Your work environment impacts your mood, drive, mental health and performance. If employees work in a dreary office setting with unfriendly workers, they likely won’t have enough confidence or job satisfaction to speak up. That’s why creating a positive work environment is critical to your company’s success.
Creating a positive work environment more deeply motivates and engages your employees, leading to higher job satisfaction and employee retention within your organization, not to mention less stress among your employees. A healthy work environment gives you and your employees opportunities to share ideas for your company’s success that can help your organization grow. A healthy office environment can also boost your employees’ productivity and reduce your chances of dealing with frequent absenteeism and, in certain industries, workers’ compensation and medical claims
On the other side of a positive work environment is a toxic work environment. A lack of proper communication among employees – or, worse yet, communicating unclear or incorrect information – is a key sign of a toxic work environment. A lack of work-life balance or time off may also indicate a toxic work environment. The most obvious indicator of a toxic office enviromnt is that the company’s culture prioritizes business outcomes at the expense of employee retention, job satisfaction and mental health.
A positive work environment equally prioritizes business success and employee happiness. If you’re focusing on creating a positive work environment, make sure that your company’s culture includes work-life balance (such as by allowing remote work), unobstructed flow of ideas among employees and management with no fear of harsh criticism, and reasonable policies for vacation and paid time off.
A clean, attractive office can have tremendous effects on the relationships between co-workers and managers, said Mike Canarelli, CEO and co-founder of Web Talent Marketing.
“Even if the sun can’t shine into your workplace, make an effort to provide a relaxing atmosphere with comfy furniture, working equipment and a few extra-mile amenities,” he said.
For example, give your employees the flexibility to work where they’re comfortable. You could fill the office with comfy chairs and also give them a choice of whether to sit or stand at their desks.
According to the Pots Planters & More survey, people who label their work furniture as “bad” are three times more likely to consider their office environment less productive and twice as likely to find it “depressing.”
“Make it easy for [workers] to purchase things like exercise balls and plants on the company dime,” said AJ Shankar, CEO and founder of litigation software company Everlaw. “We also trust our employees to manage their own time. They’re free to take breaks to play games or just recharge as necessary.”
When employees choose a space that makes them comfortable, give them the freedom to customize their area, as everyone works differently, said Josh Turner, CEO of user feedback platform UsersThink. He suggests getting rid of the “same-issued everything” and giving everyone a budget to customize their own setup.
