6 Simple Ways to Create a Positive Work Environment
Creating a positive work environment where team members feel valued and appreciated can bring a number of benefits to your company, including increased employee happiness, improved productivity, decreased employee turnover, and increased revenue. In fact, research has shown that more than 85% of employees and nearly 95% of executives think that positive company culture is a crucial part of an organization’s success. But, how to create a positive work environment?
Table of Contents
For these reasons, cultivating a positive and stimulating work environment should be an important part of your corporate strategy. In this post, we’re offering 6 tips that will help you create a positive work environment. So that, make your workers feeling like valued members of your company.
1. Encourage Clear Communication for Positive Work Environment
Establishing effective communication is the best way to facilitate a collaborative atmosphere and ensure that every member of your team – including new hires – doesn’t feel left out.
There are a few ways you can achieve this, such as including coworkers in email chains, using dedicated channels for new projects, and posting team priorities in a public space such as Google Docs.
Oper communication helps build a strong team foundation, creates a sense of community, and helps make new team members feel supported.
2. Invest in Employee Wellbeing
According to the Mental Health Foundation, more than 14% of employees encounter mental health issues at the workplace. Poor mental health often leads to sick leave, which has a negative impact on your business.
That’s why it’s important to invest in your employees’ mental well-being. You should strive to build a company culture that encourages everyone to talk openly about how they feel. Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) are another way to address such issues on time and create an environment where employees are healthy and happy.
Don’t forget to pay attention to employees’ physical health as well. Exercise can help prevent long-term sick leave, boost energy, improve productivity, and reduce stress. So, if you want your workers to perform at their best, ensure that they get to the gym.
3. Provide Career Development Opportunities
Nearly all employees are interested in opportunities to learn new skills and advance their careers. In fact, research has shown that 93% of employees prefer to work for companies that provide career development and regular training.
Providing growth opportunities and positive work environment helps improve employee engagement levels, increases employee retention, and enables your employees to handle more complex tasks which, in turn, helps you scale your business.
Training should incorporate both soft skills and hard skills, and provide opportunities for professional and personal growth. This will help create a positive work environment, where staff is happy, highly engaged, and performing at their best.
4. Prioritize Onboarding
You can’t just leave things to chance if you want your team to perform well. A survey by BambooHR showed that ineffective onboarding is the most important reason why over 15% of new hires quit in the first 3 months.
To prevent this, you need to plan out at least the first two weeks of every new hire. Some companies provide courses that teach new employees about the culture and values of the organization. But if this is not possible, there are other options to get newbies through the initiation phase. Such as letting them sit in meetings, allowing them to shadow coworkers, letting them reading through important company process documents and files, and so on.
5. Conduct Regular Check-Ins
Creating a positive work environment doesn’t have to be costly or complicated. Sometimes, all your need to do is stop by your workers’ desks and ask for their opinion. In fact, nearly 40% of US employees say that regular check-ins are one of the key things that make them feel happy at the workplace.
If your employees work remotely, be sure to send them a quick informal message on a regular basis. You will be surprised by how much modest steps like these can help boost productivity regardless of your employees’ location.
6. Create a Comfortable Workspace
Your workspace should empower every one of your employees to do their best work. No one is able to produce exceptional results in a gloomy or disruptive office. So your goals should be to create a comfortable space that includes things like ergonomic furniture, satisfactory temperatures, and noise reduction and control.
But comfortable office space is not just about physical comfort. It’s also about designing it so that it could suit your employees’ psychological and cognitive characteristics. For instance, providing well-positioned computer screens and adjustable standing desks will help alleviate back pain. But will also promote focus and enhance emotional wellbeing.
Why creating a positive work environment matters that much?
As a result of the numerous advantages, fostering a healthy work environment should be a key component of your company’s overall corporate strategy. After all, it is one of the most effective methods to invest in your staff. Communication failures may have a detrimental influence on every element of your organization. It includes customer service, staff retention and productivity, as well as your team’s ability to fulfill deadlines. And can even have a negative impact on your bottom line. While developing a pleasant workplace atmosphere, it is critical to consider how you and your colleagues communicate. Take into consideration how you communicate with one another and the communication styles of your leaders.
Final Thoughts
The productivity and performance levels of your team depend on the relationships you build, the atmosphere you cultivate, as well as the physical environment you create. If you want to keep your top talent, you must provide a positive work environment and a workplace they find fulfilling.
Irwin Michael Reston is an expert who has more than 30 years of experience in optimizing businesses, inspiring individuals and improving human resources departments. He established the BlueLight Consulting Limited to provide learning and training service worldwide.
