Unique ways top companies help their employees manage stress

Unique ways top companies help their employees manage stress Unique ways top companies help their employees manage stress Money.  Moola.  Cash-ola. Whatever you want to call it, we all like to be compensated generously and fairly for the work we do.As nice as a big  salary may be though, it’s not the only part of a person’s job that keeps them passionate and motivated to go into work and give a hundred percent every day. There are other ways employers can motivate their teams besides a giant  raise.Follow Ladders on Flipboard!Follow Ladders’ magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and more!In fact, when asked what makes them stay at a job, employees said  1) enjoying the work 2) having a job that fits  other areas of life, and 3) benefits were all more important factors than pay. And as for Millennials, they crave purpose more than a paycheck.Having said that, all of this reasoning  goes out the window if an employee gets overstressed â€" employees in demanding jobs may suffer from stress levels so high that it can burn even the most committed perso n out after awhile.  Top companies have realized this and are offering their employees  a variety of unconventional ways  to be and stay happy and ultimately avoid getting too stressed out  with their jobs.Here are some unique ways some  companies  are helping their employees manage stress, some of which might be familiar to you.Mental well-being offeringsSituations can occur at work that affects  an employee’s health negatively. From temporary issues like lack  of sleep and irritation to deeper problems like high blood pressure and headaches, a heavy workload can be hard on a person’s health. Many companies are seeing and responding to this. For example,  Airbnb  provides free yoga classes for their employees.  Apple  allows 30 minutes a day for employees to meditate.  Nike  offers access to relaxation rooms.Fun in-office activitiesMany people enjoy their jobs, but it could still stress them out. When they toil many hours at work, it can be a big stress-buster to get away from their desks and do something fun for a few minutes. Online storage giant  Dropbox  provides ping pong tables, the  Google  offices sport a bowling alley and a basketball court, and  Chesapeake Energy  has an indoor rock-climbing wall. And among the thousands of companies reviewed  on Kununu, 27% offer employee events as a perk. These all offer an employee a quick, easy way to get a bit of exercise and decrease their stress.Comprehensive canine inclusionSometimes help with stress has four legs.  Dog moms and dads who are able to bring their pet to work with them report greater job satisfaction and lower stress. Companies who have an open-door dog policy are online retailers  Amazon  and  Etsy,  ice cream company  Ben and Jerry’s, hotel and restaurant group  Kimpton, and consumer goods giant  Proctor and Gamble. And among all of the top rated companies  on Kununu  (companies an with overall star rating of 4 stars or higher), 9% of them are identified as pet-friendly. Not too shabby! Considering that this includes companies where allowing pets probably wouldn’t make sense â€" think factories, retails stores and the like.  In any case, the option of having pets as work, where it makes sense, is a great way to decrease employee stress with practically zero financial investment.Days off to volunteerIt’s long been said the best way to feel better about your own life is to help the less fortunate. Under this premise, companies from a variety of industries let their employees volunteer, on them. Software giant  Salesforce  permits their employees a generous 56 hours a year to volunteer, along with a cash grant the employee can bestow on the charity of their choice. Medical tech company  Stryker  gives employees up to five days of paid volunteer time. This is a win-win endeavor, as the employee gets to donate their time to a charity of their choice, and reduce their work stress, while the employer gets a renewed employee that completes  their work more productive ly.“Make-life-easier” perksTrying to handle errands and appointments while managing a heavy workload causes many employees stress, and some companies have stepped in to lighten the load.  Google, once again paving the way in unique employee offerings, gives  employees access to a concierge that handles tasks from dinner reservations to making hair appointments.  Proctor and Gamble  gives their employees a free ride to work.  Mattel  gives parents 16 hours of school-related time off so they can be present at the parent-teacher conferences and field trips without dipping into vacation time.  Facebook  has a healthcare facility on-site, so no driving to the walk-in clinic on a lunch hour for their employees. All of these help save employee time, decrease stress, and promote job satisfaction.Companies are increasingly realizing that stress is a thief of productivity and putting creative measures in place to stamp it out.  Smaller businesses, while maybe not adding a climbing wall, a re predicted to take a lesson from  these giants and implement some of these perks into their employees’ work life as well. Luckily, most of these are low cost and bring about a great deal of return in employee happiness and efficiency. The result is a more harmonious, high-functioning, happier workplace. Does your employer offer some perks you don’t want to miss anymore? Tell us more about it in your anonymous employer review at  kununu.us!This article first appeared on Kununu.  You might also enjoy… New neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happy Strangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds 10 lessons from Benjamin Franklin’s daily schedule that will double your productivity The worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs 10 habits of mentally strong people