Don’t Do Boring – Innovative HR Initiatives to Keep Morale High & Stress Low

When marketing and branding agency Pearl, located in Fort Myers, Florida recently relocated to new offices – they received four dedicated parking spots as part of their new lease. The new landlord informed agency Founder and President Scott Qurollo that he needed ‘No Parking’ signs for the spots. Rather than go with the standard signs, Qurollo decided to be creative, and design signs with unique messages.

Qurollo says he doesn’t miss an opportunity to promote Pearl’s brand of marketing by using humor and creativity. “I was in a weird, quirky mood,” he chuckles. “Parking signs are boring. Why do boring?”

Everyone sees the humor in the signs, which got more than 80 “likes” and a dozen comments on Pearl’s Facebook page. “The landlord laughed,” Qurollo says. “I was really surprised at such positive reaction.” (From BusinessObserverFL.com)

Human resources professionals owe it to their employees (and themselves) to also ‘not do boring.’ Creative HR employee programs help keep morale and productivity high – as well as let everyone know that the company is thinking about them and cares about their well being – these are very important motivators and retention tools. As competition for talented professionals continues to increase, keeping employees engaged and creating a happier workplace will be ever more important…

One of the ideas highlighted in ‘Innovative Ideas for HR Functions’ by Tara Duggan of Demand Media is conducting employee surveys. And while she suggests these annually, using the Survey Module of an HR Shared Services Solution enables the creation of general or targeted surveys to quickly gather employee input – and quickly respond to any issues, ideas or suggestions from the workforce. “An anonymous survey enables employees to speak freely and candidly about working conditions. This helps determine employee satisfaction, attitudes, loyalty and potential issues. Responding to these issues results in higher employee satisfaction, retention and productivity.”

The HR Insights Blog column ‘100 Ideas to Engage & Retain Employees’ offers 100 ideas for a happier workplace with innovations such as a ‘no-email day’ once a month to encourage employee interaction, having a bring your child or dog to work day, inviting each employee to attend at least one training program each year, hosting a community involvement day and giving employees their birthday off.

“Employee engagement plays an important role in attracting, retaining, and developing top talent for organizations, and is important to a business’ success. Engaged employees can pay off in better business results, retention, and productivity if your organization is willing to create a great workplace environment and culture.”