groups 4

provide a  3-4 paragraph answer for the followingquestions

1-What are 4 key things you learned about the topic from readingtheir paper?

2-How does the topic relate to you and your current or pastjob?

3-Critique the paper in terms of the organization andquality.

Many companies are searching for ways that entice theiremployees to be more productive at work. These companies are hopingemployees will want to come to the workplace rather than workingremotely with new entertainment options offered. Not only doemployers want employees working on-site to increase productivity,they want their employees to enjoy coming to the workplace. In theever-changing corporate world, many companies have transitioned toremote working, which is a situation in which an employee worksmainly from home and communicates with the company by email andtelephone (Cambridge Dictionary, n.d.). While working remotely candecrease costs for companies and make life easier on employees, itcan decrease productivity as well. Large corporations have providedmany forms of in house entertainment that can keep employeeshappier and more productive at work. Types of entertainment optionsthat are being provided by companies to increase productivityinclude employee recognition programs, relaxation and sportprograms, complimentary food and snack stations that keep up withthe latest food trends, company gyms, and a push on how theseoptions can foster employee relationships.

           As companies strive to keep employees working on-site, they mustalso strive to show employees how appreciated they are. This can beaccomplished through employee recognition programs. These programscan show that the employer values the work put in and thus they arerewarded with a special event just for them. Business dictionarydefines these programs as one where management rewards employeesfor reaching specific goals or producing high quality results inthe workplace. While employee recognition programs should strive toaward the well-accomplished employees, it should also be catered totheir interests. With many millennials entering the workforce,employees must focus on the aspect of catering to the needs of theemployees when forming these events. Our textbook states that adownfall with millennials is that they have a “constant need forentertainment and stimulation” (Cascio, 2016, p. 131). Whilecatering to the interests of the employees and especiallymillennials that have entered the workforce, these programs can beused as a way to ease their minds from the normal workday tasks andprovide one day to step away from work and simply relax or a way tostimulate the brain in another situation. When employees are giventhe ability to relax and refresh, they come back more ready thanever to be productive in the workplace. The Grable Group explains,“Many Fortune 500 companies swear by employee recognition programsas they improve employee morale while recognizing the work of theirvalued employees” (Grable, 2017, p. 1). This article alsostrengthens our point that having an event that is catered to theinterests of the employees is very important. An event that givesthe perfect performance is a way to guarantee the employees willtalk about the event for weeks to come. Why is it so important forthe top employees to talk about the event they were given? Whenother employees hear of the event given to top-producing workersthey will strive to be a top performer as well. Like our textbookstates, millennials search for constant stimulation. Sincemillennials are part of the generation that is entering theworkforce, having these events and making them a top hit with theemployees will give the new workforce of millennials a push to bemore productive and able to attend these events.

           High performance and a high rate of productivity are importantqualities that employees can possess within a company. Whileemployee recognition programs are a great way to show employees howmuch they are appreciated. Other forms of entertainment can be usedto show them appreciation as well. Another form of entertainmentthat creates productive employees is relaxation and sport programsthat combine both team work and relaxation methods. For example,programs such as Ping-Pong, corn hole, team sport days and evenyoga can engage employees with one another in a different form ofteam work that they would not normally receive through office work.An engaged employee is considered to be emotionally attached to theorganization, passionate about his or her work, and cares about thesuccess of the organization. (Othman et al., 2018) Othman, Mahmud,Noranee and Noordin also explain that when employees are deeplyengaged there is a heightened sense of positive and intensefeelings. These positive feelings can provide for an extremelysuccessful employee. Our textbook refers to happiness leading toproductivity in the sense that if the “employees are happy, thecustomers are happy and the shareholders are happy” (Cascio, 2016,p. 256). This statement is great to show that the well being of theemployee is at the best interest of the company and shareholders.Without a happy and productive workforce, the company can suffer.When employees are more engaged they are positive and ready to beas productive as possible. However, an engaged employee does notonly have to be engaged within each other but also engaged withinthemselves which means being centered and relaxed. Positive andengaged employees are something that Google strives for daily. Atthe Google campus in Mountain View, California they provide“futuristic nap pods that allow employees to snooze in the middleof the work place inside of a pod designed to put them to sleepwith soothing noises” (Barberio, 2017, p. 5). Google is a perfectexample of a company that utilizes many forms of entertainment tomake their employees feel appreciated and helps to increase theiroverall morale. Many companies began to follow Google and createother places in house where employees can be in tune withthemselves and have the ability to work at their best. Anothergreat company that helps their employees relax and engage withinthemselves is Twitter. Twitter provides free Cross fit and yogaclasses for all employees in hopes to help them engage with oneanother and work towards a more productive environment (Barberio,2017, p. 16).

