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As a business owner, your goal is likely to be driving your company towards success to enjoy increased output and bigger profits. However, making this happen is not always easy and is certainly not something you can do alone. To achieve a high degree of success and maintain it, your business needs to have a team of willing employees to help. Building a productive workforce of experienced staff will help your business achieve success both now and in the longer term. But, to have a team of employees that are as committed to the success of your business as you are, you need to foster a positive culture in the workplace. A positive culture is not something that can be created overnight. It takes time to create a workplace culture that supports a happy and productive team. Read on to learn more about the benefits of a positive workplace culture and how you can make it happen:
The Benefits of a Positive Workplace Culture
Are you thinking that developing a positive workplace culture sounds like a lot of effort and may not matter too much anyway? If so, take a look at the benefits your company can enjoy when you dedicate a little time to improving your workplace culture:
- Reduced staff turnover
- Increased employee engagement
- Fewer sick days
- Higher levels of productivity
- Greater collaboration between employees
- Improved customer service
When these benefits are combined, they put your business on the path to success, which makes fostering a positive workplace culture well worth the effort.
Building a Positive Workplace Culture
Now that you can see the benefits that a positive workplace culture can provide, here are some ways you can start to make it a reality:
Praise and Reward
No one likes to work without recognition for their efforts, so making a concerted effort to praise your staff when they perform well is essential. To create a positive workplace culture, your team needs to feel valued and know that their hard work is acknowledged. The more you praise and reward your employees for their efforts, the more likely they are to feel positive about their job and to want to continue working hard. Praising employees is an essential element of a positive work environment as it boosts morale and demonstrates to staff that they are valued members of the team. This creates a cycle of positivity and appreciation in the workplace that benefits everyone.
Ensuring that managers praise team members is vital, but the need for praise extends beyond management rewarding effort. Ensuring that team members praise each other is also crucial and positively impacts your entire workforce. Using peer to peer recognition tools, your team members will be equipped to show their appreciation to one another, which will enhance their working relationships and the work environment.
Encourage Breaks
Presenteeism is something that may sound positive but can actually have a negative impact on your business. Absenteeism is often seen as the enemy of a successful business and a drain on productivity. But while absenteeism is bad news for companies, the same is equally true of presenteeism.
Presenteeism often exists in companies with an aggressively competitive culture. When employees feel they will miss out on promotions or other favorable benefits, they may be keen to spend more time at work, even when sick, to ensure they are visible in the office and their presence is noted by management. Skipping breaks and coming in when sick, and staying late are all seen as ways to get noticed ahead of colleagues when it is time for promotions and performance bonuses to be awarded. But, it is essential to note that spending lots of time in the office rarely helps productivity. Often, presenteeism harms productivity and impacts the entire workplace culture, as employees strive to outdo each other by becoming increasingly competitive.
Pitting employees against each other can impact staff morale, but encouraging team members to leave on time each evening and take regular breaks has the opposite effect. When employees take breaks and maintain a healthy work/life balance, it improves their performance at work and makes the workspace a much happier place to be. Rather than reducing productivity, you should see it increase when presenteeism is discouraged, and breaks are viewed as an aid to productivity rather than an obstacle.
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Communicate Regularly
Open and honest communication is essential in a workplace environment. When there is little communication, employees often distrust what is happening in the organization and feel a sense of insecurity in their role. In contrast, keeping employees informed of what is happening in the company and how it is performing helps them to feel more engaged in the business. Employees are far more likely to take ownership of their role and try to perform it to the best of their abilities if feel that they are being dealt with openly and fairly.
A positive workplace culture is not something that can be created and then ignored. To maintain a healthy and happy work environment, you need to keep on communicating. Requesting feedback from your team and acting on this will help you to understand your business from your employees’ perspective and gain a picture of how things can be improved.
Enhance the Workspace
The physical work environment plays a crucial role in your workplace culture, so ensuring that this enhances a positive atmosphere in your office rather than harms it is essential. Providing your team with the equipment needed to perform their jobs well is critical. But, there is even more that you can do beyond this to enhance your workspace. Ensuring that you have plenty of natural light in your offices and a comfortable space for your team to take their breaks will also help nurture a positive workplace culture. Many of the world’s most successful companies go the extra mile to create a positive workspace for their employees. So, why not try it out and see the benefits that your new positive workplace culture brings to your business?
