Business owners who want to grow their business first need to focus on their employees, not customers. This seems somewhat unusual! After all, it’s the customers who really bring cash to your business. Employees cost businesses money in terms of salary and benefits business owners need to provide.
However, when you think hard it is not as unusual as it seems at a first glance. Your employees are the face of your business. They interact with customers every day. If your employees are not happy it will reflect on their interaction with customers. Your customers will not receive good customer service and they will not come back to your business. That is why it is important to keep employee morale high.
High-growth companies such as Google and Facebook spend significant money in providing excellent amenities to their employees. When you visit their offices, you will find free meals, foosball tables, yoga mats and many other facilities. Sure, it costs them significant amount of money to provide these amenities to employees, but it pays back handsomely as you can see in the financial performance of these companies.
Another sought after amenity these days is building an outside basketball court or covered tennis courts where employees can spend time playing with others. Having these facilities can provide multiple benefits. Your employees can relieve their stress by playing pick-up basketball or tennis with their fellow teammates. It also helps employees build camaraderie and rapport with whom they are working every day. As anyone in management knows having employees who have good rapport will ultimately help your business become more productive and innovative.
Additional benefit of having basketball or tennis court is that it helps employees improve their health. Healthy employees are less inclined to call in sick, which in turn will improve your productivity and financial bottom line.
It is no wonder high growth companies such as Google and Amazon allocate part of their sales in building facilities where employees can relax and have fun. Basketball construction should be on top of the list for any business owner who is looking to improve employee morale, health and teamwork.
