Creating a Healthy Work Environment is Vital for Any Business

Creating a healthy work environment is vital for any business. It doesn’t matter if you’re the owner of an office space or a nail salon, a restaurant or an optometry center, any type of workspace or environment needs to be healthy for all of the people working with you. As I’m sure you know “a happy employee is a productive employee.” And why? Because when employees are enjoying and thriving in their workplace, their productivity increases. In fact, Business Performance states that “an employee’s workplace environment is a key determinant of the quality of their work and their level of productivity. How well the workplace engages an employee impacts their desire to learn skills and their level of motivation to perform.”

As a manager, employer or CEO, you may not even realize the type of work environment that your staff is working in. Being aware of this will help you and your team, work together in a healthy and harmonious environment, which is not only good for you and your staff but your consumers as well.

You Set the Tone

As the person in charge, you not only set the tone but you also create the environment that those who work under you, work in. This means considering the staff policy that your company has, and if it doesn’t have one, it needs one. This is the safest way to set rules and standards that are meant to be met by all of your staff from entry-level positions to team leaders. These rules also give your staff guidance when it comes to a range of issues, such as tardiness, sick days, meetings, dress codes, and more. Keep in mind that since the work culture starts from the top, then you have to be mindful of your own behavior and how you’re setting an example for your staff. Consider how you communicate to your staff and around them as well as the energy that you bring into the workplace.

Trust

Trust is a huge factor for any team member. They want to know that they can trust each other and the members of your company at the top. According to Forbes, one of the best ways to build trust is “by owning up to mistakes, showing compassion, making amends, and focusing on actions.” Failing to do so doesn’t show a trustworthy leader or boss and can actually turn off some of your employees. Trust is so important because it is earned not given, and if your staff constantly witnesses you making excuses for your actions or the actions of the company instead of owning up to the flaws and faults you’ll never be able to build that trust with your team.

But trust doesn’t stop there, it also extends to micromanagement. Micromanaging your employees has an opposite effect on what your intentions are. According to Entrepreneur.com in their article “Micromanagement is Murder: So Stop Killing Your Employees” a former “micromanager” shares what happened when she was micromanaging her team. “Instead of nurturing my employees’ strengths, my micromanagement was driving a wedge between me and them. Every day, I could see the unnecessary stress I was putting on everyone.”

Another part of trust is leaning on your staff for their knowledge in their field, otherwise, why are they working for you, right? For example, in Entrepreneur’s aforementioned article it mentions that one of the biggest issues with micromanagement is that it’s one-sided. They use a 2016 report conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management that looked at the feelings 600 employees had for their jobs. The survey not surprisingly found that “only 37% of employees said they were very satisfied with the respect and consideration their managers gave their ideas.” This means the employees overwhelmingly felt as if their opinions and ideas weren’t valued. But if you start to trust in the opinions and the knowledge of the staff that you hired, then it can help build a bridge between you and your team.

Communication

Having an open dialogue with your staff allows you to keep the working relationship moving at a comfortable pace for you and your staff. Your employees should always feel open enough to have an honest conversation with you about how they feel about work, other coworkers, and work-related topics in general, such as new ideas, projects, etc. When your team feels like they can have an open discourse with you then it also leads to more trust.

Communication also means being transparent about their job. Reward them by giving positive verbal feedback. Even recognizing their work inspires their workflow and will give them a positive interaction between you and them. If you are having issues with an employee it’s always best to talk to them directly. And happier employees always feel best in an environment that they can thrive in when giving the opportunity to correct mistakes they’ve made. So keeping open communication on both ends with your staff will create an environment where they can come to you and safely speak about any issues, and you can do the same.

Being a business owner can be difficult when you’re worried about earnings, business expenses, projects, and more. Taking a little time to consider the team that is working for you to keep your business alive or to help it grow, can make a big difference in overall work performance, productivity and your staff’s general well being. And it goes without saying that happy employees will continue to work for you. So set a professional, comfortable tone at work, build trust with your staff and communicate effectively and you’re guaranteed to see better results and a healthier workplace. That is why creating a healthy work environment is more important than ever before.