As an employer, it is your responsibility to create a working environment where all of your employees feel satisfied, valued, and supported. Although this seems like a simple task, very few employees report that they enjoy their workplace environment.
The average employee will spend over 90,000 hours in the office over their lifetime. Studies have shown that office environments have a direct impact on productivity and wellness. In order to support your employees as best you can, you should endeavor to create a positive work environment.
Positive environments go beyond just getting a few plants around the office. You need to instill a change in your company culture that fosters wellbeing, one that places employee support and communication above all else. In this article, we’ll show you exactly how to create a positive work environment, covering the benefits of better spaces and steps to create a culture shift.
Let’s dive right in.
What are the benefits of a positive workplace environment for employees?
When you invest in your workplace, the same four walls that your employees spend their working lives in will suddenly become a much more pleasant place to be. Beyond just looking and feeling better, there are actually a number of benefits to your employees of creating a better workplace. Just look at leading companies like Apple and their $5 billion investment into a new office headquarters. Beautiful spaces pay dividends.
When you create a positive work environment for your employees, they will experience:
- Increased Productivity – Happy employees are more productive by around 12%.
- Boosted Engagement – Employees that are engaged at work will drive profit, with companies that help to increase employee engagement reporting 21% more profit than those that don’t focus on employee wellness.
- Better Retention – 96% of all employees suggest that empathy and transparency in the workplace can increase their desire to stay at a company. If you foster a better and more supportive place to work, you’ll retain your employees for longer.
- Higher Wellbeing Rates – 85% of employees feel stressed. A more enjoyable work experience can drastically reduce stress in your organisation and contribute to higher wellbeing rates.
Once you start to invest in a better workplace and working culture, your employees will feel happier, more supported, and more determined at work.
Creating a workplace culture that fosters wellbeing
Businesses need to do more than create a physically appealing place to work. The majority of the battle when creating a positive work environment will come back to the people that work there and the values that they support. Most of the time, your HR department can focus on hiring people that will match your company culture.
Your core company values should reflect the type of place where you want to work. Would you prefer a dynamic and relaxed working environment or one that’s more direct and transparent? Depending on how you envision your company working, you should build your company culture and values around this.
Make sure that you prominently display your workplace culture on all hiring boards and job postings. Around 73% of workers are more likely to apply for a job if their culture matches the ideals that the person holds close. By making this a prominent feature of your hiring process, you’re more likely to bring people on board that will foster a better work culture.
Beyond this, you should instill values of empathy and support into your managers. Make sure that you host 1:1 meetings with employees where they have a chance to talk about how they’re feeling and if they are able to keep up with work. These changes and opportunities will help your employees feel supported at work.
Over time, these changes will foster a workplace culture that boosts employee wellness and creates a wonderful place to work.
How to encourage a positive workplace culture in an office
While creating and discussing core values is one thing, workplace culture in action is a totally different ball game. In order to keep your business on the right path, you must endeavor to continually reinforce your ideals of a positive workplace culture. Notice how your employees respond to certain changes and aim to streamline adoption.
Here are some leading tips that will encourage a positive workplace culture in the office:
- Create space for creativity – Workers that feel constrained or are continually interrupted by their employees won’t get their best work done. Create private spaces or use office work pods to increase the ability to enter into deep work.
- Managers Lead The Charge – Your managers can be the leading cause of apathy at work. Make sure to only promote those that can manage people well and inspire the very best in them. Your culture will thank you.
- Flexibility Is Key – Flexibility is the leading trait that employees want in a modern workplace. Whether that means your business shifts to a 4-day workweek or simply changes your working structure to accommodate hybrid working, that’s up to you.
Creating the perfect workplace won’t happen without continual efforts. Across your managers, C-suite execs, and even newly recruited employees, a positive workplace is a communal effort. But, when done well, it can radically change how your company runs.
Final Thoughts
Whenever businesses talk about cultural shifts, they often expect the change to happen overnight. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. The changes that you make to your business now may only start to produce positive effects down the line. That said, while your data might not reflect a dramatic change, your employees will start feeling the effects almost instantly.
By creating a nicer working environment, improving work culture, and making sure that employees feel supported, they will rapidly experience an increase in workplace satisfaction. Businesses that put their employees first will rapidly discover that productivity, engagement, and bottom-line advantages all await.
2023 is the year of the employee.