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Iceni Magazine | February 8, 2025

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How To Decrease Employee Downtime Without Dragging Down Morale

How To Decrease Employee Downtime Without Dragging Down Morale

Often when we talk about how to reduce downtime, we refer to how to get back online after technical hitches.

In reality, though, downtime refers to any time when employees are unable to work, which can happen just as easily due to illness or staff breaks as it can from any IT malfunction.

As such, increased IT recovery plans should always sit alongside a number of other precautions to reduce workplace downtime. Unfortunately, where employee downtime is concerned, these plans can all too often fall on the wrong side of favour, either because they compromise break lengths or because they force employees into working when they’d be better off staying at home.

This is terrible news from both a morale and productivity standpoint, and it’s an issue you can overcome by simply considering the following ways to decrease employee downtime without dragging down morale.

# 1 – Encourage Work-Life Balance

Overworked employees are increasingly at risk from one of the main causes of modern downtime – burnout. The more you push your teams, the more likely they are to need potentially extended periods out in the face of problems including anxiety and depression.

In a roundabout way, then, employers can reduce employee downtime by simply encouraging a healthier work-life balance. This may take the form of capping downtime or offering flexible working arrangements around things like childcare requirements.

All of this will ensure that employees are far less likely to overcommit to their work or compromise on other areas of their life like their mental wellbeing. As a result, unexpected lengthy periods of downtime will become less likely.

# 2 – Make Staff Needs Easier to Meet

Breaks and other staff absences from the office count as downtime throughout the day, and they can quickly add up to significant amounts of lost productivity. Unfortunately, with experts believing that productivity also dips if staff spend too long at their desks, this can feel like a difficult issue to overcome.

However, there is a way forward, and it comes in the form of simplifying how easily and quickly staff are able to meet their needs. Simple steps like incorporating everything from a break room to office water coolers and even an on-site gym if your budget allows, can all keep employees close by but happy.

These steps can save potentially hours in the time your employees need to spend out of the office and can, in themselves, bolster productivity in a way that puts downtime on the back burner.

Employee Downtime

# 3 – Implement Wellness Programs

Happy employees are healthy employees, and healthy employees are less likely to require downtime.

Health-based wellness programs like on-site mental health support or even whole-office exercise regimes can be the key to that happy team. That’s because these programs will significantly boost your workplace culture, ensuring healthier outputs in all areas.

Proactive health management by on-site experts can also address health issues long before they become extended downtime dilemmas.

Employee downtime doesn’t need to drag you or your team down if you address the issue using these top pointers.


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