Stress Reducers

Trish

Does any one have any suggestions on stress reducers for staff? One suggestion has been to bring in a massage therapist once a month . . . .

thanks for your input.

Margaret Morford

Serve ice cream.
Rent a cotton candy machine/popcorn machine.
Fire up grills in the parking lot and serve hamburgers and hot dogs during lunch.
Have someone come to the office and paint faces. Provide music in the lobby during lunch.
Do a dunking booth (Managers in the booth) and raise money for the employee entertainment fund.
Have departments play soft ball/volleyball against each other (Accounting vs. Sales or Operations vs. IT, etc.)

And the most self-serving suggestion of all... hold a stress management class for your employees. My company does one called "Stress Management - I Can't Take It Anymore!" If you decide to offer the class (no matter who does it for you), make sure you get lots of mileage out of it by using the instructor to deliever the message that he/she is here because the company cares about its empoyees and wants to make sure that it provides employees with everythiung they need to have better lives. DO NOT talk about reducing stress to make employees more productive. That's certainly a by product of teaching your employees how to do this, but a lousy employee relations message.

Margaret Morford
theHRedge
615-371-8200
[email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
[url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]

Janet

This would be more of a policy-type suggestion, but allowing employees short periods of time off to attend to family matters (school issues, doctor/dentist appointments, etc.) can certainly help reduce stress. Even if the employee must make the time up, just knowing that it is possible to work family issues into their day is a huge help!

Mike Maslanka

As I type,I am listening to Bach(double violin concerto),which is a stress reliever for me; training is a solid idea--a massage,or some time off,or whetever--is fine but when you teach someone,chances are the value to the employee will last longer,and they will be encouraged to find what is right for them...good luck,mike maslanka