Find a way to make your workplace more inviting

This article first appeared on August 24, 2011.

Today I was reading a profile of a US company called SAS, which first featured on the fast-growing companies list produced by business site Inc in 1985 and has managed to grow every year since.

Founder James Goodnight is a big believer in providing his employees with a great place to work and has created what sounds like a utopia at the company’s headquarters in North Carolina.

There are two child care centres, four subsidised cafeterias, a health centre with 57 doctors and nurses, sporting fields, gyms, a hair salon and special “work/life” centre where employees can get help with wills and retirement planning.

My first reaction was to hate Mr Goodnight – he’s set the bar so high that none of us are ever going to match it.

But then I calmed down and thought about whether there were a few things that I could do to improve the feel of my workplace.

Some of the quick wins we’ve had at Taskmaster Enterprises include:

• Building a lunch room – A great way to build camaraderie and stop people being chained to their desks.

• Putting in a shower – A great way to encourage staff to exercise before work or at lunchtime.

• Employee health checks – A government initiative that you don’t even have to pay for.

• Flu shots – A great way to help staff and keep the number sick days down.

What are you going to do to make your office a better place to work?

Get it done – today!