It is a fact that every business owner wants to get the very most out of their employees. To that end, many bosses will work their people to the bone. They might institute longer hours, saddle remaining employees after a lay-off with the work that the former employees used to do, or just be a whip-cracking type of boss.

Unfortunately, most of these methods to improve productivity are either miserable failures, or they may work for a brief time, producing a steep drop-off in productivity over time.

There ARE methods that work however. You just need to know about them and implement them in your business.

One of the simplest methods to boost morale and productivity is to institute a Workplace Wellness Program. Such a program may have many components, or it may have only one or two. The most important component of every wellness program is chair massage. Chair massage has so many benefits that it would be impossible to list them all here.

Suffice it to say that chair massage has been shown in study after study to increase productivity, reduce turnover, and improve morale. This is likely because such a program of regular chair massage (generally bi-weekly or monthly) shows the employees that you care about their health and well-being.

They are not just another cog in the wheel, they are real people that you care deeply about. You want them to have the best possible experience at work, in every way.

Often, these types of programs are coupled with workout rooms, yoga instruction, or gym memberships to allow the employees to get the maximum benefit from their new wellness program.

Whenever companies do this, not only do they often have no problem retaining their current employees, but when they decide to hire new workers, this perk has a definite appeal to members of the workforce. Companies that care about their employees are, unfortunately, rare, so this perk can help companies that struggle to find new hirees.

One of the more counter-intuitive types of workplace wellness benefits would be the implementation of nap rooms. Nap rooms, or more commonly nap pods, are small spaces where employees can go to take a brief nap, usually with built in music and an alarm when the set time is over. This could be 20 minutes or 30 minutes most often, and they will find themselves feeling refreshed and more alert than ever when they return to their desks.

Nap pods became a thing when Google installed them at their headquarters, but many other companies have followed suit. Companies like Uber and Boeing have nap rooms for their employees. Why do they have them, and why did they take off so well? Because they work.

Office productivity is at a higher level when employees are encouraged to take a short nap when they are starting to feel that daily tiredness at around 3 in the afternoon. At companies like Google, many employees work longer than 8 hour days, so having a break time to recuperate is very helpful.

Another reason they are so effective is that no one gets enough sleep anymore. We all believe we need to power through our days, and just make another pot of coffee when the energy starts to lag. But as anyone who drinks coffee knows, this is not that useful. If you are tired before you drink the coffee, chances are it won't do that much to make you more alert or better able to concentrate. You will be awake, but not in your best form or at peak performance.

These companies have learned that people really need a true break, where they can take a nap, get a bite to eat, and then return to their desks restored and ready to start up again.

If your company is a small business or even a large one, it can likely benefit from these small changes that other, larger companies have made. If they did not work, they would have stopped using them. But major corporate players, including several Fortune 50 companies, offer chair massage, gym memberships, and other wellness-related perks to their employees. They do this because it works. It is a small expenditure that can provide big returns in terms of turnover, morale, and productivity.

If your company's budget is already strapped, you can tailor a wellness program to suit your needs, and be sure to include some of the most beneficial perks to help your employees know that, even though your business is struggling, their wellness is worthwhile to you. Show them this in all the ways that work for your company, and be sure to let them know how valuable they are to you. After all, without employees, you would have no company.