Possibly one of the hottest topics discussed within workplace culture – what makes a fun, engaging and productive workplace?‍

With the varying interests and hobbies that can be found in an office,  it can be difficult to find common practices that suit everyone.  However, we’ve found there are some daily activities that the whole office can enjoy and works for us. We use all of these five practices to make up our fun and productive office atmosphere!

1. You are the product of the people you spend most of your time with

The people we surround ourselves with influence the environment and culture we work in. We have a rule in our office when looking to take on more talent and that is, we base our employees off three things: character, chemistry and competence. We place the most value on the character and the chemistry of the individual, as these can’t be taught, competence can. The personality and culture in an office play a huge part in having a fun, engaging and productive workplace.  Starting out with this attitude has allowed for the team to enjoy each other’s time and company in work meetings and strategy sessions. It has seen us take a “workation” where we worked from a holiday house for three days and enjoyed a mini-vacation whilst there.

2. Heads down, pens up

We call this Power Time, and it comes in bouts. We have free-flowing conversations within our office which means that we can sometimes get off track with all the fun! To combat this, we assign 20 minutes at a time to put our heads down and focus. Emails and Slack are the only forms of conversing (client phone calls are an exception) allowed and if someone breaks the rule, they owe everyone lunch. It has proved to work well within our office with the extra competition adding the element of fun.

3. Smelling the roses

Smelling the roses entails celebrating both the small wins as well as the big ones. This is a philosophy we try to implement within our workplace. When something good happens for the company, no matter how small, we take a few minutes to high five the team and soak it in.  It might even be celebrating a big win over a Friday team lunch. A  workplace must ensure that it credits the team for even those small wins in the workplace because that is was is what gives way to those big wins. Enjoying the wins together makes us feel connected to the company and strive to make more things happen to enjoy that time again.

4. Stop, recharge, refresh

When we want the team to be energised and productive, we encourage regular breaks and away from their desk. Sounds counterproductive right? But having the team refreshed means our minds are clear to attack the job at hand with better efficiency and effectiveness. Encouraging breaks can come in different forms; this may include scheduling meditation as a team for 10 minutes each day,  grabbing coffee or going for a walk around the block. A more refreshed team yields more productive members and then, in turn, produces higher regarded work.

5. Feedback for development

Having pride in your work is great, we should feel this when we accomplish tasks, projects and more. This pride grows through opportunities to grow and develop our skill sets and make important decisions without the fear of making a mistake. Weekly feedback sessions help us stay accountable for our tasks but also allows us to feel that what we do matters, and if we make a mistake, we will not be punished,  just pushed to find a solution.

While these five techniques work for us, each company is different. See here for some other ideas that some small businesses do to increase productivity and engagement at their workplace!