“Everybody hates Mondays” – it’s there in big bold letters in every gift shop and printed on more t-shirts than we care to think about, so how did the phrase become so embedded in British working culture?
The traditional 9 to 5 (with weekends off) has been a part of our history since the early 20th century but more and more people are allowing their working hours to creep up, forgoing their lunchbreak, getting to their desk before 9 am and working into the night or weekend. Now this may not be a problem for those who truly love what they do and get a real kick out of their job but sometimes this can contribute to managers giving more work to the capable looking person handling all their work and creating a stressful workplace environment.
So how can you help your staff love Mondays?
1. Reward your hardworking employees
Many companies are now looking at increasing typical packages to reward their workforce with extras such as cycle-to-work schemes, extra days off around Christmas and their birthdays, cake Tuesdays and after work drinks on a Friday as a way to socialise and enjoy their colleague’s company. Of course, salary increases are a great way to reward your staff and in 2019 salary increases are set to double so the average private sector worker will be taking home an extra £20 a month according to City AM (http://www.cityam.com/269543/uk-salaries-set-increase-2019).
2. Take a tip from the French and look at your company’s working hours
Did you know that the UK is one of the only European countries who still allow workers to sign away their maximum working hours contract? EU regulations stipulate a 39 hour working week but the French have taken it one step further and have made a 35 hour working week their country’s standard with overtime paid if you go over that limit. They also have a generous leave package of 30 days as standard in addition to 11 public holidays a year. In 2017 the French also made it illegal to expect employees to answer emails outside of working hours – neat huh?
3. Look at flexible working
Marketing Week’s annual salary survey revealed some interesting insights into employees working in the creative sector this year. The percentage of people surveyed who said that flexible working was “very important” or “important” to them was 90.1% compared to 87% last year but just 46.4% of those surveyed were able to take advantage of flexible working.
Philippa Snare, head of the EMEA marketing group at Facebook said: “It doesn’t matter whether they’re in at 6am and leave at 3pm, what matters is they are producing the outcomes that will move the business forward, Everyone wears multiple ‘hats’ and to attract the best people to the best jobs you’ve got to look at the society people are living in and recognise it’s not simple; people’s lives are complicated.” (https://www.marketingweek.com/2019/01/11/salary-survey-2019-flexible-working-career-breaks/)
So if you want to increase workplace loyalty and create a more stress-free environment it’s worth looking at your rewards program for current employees and salary and package advantages to attract the very best staff to your company. If this is something you would like to chat through or would like any help recruiting we’ve got you covered – call us on 0117 925 5988 today.
