9 Ideas on How to Create a Positive Work Environment

Happy workers are more creative, more productive, and more likely to take ownership of business challenges. This is good for employers, employees, and customers.

In particular, younger workers value a workplace that cares about more than its bottom line. They appreciate working somewhere that aligns with their values and goals, including an emphasis on social responsibility.

But caring about the behaviour and attitudes of the companies we work for is increasingly common, regardless of age. With that in mind, here’s a look at how to create a positive work environment in which your teams can thrive.

9 Best Ideas on How to Create a Positive Work Environment

Hone and Share Your Mission

Whether you pride yourself on using traditional recipes or you’re proud of your ability to generate innovative solutions, know what it is that makes you get out of bed every day.

Workers appreciate it when their employer’s values align with their own. Defining what it means to work at your company, therefore, will help you find the right people to build your teams. Be specific about your business goals, so employees know what to prioritize, what is considered a good job, and when to celebrate.

Hire for Culture

Businesses have personalities. It would be best if you understood that your culture is important to your brand and critical to retaining your workforce.

Traditionally, businesses pore over qualifications and technical ability when assessing their new candidates. A philosophy of hiring for business cultural fit, however, makes sure that you hire people who fit the ethos of your firm.

Technical ability and qualifications are still useful, of course, but ultimately, you need people who can work with others and are happy to do so. Ask yourself, for example, whether someone who is flexible and puts customers first is more valuable than someone with a stellar qualification who lacks the empathy to see things from a customer’s point of view.

Fitting in is a big part of happiness in the workplace. Understanding and sharing your business culture is vital to helping your workers feel comfortable, creative, and willing to contribute.

Consider Your Corporate Social Responsibility

Now more than ever, businesses need to do their part to tackle the global climate crisis. Far from being a political or cynical agenda, eco-consciousness is necessary to mitigate environmental damage and contribute to solutions for a sustainable future. Your younger employees know it.

Younger workers, in particular, are likely to be pleased to be on board with a company that is aware of the environment in which it exists and aims to make a positive impact.

Knowing that your business is reaching out and doing what it can to help the environment and your community, or just minimizing its negative impact, may contribute to a happier, more productive working environment.

Prioritize Onboarding

Having an excellent onboarding process can significantly improve your work environment. Onboarding isn’t just for one day. It should be an integrated strategy that lasts the lifetime of the employee.

Dissatisfaction with the physical work environment is a significant cause of unhappiness in the workplace. This can contribute to an unnecessarily large employee turnover. Something as simple as showing new candidates where they would be working and who can improve employee retention and happiness.

Effective onboarding gives new workers the opportunity to check in with their managers regularly. The managers can then address any concerns, making the workplace better not only for the new hires but for everyone in the company and future employees.

Provide the Required Tools

A business is often limited by its lack of access to modern tools and resources, getting by on outdated software and hardware. Providing your teams with efficient equipment and training them to use it will go a long way toward improving both morale and productivity.

Providing resources doesn’t need to break the bank. It might be as simple as providing basic cybersecurity guidelines regarding what to do if an employer encounters spam or a suspected phishing attempt.

Using Nuwber to verify the identity of the sender, for example, does not cost the earth but can nonetheless empower staff to handle their daily activities better autonomously.

Offer Meaningful Rewards

Performance-related pay can be a powerful motivator, creating a strong bond between an employee and their company. However, use this strategy carefully.

Downsides of financial performance bonuses include demotivation for those who fail to achieve the necessary targets, burnout, and a focus on short-term gains rather than seeing the bigger picture of the organization’s role in the world and the individual’s role within the organization.

It’s nice to be rewarded for good work, but leaders are recommended to go beyond material rewards. Sure, cakes and shop vouchers have their place, but it’s also worthwhile thinking about experiential rewards, such as a meal out or a fun event, which not only rewards staff but inspires unity in the team. Developing meaningful, positive relationships is among the greatest rewards in any workplace.

Avoid rewards that set teams or individuals against each other. Aim instead to foster a healthy community in which people share their challenges and successes. While competition is healthy, build a culture in which a win for one team is a win for everyone.

And note that having someone say well done can be a significant motivator. A culture of acknowledging hard work can make a big contribution to positivity in the workplace.

Flexible Working

Flexible working means that people can work at times that suit them. This might mean that they can work without the need for expensive childcare, they can attend classes during the day, or they can work on the go.

Hybrid working is a compromise with some time spent in the physical work environment and some time spent working remotely, as agreed with the employee and their manager.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced a lot of businesses to adopt remote working before they were ready. However, many found it so effective that they haven’t returned to a traditional model.

Why? People are often happier — and thus more invested, creative, and productive — when they can work their hours. Flexibility and understanding where employees’ individual needs can make for a much more positive workplace where people feel heard and valued.

Organize Social Events for Remote Workers

Don’t start a policy of remote work and then let go of the wheel. Your remote workers will need some structure and support, such as knowing exactly what’s expected of them, the tools with which to do their work properly, and some social time.

Remote workers have been known to feel isolated from their teams. They miss out on water cooler time, friendly chat, and the ability to check in with neighbours. So it’s a good idea to create opportunities for them to get out of their silos and share downtime, even if these events are virtual.

Encourage Transparency and Ideas

People who feel valued at work report better physical and mental health and more satisfaction, engagement, and motivation than people who feel undervalued.

Show your workers that they make a difference by listening to them without interrupting and actively encouraging their ideas. Don’t schedule meetings to tell employees what’s going to happen. Meet to ask them what they think.

You can facilitate idea-sharing via an intranet, a simple suggestion box, or a regular time when people can drop in on the “boss” to chat.

Encouraging and collecting ideas is not just an exercise. Nobody knows a business better than the people who work there. Furthermore, with great communication between teams and departments, you’ll be able to increase efficiency, improve products and services, and make your customers even happier.

Nobody Searches for a Negative Work Environment

The alternative to creating a positive work environment is to create a negative one. That makes following these tips a no-brainer.

However, too many managers actively devalue their staff or ignore the vast opportunities to make people’s lives more meaningful, drive business value, inspire customer loyalty, and do good in terms of corporate social responsibility and sustainability.

A business appears in various guises. A bottom line. A mission statement. A list of board members or shareholders. But we mustn’t forget that a business relies on people — customers and staff at all levels — without whom they’d cease to exist.