It’s not uncommon for companies to have strict rules about employee behavior outside of work. But there are much more important things to consider than whether or not your employees are working on the weekend or watching Netflix in their free time. The most important thing you can do as an employer isn’t controlling what your employees do outside of work hours. Instead you should focusing on making sure they understand and feel passionate about the mission of the company and their individual contribution to it. You need to be unrestrictive when it comes to employee free time.
Happiness isn’t something you can create through a policy; it has to come from within. You have to encourage employee happiness; you need to make sure that their purpose is rooted deeply enough for employees to connect with it. And not just when they’re working, but during their downtime as well. These connections are critical, because employees who believe that what they do makes a difference and has a deeper meaning than just compensation will be happier and more productive than people who don’t.
Companies should be less concerned about what their employees do in their free time and more focused on if their employees are emotionally connected to their contribution. Emotional connection matters because it creates purpose. A sense of emotional connection is not just derived from work but also from outside sources like family, friends, and personal activities. Without having a sense of purpose, people lose focus and have trouble feeling good about themselves, no matter how large or small their paycheck is. How can companies better support workers’ emotional connections?
Great companies have a purpose bigger than making money—their employees feel it. Yet many companies seem to forget that company culture is essential to an employee’s job satisfaction, and ultimately, his or her contribution. When you think about building company culture (which should happen daily), ask yourself: Is your company helping your employees connect with their purpose? Or are you just interested in what they do when they’re not at work? There’s a difference. The Top 3 Reasons Employee Engagement Programs Fail: With such high retention rates and increasingly competitive talent markets, employers need more than ever to create company cultures that empower employees to succeed. But studies suggest companies aren’t doing enough; as few as 25% of large organizations hold meetings specifically dedicated to employee engagement — these organizations generally report higher turnover rates among managers who aren’t engaged themselves.
You must remember that few things recharge team members like employee free time.
Here is some more information on why companies should take their employees free time more seriously.
check out why we need to stop allowing shallow company cultures to exist.