           Another form of entertainment that can be used to push productivityand give employees the recognition they are searching for iscomplimentary food, drink and snack stations. This type of programhas seen a rise in the past few years since Google began offeringcomplimentary homegrown and organic food options across their500,000-square foot Googleplex (Messieh, 2012, p.7). After Googleshowed their ability to award their employees with many differentkinds of food, drinks and snacks, other companies followed thistrend. Since food trends have become the social backbone in oursociety, companies that keep up with the latest food trends aremore capable of keeping their employees happy, productive and mostof all full. While these food trends can be a way to engageemployees it’s also a way to show that the company keeps up withtrends in and outside of the workplace. While these stations offeremployees to satisfy their hunger, thirst or craving, it alsosupports a space to engage with one another and collaborate on newideas. Providing spaces for collaboration increases productivitythus increasing the bottom line for the company. It seems Googlehas a system to their free food madness. A journal written byHezekiah Olubusayo, Ibidunni Stephen and Olokundun Maxwell,“Incentives Packages and Employees’ Attitudes to Work…” states that“the success and the survival of an organization are determined bythe way the workers are remunerated and rewarded” (Olubusayo etal., 2012). They continue to explain that the amount of incentivesgiven to the employees determines the level of commitment theemployees have to their work place. This statement reminds us ofthe common saying “Treat others how you wish to be treated”, in thesense that if a company wants the full potential and dedication ofan employee to their company, the company must show full dedicationback to the employee. Google shows this by offering not only foodand drink stations but also the nap pods that we mentioned earlier.Another company that provides complimentary food stations to theiremployees is Vistaprint. San Gentile of Thrillest explains in hisarticle “13 Companies with the best, most insane food perks youdefinitely don’t get”, that Vistaprint invites food trucks to cometwice a month and everything they offer is complimentary to theemployees (Gentile, 2014, p. 6). Keeping up with food latest foodtrends helps companies to remain in tune with the interests ofemployees as well as shows that the company truly searches toprovide the best connection and experience for their staff.

