March 27, 2023
Written by UJJI Team
People at all levels of an organisation can benefit from a positive work environment. A good workplace culture, according to 94% of executives and 88% of employees, is crucial to corporate success, according to Deloitte research.
Fostering an environment where workers feel inspired and joyful naturally results in a more active and collaborative workforce. It drives to help achieve both personal and professional goals.
By the end of this article, you'll have a decent grasp of what a work environment is generally, its types, key features to choose the right one for your organisation.
The components that make up the context in which your employees operate and have an impact on employees are referred to as a work environment. While some aspects of it are plainly visible, like the type of wall covering or the amount of indoor plants, others are more subtle, including office politics or a coworker whose personality does not fit your company's culture. Because they must carry out their obligations there, professionals who hold full-time and part-time jobs are significantly impacted by your workplace environment. Workers typically have to adjust to this aspect of the workplace.
For instance, the walls in your office are a light shade of green that you don't like. The office environment includes this wall decoration. In this case, if you're taking a brief break from your computer screen, you can avoid looking at them.
The conventional 9-to-5 workday is frequently where the mind goes when considering what constitutes a work environment. It is the day that starts with arriving at work at nine in the morning and ends at five, when the sun sets. An entire five-day workweek is spent like this.
A 9-to-5 workplace is typically rigid regarding other areas of work-life, like dress code and a set procedure for managing workloads.
Although being one of the most typical workplaces, this schedule is challenging to adhere to. Because it doesn't leave much area for individualised employee contribution, the majority of your staff members who work traditional 9–5 jobs frequently desire an alternative.
The alternative to the conventional 9-to-5 workday is the flexible work environment. As long as they submit their work on time and to their satisfaction, it allows your employees the freedom to design their own work schedule, hours, and workspace.
This kind of workplace focuses on the idea that each employee is an individual who is aware of what kind of setting is most conducive to their success.
Although the flexible work environment may seem ideal, it needs a lot of self-control from your staff. A flexible workplace is generally not the best option for them if they are unable to do all the tasks without a supervisor.
A demeaning workplace aims to intimidate workers into submission in order to get the maximum amount of productivity from them. You need to put sanctions in place to deter this rather than discussing poor behaviour or a drop in work quality to promote mutual understanding.
A decaying work environment also fails to acknowledge the successes of its staff members. As a result, there is a system of employees who are working extremely hard in the hopes that they won't be punished. While this might be effective for a little period of time, it quickly causes a high employee turnover rate.
Daily observations of your workers' work performance allow you to learn many useful lessons. This feedback is viewed as a significant tool for enhancing overall team performance in a constructive feedback environment.
The positive feedback environment does not denigrate an employee for making a mistake at work, in contrast to a degrading atmosphere. As an opportunity to improve their performance, it does the opposite. This fosters a work environment where people feel free to express themselves professionally.
In a collaborative setting, team deficiencies are balanced out by the individual talents of each employee. The workers at your organisation consider themselves as a cohesive team in this kind of work environment, and they work together to produce the greatest results.
Because effective communication is so important in collaborative situations, there is room for honest discussion between you and your employees.
The emotion of competing with others for first place is one that most individuals are familiar with. In the workplace, this frequently takes the form of giving the best performers bonuses, increases, or other incentives.
Some team members do feel pressure to perform well in a competitive workplace, but it might cause other team members to buckle under stress. Depending on your sector, you may want to create a competitive workplace to weed out those who won't perform well under pressure.
In essence, an open and transparent communication style meets the requirement of the employee to feel that their input matters. It is what gives your staff a sense of community within the company. When employees understand how their contributions affect the organisation to which they are connected, work takes on a deeper purpose.
In order to guarantee that everyone understands the organization's philosophy, mission, and values during retreats, meetings, and other gatherings, it is imperative that you do so sometimes.
Open dialogue encourages participation and allows participants to express their opinions on how to meet organisational objectives. You will then share your own views on how to carry out the organization's objective.
Work and personal life need to be balanced in some way. Employees will feel that they aren't neglecting the other aspects of their lives that are just as vital as or even more important than their jobs if they have that sense of balance, which will generally increase job satisfaction.
Employees might feel more confidence in themselves and give their best work performance when their needs and goals in life, such as those of family, friends, spiritual interests, self-growth, etc., are met.
It is important for your organisations to stay current with the changes and train your personnel appropriately in a time when change is more pervasive than ever. For instance, because technology is developing so quickly, organisations' conventional practises from 10 years ago may no longer be relevant today (e.g. Zip drives, dial-up modems, etc).
Your education and improvement-focused organisation must have a clear training roadmap for staff members in order to maintain and boost overall productivity. Hard skills and soft skills are the two main categories of skills that can be developed.
To motivate people to engage in particular behaviours, rewards are required. In the study of psychology, this is referred to as positive reinforcement in operant conditioning. It is also applied to the management of organisational behaviour: rewarding people for their efforts will encourage continued adoption of those same behaviours.
Thus, a reward need not be monetary in nature; occasionally, just your vocal acknowledgement of an employee's efforts may suffice to boost their drive.
Employees will naturally feel valued by the company for the work they put in when hard work is properly recognised and rewarded by management.
We naturally look to our peers for support and a sense of belonging because we are social beings. When conditions are bad, the group should get together to address any issues that may arise. At this point, the team begins to feel more united and the employees stop feeling like they are only working for themselves. They are now collaborating on a project that is greater than just them.
It can be challenging to foster a strong sense of team since it calls on teammates to understand and tolerate one another's differing viewpoints and working methods. Before they can see past their differences, they must realise that they are working towards the same objective.
In 2019–20, 828,000 workers lost 17.9 million working days due to stress, depression, or anxiety related to their jobs, according to the UK's Labour Force Survey. It's a lot, that.
Your employees will work more effectively in a happy work atmosphere, which will boost productivity overall and hasten career advancement for those who work there.
Hence, it's crucial to establish a setting where your staff members feel comfortable seeking assistance in order to manage stress, prevent burnout, and reduce absenteeism.
To summarise, we can say that, barring extraordinary circumstances, improving the workplace environment is not a foolproof defence against potentially catastrophic issues that may arise for your business. Positive working environments, on the other hand, tip the scale in favour of a business believing that it has the necessary conditions to provide appropriate psychological well-being for its employees when conditions are not as extreme.
Instead, a negative work atmosphere leads to stress and demotivation, tense and unproductive relationships, and people who have the option to quit your organisation will do so as soon as they can.
