A toxic and dull workplace environment adversely impacts employees’ mood, confidence, and performance. But you want your workforce to be satisfied with their workplace as it will bring their best output and ensure your company’s success.
Just to clarify, your workplace environment counts on 2 key factors – the company culture and the physical setting. That means the values, beliefs, and policies you foster for your employees are as important as your office layout, interior decoration, furnishings, and gadgets.
Luckily for you, in this write-up, I will dilate on both the aspects of workplace environment and provide you with actionable tips to improve your workplace environment.
How to Improve Workplace Environment Based on Company Culture
Your company’s policies and culture leave a massive impact on your workplace environment. So, you must take certain steps to ensure a smooth workplace environment. Here are some actionable tips that you can apply in your office —
Recruit People Who Fit the Culture
A healthy company culture encourages employees to appreciate its values while letting go of people who don’t mesh well. A single toxic employee can affect a whole department’s performance as their wrongdoing can adversely influence others.
Not only that, a toxic employee can also transform a good employee into a bad one who can damage your company’s reputation and performance on a long-term basis.
So, hire and onboard candidates who can be the right fit for your company to create a healthy work environment.
Encourage Team, Cross-functional & Leadership Communication
Healthy workplace communication is crucial for creating a positive work environment. It ensures transparency among team members, resulting in better job accomplishment. Enforce internal and external communications at your office to snag the best output from your employees.
Additionally, make a way for your workforce to engage in communication with the leadership. This will not only improve their decision-making ability but also bring valuable ideas to the table for your company’s future.
Organize Employee Get-together
Allowing your employees an opportunity to socialize helps solidify bonds between co-workers. This results in fruitful collaboration among the team members, boosting the overall productivity.
Planning different types of events can get your employees together and provide them with the opportunity to associate, exchange words, and build mutual rapport among themselves. For example, team buffets, annual tours, etc. can be fruitful events to assemble your employees.
Provide Work-Life Balance
A healthy work-life balance is pivotal to keeping your best employees from burning out and becoming less effective. Allotting tasks based on each individual’s skill level and work style can help you make a balanced schedule that doesn’t overtax anyone’s capabilities.
Giving employees more control over their work schedules regardless of location helps them maintain their work-life balance.
Incentivize Productive Employees
Offering rewards & incentives to high-performing employees creates a positive impression in employees’ minds about your company. This encourages your top workers to continue performing and excelling while showcasing improved attitudes & behaviors to the rest of the workforce.
Having said that, handle this incentive program tactfully so that everyone can enjoy the reward system and contribute to your company.
Set Clear Goals
Your employees must be clear about where the company is heading. This creates a positive work environment as employees know how they should operate, what skills they should have, and so forth.
On top of that, having a goal also enhances employee satisfaction as they will know if they are on track and where they lack.
Nurture Diversity and Inclusivity
Promote the culture of diversity in your office as it will bring unique viewpoints to various official pain points. These viewpoints have a better chance of resolving issues holding you back from progressing.
This inclusive culture will make people of different races, religions, and sexualities feel secure in the office environment.
Encourage feedback from employees before you take any official decision through feedback forms. For example, if you are planning an annual trip to a particular spot, ask your employees to share their views about what they think about the spot through a feedback form.
How to Improve Workplace Environment Based on Physical Setting
Let Natural Light Get in the Work Environment
Natural light can invigorate your workplace environment. But it also has the charm to improve employees’ sleep and energy.
Research conducted at Northwestern University discovered that employees amidst windows receive 173% more sunlight during work hours and sleep an additional 46 minutes every night.
Advise Employees to keep their Workstations Organized
The positivity of an office atmosphere hinges a lot on individual workstations. So, encourage your employees to keep their desks and workspaces clutter-free to develop an effective organizational system.
Ask them to place files and documents in labeled folders inside their desks or another storage location in their work area. As for digital files, instruct them to label the files properly and put them in marked folders on their computers to make it easy to quickly locate the documents.
It feels refreshing if an office area is less crowded as it will help you feel more focused and allow you to accomplish tasks more efficiently.
Ensure Calmness in Employees’ Rooms
Wide-open office areas are a necessity in many cases but consider providing selected areas where employees can retreat if they require solitude to focus on a difficult project. It can minimize stress and interruptions which optimizes mood and productivity.
You can also consider rendering nap rooms like many companies do. Researches show that a 20 or 30-minute power nap is better than a cup of coffee to enhance energy for people regularly working long hours, engaging in intensive & complicated work, or traveling to out-of-town offices.
Suggest Your Employees to Personalize their Workspace
Your workforce may feel isolated from their work. Maybe they need to personalize their workspaces. Different from a ‘ritualizing work environment’, personalizing workspace incorporates placing familiar objects around oneself to enhance focus on their work and office environments.
A framed picture of the loved one, changing screensavers, and making the work environment feel more like own can be perfect examples of workspace personalization.
Keep Your Work Environment Sanitized
A study reveals that a keyboard could spread more bacteria than a toilet seat.
If you work with loads of people around you, germs can easily spread, making you sick and ill. And sickness is always a hurdle to productivity.
Your health is key to staying focused and maintaining a positive attitude towards your work. To protect yourself from illness, make sure to keep your work environment sterile. Schedule regular clean-up times so that you don’t get exposed to dirt & dust.
Clean every nook and cranny of your keyboard at the end of each work week to banish all the dust particles existing in all the keys.
Keep a trash can nearby or a baggie in your “to-go” bag to isolate the trash from key documents as throwing out these documents can be your worst nightmare. Whether it’s a digital or physical recycling bin, make sure to clean up your workstation regularly.
Set up the Office with Recreational Areas for Employees
Your employees need play zones to get over the monotony and exhaustion from work. Get indoor game zones inside your office with playing facilities like ping pong, billiards, and so on. Friendly games with others can result in better rapport-building and team cohesion.
Having an in-house gym facility can perk up employees too. Team members will get the opportunity to do exercise and blow off some steam between tasks.
Emphasize Both Company Culture & Physical Setup
Now that you know how to improve workplace environment based on company culture and office setup. Regardless of the type and size of your company, you can enforce the above tips in your company.
Remember to introduce a strong company culture that lifts employees alongside jazzing up the look of your office to reap maximum benefits.
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