No matter how good a job or salary looks on paper, a negative work environment never looks good on your company. The last thing you want to see are bad reviews on Indeed and Glassdoor about a bad working environment – whether it is bad management, poor communication or cliquey employees.
A negative work environment will only result in poor motivation from employees, high turnover and general disastisfaction.
So, what should you do to avoid this and ensure a positive work enivronment?
1) Good communication
Poor communication contributes to a toxic environment, so you should ensure it is quite the opposite. Good communication comes down to being clear and direct, so you should make sure your employees understand what you want them to carry out, as well as what they expect from you.
Any problems that may occur should also be directly addressed too, rather than pushed under the rug. Addressing it directly and being clear about why it is an issue is a much better way to communicate, and shows you are able to do so well with your employees.
2) Acknowledge hard work and show gratitude
One thing employees like to be recognised for is their work, especially when they’ve invested a lot of time and effort into completing and perfecting the work. Not even acknowledging this will lead them to believe they are not appreciated, which will prompt them to either not put the same amount of effort in future or look for work elsewhere.
Make sure to recognise their hard work, and show gratitude towards them. Even just thanking them will show them that their work doesn’t go unnoticed, and will encourage them to continue their efforts in future.
3) Listen to your employees
Whether it’s new ideas or issues needed to be raised, it’s important for you to listen to your employees and act on a solution. Even if a certain idea may take some time and work to accomplish, be sure to encourage your employees to share their ideas, whether big or small. This will show them that they are valued within the company, and that their input is important.
When it comes to any issues raised, it’s important to listen to what the problem is, and try and solve it directly. As mentioned above, simply ignoring it will not make it go away, and will only make your employees feel they can’t come to you for help if you don’t listen and act.
Ensure you’re all ears, and that your employees can come to you for anything they wish to bring up.
4) Celebrate
A great way to recognise hard work is to celebrate. Find an occasion to share with others, whether it’s a project milestone, birthday, marriage, etc. As with showing gratitude, a celebration will also make an employee feel valued and appreciated greatly in your workplace.
Even small things can be celebrated. Start a meeting off by sharing something positive that has happened within your project, team or work and encourage others to do the same. It’ll add a touch of pleasantness to a meeting, even if it’s a tedious one.
5) Have fun
While working to get the best results and maintaining a professional environment is important, no one wants it to be dull. There are ways your workplace can be both fun and professional, such as allowing employees to decorate their workspace to show their personalities or engaging in typical office banter. A professional environment may be essential, but don’t allow it to become an environment that’s too strick or grim to work in. Allow an element of fun.
Employees that are happy and working in a good environment encourages productivity, better results and great morale. It’ll also reflect incredibly on your business and to any future employees.