Is there ever a bad time for Workplace Massage? We suggest there might be! There are good reasons to let your team in on your plans, and here’s why.
Over the years, many Seated Massage clients have elected to surprise their people (and sometimes their clients), with a Workplace Massage session, often at the end of the month, quarter or during the festive season. I say too many because in fact, there shouldn’t be any to list. Ultimately, many of these visits don’t impact the way clients have wished and expected for the most part. Sad but true.
Yet it’s all done with the best of intentions
They truly wish to do something lovely for their people. They want them to know they are seen, valued and cared for. And this is the archetypical purpose for the use of Workplace Massage. Where they fall down is with the surprise element. It’s our experience that there are better applications for well-intentioned surprises at work – like a cake. Our experience of many of these clients feeding back to us, is that up to half their people, those they expected to jump at the chance to have even just a 10-minute massage, chose not to, citing they “didn’t have the time”.
However upon further investigation, we’ve found the real culprit: the absence of positive anticipation.
Great things happen when you include your people in your decision to have Workplace Massage in your workplace
When the die has been cast and your people know (because you’ve discussed it with them) Seated Massage is on its way, in a week, a fortnight or even in a month, they start to get very excited. The immediate response is people visibly shifting in their seats. They sit up straighter, they chatter amongst themselves about it. They ask each other “are you going to have one? I am!”. They add it to their diaries. Some check daily, counting down the days until the visit!
Neuropeptides in their brain start to release as a result, helping them feel more engaged with their tasks, their employer and their colleagues. There is an appreciable shift in mood in the office.
In short, they feel great! Positive anticipation cannot help but initiate this.
However, none of this happens if a workplace massage visit arrives, in your people’s eyes at least, out of the blue. Too often, the ultimate result of unannounced visits are half-baked results for you and very often the less than impressed intended recipients.
The next time you want to surprise your people in the office, go get a cake or three. When you want to affect your people and your workplace culture in a longer-lasting way, get in touch with us. Because that’s what we do for our clients.