Employers are being urged to rethink their approach to staff as CIPD reveals that job satisfaction has fallen to a ‘two year low’.

Our new research suggests that fun and workplace perks could be the answer to reducing stress, boosting morale and retaining staff.

The It Pays to Play report reveals that having fun at work is good for your health and wellbeing and employees currently taking part in fun activities in their organisation were significantly more likely to have had greater psychological wellbeing than those who didn’t.

The survey of 2,000 UK workers also found that employers should embrace perks which will help employees feel loyal to their workplace, whilst giving them the opportunity for fun with office days out or activities such as table tennis.

For those companies that haven’t embraced the fun and perks culture, now may be the time for them to to catch up. Results showed 60 per cent of employees believe perks are more important now than they were five years ago.

Most companies need to undergo a perks and rewards education overhaul. Companies with Google ‘play at work’ culture are more likely to retain staff and have a happier, more productive environment.

In terms of stress at work, we found that Wales and the north east contained the highest number of people having ‘no fun’ at work, contrasting with Londoners having the most fun. Worryingly, for the North East, this correlated with fact that 42% said they felt stressed all or a lot of the time at work.

Wellbeing at work expert Professor Sir Cary Cooper, who compiled the It Pays to Play report with us said: “Although many people need little support from their employers, with pressure and pace at work increasing, organisations expecting high performance from their people need to invest in their experiences at work if they want to attract and keep the best talent.

“Employers should look at fostering a culture of positive psychological wellbeing. We know positive emotions help make people happy and that, in turn, happy people are productive, loyal and generally have higher levels of wellbeing than those who aren’t.”

By Paul Tooth, CEO and co-founder, BrightHR

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