Motivate staff with creative and empowering short talks
HUMAN resources practitioner Aleks Durrheim has launched a new concept in staff wellness aimed at inspiring and securing staff.
Launching the Arctic Fox talks programme, she offers companies a chance to revitalise staff relations and offer employees useful skills. The owner of Head Office Placements, a recruitment agency in Pietermaritzburg, said she wanted to help more people find happiness in their workplace.
She said many people were unhappy with their workplace and despondent.
In the past few years, Durrheim has come to realise far more people were looking for jobs than there were jobs available, but, even in this competitive environment, those who did have jobs were not happy with them and were looking for other work.
“In a stressed economic environment, many human resources businesses have noticed a problem with staff turnover. I worried that companies were not doing enough to retain their most valuable staff. I would place someone and a year or two later they would be back, looking for something else.”
“In a competitive environment it is important to get the best staff and keep them. Hiring and replacing staff costs a company time and money and means a lack of continuity and gaps in the system.”
She was examining this dilemma when she realised that the key to a successful employeremployee relationships was a feeling of being valued and developed. Staff who work for companies that invest in their development often stay for many years.
Of course there were incentive programmes that could reward staff financially if they reached targets, but sometimes this led to burnout and exhaustion.
Rewarding employees need not be financial. Of course employees sought well-paid jobs but given a choice between a stable work environment, where they were valued, and a new job with a bit more money, they were likely remain in their jobs.
The seeds of the Arctic Fox wellness programme began as a conversation with a group of friends.
She realised there were a number of dynamic people in Pietermaritzburg who were experts in their fields. When they were approached, they were willing to share their knowledge.
The concept of the Arctic Fox wellness programme is to offer businesses a package of motivational presentations all aimed at offering employees the skills and tools to handle common stresses and lifestyle issues.
Durrheim’s husband, Kevin, a UKZN lecturer, put the idea out to his colleagues and in weeks they had a vibrant and creative offering of talks aimed at employees.
Durrheim said: “Your typical staff wellness programmes are mainly orientated around a health day, where staff can get free diabetes tests and have their blood pressure checked. But this is one day. What happens during the rest of the year?
“Our idea is to offer employees a series of presentations spread out during the year. The half-hour presentations are given during their lunch breaks and designed to have impact. The employees will walk away having learnt something of benefit.”
Arctic Fox started last year and one or two companies have embraced their offerings. The feedback from employers and employees was positive and encouraging.
The Arctic Fox range of talks are varied and topical. They range from healthy eating to legal advice. Some are very creative as staff can learn Zulu dancing or the art of whirling, a form of meditation.
“The key to these presentations are that they are powerful, novel and useful. Investing in your staff will pay dividends in the long run. Companies will benefit by having enthusiastic, healthier staff who feel that they are being rewarded.
“The other benefit is to give these amazing and talented speakers a platform to be heard. Pietermaritzburg is often overlooked as a sleepy little town, but beneath the surface are many inspiring and qualified people who do not get a platform to share their expertise.”
The subjects they cover are so diverse they range from digital detoxing to packing a healthy lunch for work.
To find out more,visit the website www.arcticfoxtalks.co.za