “ more than 90 percent of business leaders say that promoting wellness can affect employee productivity and performance” (Miller, 2015, p.1). This article also explains that the importance of good health is not only related to performance but also related to attitude. For example, if the front house manager doesn’t share this belief or the work environment doesn’t support healthy behaviors then that company will fail to see results even if the rest of the company supports healthy habits and a healthy lifestyle. Everyone in the company must be on board with the environment that the company is trying to achieve. A healthy environment is so important to one company, “Cliff Bar & Company”, out of Emeryville, California, that they have began to pay their employees for exercising for at least 2.5 hours a week. Kathleen Elkins of CNBC explains that the company has a program where “if you work nine hours a day for nine days, you get the tenth day, every other Friday, off” (Elkins, 2017, p. 2). Another option is to work “eight and half hours and work out for 30 minutes” (Elkins, 2017, p. 3). This is a massive push to increase healthy living in their company, which in turn will increase their bottom line. Within the same article, it is explained that many of the employees stated that when the company began this program many of the work staff was surprised to see that their brain was functioning better and they felt like they could achieve more on the job.

            While we have explained many forms of entertainment that can increase productivity in the workplace, the final and maybe most important aspect of entertainment in the workplace is how it can help foster and create new employee relationships. We have also explained that employee engagement is a very important part of the work environment and turning engaged employees into strong relationships is just as important. Companies have discovered many ways to give employees the opportunity to strengthen their relationships as well as foster older relationships through many forms of entertainment like the food and drink stations we have mentioned above. Another way that companies are trying to create employee relationships is through work outings instead of the normal Christmas parties at the office. Since the rise in sexual harassment cases, many companies are veering away from alcohol at parties, or parties all together. Instead, they are replacing these events with organized company outings. Lauren Holson of “The New York Times” explains, “ a growing favorite are parties at bowling alleys and escape rooms, events with a manageable size and a guest list” (Holson, 2017, p. 3). As much as companies gear towards creating meaningful relationships within the workplace through other forms of entertainment, they just cannot afford to give the annual crazy Christmas party any longer. This is the year of the #Metoo movement and many companies are guarding themselves from having to deal with anymore sexual harassment issues. The only way to avoid issues like this is to avoid serving alcohol and creating an environment which could but is not meant to condone sexual harassment issues. While some employees might love the yearly blacked out night of their company Christmas party, the HR department certainly does not. Lauren also explains in her article, after interviewing Ms. Maddick of PicsArt that even though Christmas parties of the past can no longer happen safely companies are still finding ways to “get away from the office and get to know one another,” as stated by Ms Maddick (Holson, 2017, p. 9). Fostering these relationships within a company can help the employees feel closer to the corporation and thus create a more engaged and dedicated employee like we mentioned previously. Through a survey done by Globoforce, they found that “having friends at work increases commitment to the company” they also explain that the more friends employees have at work, the more they are committed to the company (Globoforce, 2014, p. 5). A graph that we have attached to this paper shows the percentage of people who have made friends while at work. Creating these relationships and having the ability to foster them through employee outings and other entertainment options provided at the workplace create a space where productive employees can grow and succeed.

            To conclude, entertainment of many kinds such as employee recognition programs, relaxation and sport programs, complimentary food and snack stations, company gyms, and fostering employee relationships helps to establish an environment that is conducive for productive employees. The environment in which is provided for employees should be one where they are free to relax, engage with other employees and have time to work on their well being. Through the research we have found, employees need to feel engaged and appreciated or the company they work for will not reach their potential. We cannot mention enough that a happy employee is a “happy customer which leads to a happy shareholder” as our textbook states (Cascio, 2016, p. 256).

Answer 1

Answer 1:

After reading the given paper the four key things that I have learned about the topic are as follows:

• In order to increase the productivity of employee that in turn will increase the bottom line for organization i.e.profit; many company are now implementing many entertainment options.
• Employee recognition is now being considered as one of the major tool for increasing employees productivity.
• In order to increase productivity and foster employee relationships different organizations employ different strategies.
• Some the strategies employed by companies include: employee recognition programs, relaxation and sport programs, complimentary food and snack stations that keep up with the latest food trends, company gyms.

Answer 2:

After going through the paper, I can relate many activities to my past job. In Infosys many of these activities are employed to keep employee motivated and increase their productivity.

Some of the activities that my past organization implemented were: Employee recognition programs: These programs keeps the employees motivated and keep their moral to work for employer high.

Complimentary food and snack: In order to appreciate employees for their contribution made in success of organization.

Company gyms: The company also has a gym in its premises. It is complimentary for employees.

Answer 3:

Although, all the activities mentioned in the paper are appreciated by many, I would like to throw light on some of the impacts that are not fruitful for organization.

• One thing is that some employees start comparing themselves and their success with other employees. This brings sense of dissatisfaction in employees.
• Other negative impact that these programs make is that there is a risk in implementing such strategy. Employees might enjoy these benefits but they may not perform.
• Before implementing such programs one must calculate all the pros and cons.