           As we stated above, food is the social backbone of our society andsometimes we are guilty of eating too much of those crazy foodtrends. This is why many companies provide in house gyms, workoutprograms, workout games and more fun exercise programs to promotethe health and wellness of their staff. Healthy employees are moreproductive employees. Weber of “The Wall Street Journal” explainsthat a study done in the Midwest “found that employees whoparticipated in an employer sponsored health program increasedtheir productivity by 4% during the subsequent year” (Weber, 2017,p. 2). Some of the top companies like Google and Microsoft provideon-site wellness classes and gyms. Before this became a trend andother companies caught on, they may have thought it was a waste oftheir money however as we have explained providing spaces like gymscan produce a more positive and productive employee. This brings usback to how our textbook states that a happy employee leads tohappy customers and so on. A local company that we are all familiarwith, FPL has built fitness centers at 58 of their locations. Theirwebsite also explains that employees have participated in “varioustargeted programs, including Mindful Eating, Mindfulness at Work, arelaxation training program, a high-risk drinking screeningindicative and a weight-loss program” ("Nextera Energy Health &Well-being," n.d.). FPL as well as many other companies that wehave mentioned previously, provides everything possible to createhappy and healthy employees. Why is being healthy so important inthe work environment should we ask? Stephen Miller, a writer forthe “Society for Human Resource Management” explains, “ more than90 percent of business leaders say that promoting wellness canaffect employee productivity and performance” (Miller, 2015, p.1).This article also explains that the importance of good health isnot only related to performance but also related to attitude. Forexample, if the front house manager doesn’t share this belief orthe work environment doesn’t support healthy behaviors then thatcompany will fail to see results even if the rest of the companysupports healthy habits and a healthy lifestyle. Everyone in thecompany must be on board with the environment that the company istrying to achieve. A healthy environment is so important to onecompany, “Cliff Bar & Company”, out of Emeryville, California,that they have began to pay their employees for exercising for atleast 2.5 hours a week. Kathleen Elkins of CNBC explains that thecompany has a program where “if you work nine hours a day for ninedays, you get the tenth day, every other Friday, off” (Elkins,2017, p. 2). Another option is to work “eight and half hours andwork out for 30 minutes” (Elkins, 2017, p. 3). This is a massivepush to increase healthy living in their company, which in turnwill increase their bottom line. Within the same article, it isexplained that many of the employees stated that when the companybegan this program many of the work staff was surprised to see thattheir brain was functioning better and they felt like they couldachieve more on the job.

           While we have explained many forms of entertainment that canincrease productivity in the workplace, the final and maybe mostimportant aspect of entertainment in the workplace is how it canhelp foster and create new employee relationships. We have alsoexplained that employee engagement is a very important part of thework environment and turning engaged employees into strongrelationships is just as important. Companies have discovered manyways to give employees the opportunity to strengthen theirrelationships as well as foster older relationships through manyforms of entertainment like the food and drink stations we havementioned above. Another way that companies are trying to createemployee relationships is through work outings instead of thenormal Christmas parties at the office. Since the rise in sexualharassment cases, many companies are veering away from alcohol atparties, or parties all together. Instead, they are replacing theseevents with organized company outings. Lauren Holson of “The NewYork Times” explains, “ a growing favorite are parties at bowlingalleys and escape rooms, events with a manageable size and a guestlist” (Holson, 2017, p. 3). As much as companies gear towardscreating meaningful relationships within the workplace throughother forms of entertainment, they just cannot afford to give theannual crazy Christmas party any longer. This is the year of the#Metoo movement and many companies are guarding themselves fromhaving to deal with anymore sexual harassment issues. The only wayto avoid issues like this is to avoid serving alcohol and creatingan environment which could but is not meant to condone sexualharassment issues. While some employees might love the yearlyblacked out night of their company Christmas party, the HRdepartment certainly does not. Lauren also explains in her article,after interviewing Ms. Maddick of PicsArt that even thoughChristmas parties of the past can no longer happen safely companiesare still finding ways to “get away from the office and get to knowone another,” as stated by Ms Maddick (Holson, 2017, p. 9).Fostering these relationships within a company can help theemployees feel closer to the corporation and thus create a moreengaged and dedicated employee like we mentioned previously.Through a survey done by Globoforce, they found that“having friends at work increases commitment to the company” theyalso explain that the more friends employees have at work, the morethey are committed to the company (Globoforce, 2014, p. 5). A graphthat we have attached to this paper shows the percentage of peoplewho have made friends while at work. Creating these relationshipsand having the ability to foster them through employee outings andother entertainment options provided at the workplace create aspace where productive employees can grow and succeed.

           To conclude, entertainment of many kinds such as employeerecognition programs, relaxation and sport programs, complimentaryfood and snack stations, company gyms, and fostering employeerelationships helps to establish an environment that is conducivefor productive employees. The environment in which is provided foremployees should be one where they are free to relax, engage withother employees and have time to work on their well being. Throughthe research we have found, employees need to feel engaged andappreciated or the company they work for will not reach theirpotential. We cannot mention enough that a happy employee is a“happy customer which leads to a happy shareholder” as our textbookstates (Cascio, 2016, p. 256).