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3 Quirky De-Stress Hacks to Keep Your Team Motivated and Happy Looking out for the well-being of your employees sometimes is the fun part of building a successful company.

By Pratik Dholakiya Edited by Dan Bova

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Work-related stress is a common problem amongst the workforce. As an entrepreneur, your dreams of building a stress resistant workforce might remain just that, a dream. Stress is an unavoidable reality of our high pressure work life. But what you can do is make sure that it doesn't become a chronic problem amongst your employees.

You must make proactive efforts to bring down their stress levels. Telling employees not to stress themselves out while performing their jobs is not going to cut it for you; you will need to deploy a few stress busters to combat stress.

It's important to have a "de-stress' policy in place that consists of hacks you are very sure will alleviate the stress levels of your employees. While choosing de-stress tactics, make sure they have an element of fun in them. Do something that is a world away from what your employees are doing in the office. It should make them forget their office for some time.

These three unusual de-stress hacks can go a long way in lessening the stress levels of your employees:

1. Anything can happen day.

Take a cue from Anything Can Happen Thursday, courtesy the Big Bang Theory. Why not identify a particular day of the month to surprise your employees with goodies. This is the day when anything can happen. It could be a day wherein you order out from the nearest fast food joint, hold a hot dog eating competition for your employees, offer them beer or you could just send them home early.

Related: 6 Simple Steps for Getting Rid of Stress

Try pushing the creativity envelope with this hack.

Think about holding a fancy dress competition (No, I am not kidding) or even bringing in a fitness instructor (Again, not joking) to take your employees through a workout session.

Think of something that your employees haven't done before or never thought would happen in the course of a normal workday.

2. Photography contest.

Photography, as an activity, is a tremendous stress reliever. Photographers lose themselves in the pursuit of the perfect photograph, and completely forget about their everyday pressures. So, why not hold a photography contest.

Make it a monthly affair.

Set aside a couple of hours on a Friday afternoon for "photography (Friday afternoons are ideal as that's when employees switch to their weekend mode). They could then submit any one of these photographs for the photography contest.

The great part about holding a photography contest is that employees can use the cameras on their phones for this purpose.

Make this a fun (there's that word again) contest. The quirkier the picture, the better its chances of winning! But what if there are employees who aren't gung-ho about photography? Well, pair them up with people who are!

Related: Do Your Employees Feel Overworked?

3. Employees day out.

If you feel a particular work week has been hard on your employees, why not take them out? You could take them to a movie, a beach outing, a camping trip (over the weekend), a pub crawl or even a discotheque. The options in this case are never ending. Try to zero in on a consensus destination that a majority of your employees will enjoy.

Take them to a place where they can let their hair down. They've just come off a super-busy week; your job is to help them forget that and reenergize them to face the challenging week that's to follow.

Remember, fun is the keyword here. There is always the danger you are picking an activity that might bore your employees to death. For example, an outing to the museum sounds good on paper, but don't expect your employees to visit a museum for a 'fun'' outing. So, before you implement an idea, get it vetted by some of your employees or better yet, ask your employees to send in their suggestions. This ensures you will not go wrong with any of your de-stress tactics.

Related: Let Your Employees Mix Business and Personal Time at Work

Pratik Dholakiya

Founder of Growfusely

Pratik Dholakiya is the founder of Growfusely, a content marketing agency specializing in content and data-driven SEO.

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