To begin creating the best work environment for your company, first, define your core values. These should serve as the foundation for everything that occurs at your company and guide the evolution of your organization. Devote as much time to this decision as needed to ensure everyone is on the same page, and include leadership, long-term employees, and HR representatives so that all-important parties can weigh in.
Finally, you should have a brief list of values that accurately reflect your current company culture and long-term objectives. Then consider the type of work culture you want to build. Consider everything from the office’s physical layout to how frequently employees interact with their coworkers, managers, and C-Suite members. The real work begins from there.
Here’s how to foster a positive work environment that reflects your values and keeps negativity at bay.
1. Establish Specific Departmental Objectives
Outline the goals for each team so that employees have a clear goal to strive for. This will help guide individual performance and encourage team members to collaborate. Make sure there is room for feedback so that quotas and KPIs can be adjusted as needed. For example, if a team consistently meets their goals without breaking a sweat, you may want to change their target goals to increase production.
2. Hire People with Positive Attitudes
Hiring people who will contribute to a happier workplace will necessitate some thought and planning. When interviewing a candidate, it is natural to focus on relevant experiences and past accomplishments. And you are correct in your desire for those things for your company. Ignoring a person’s personality, on the other hand, is a mistake.
The best candidate on paper may be the worst person to hire for your company. Seek out the intangibles. Keep a close eye on how you feel around the person. Do they appear to be focused on the positives or the negatives? Do they laugh? Do they have a smile on their face? Do they appear to build and nurture relationships? While their track record of performance is important, bringing doom and gloom to the workplace will kill productivity and motivation.
3. Create a Program for Employee Recognition
Recognize and reward employees who achieve exceptional results. This will encourage employees to continue performing admirably and will make them feel valued within the company. It will also inspire their colleagues to perform better, fostering a work culture of friendly competition that results in high performance.
4. Accept and Apply Feedback from Your Employees
In fact, try to alter your attitude toward feedback. Rather than seeing it as a sign of something wrong, consider it the inverse: your employees care so much about the organization and its success that they are working to improve it. They choose to bring their problems to your attention, allowing you to address them rather than the employee stewing over them and eventually leaving the company out of frustration.
5. Be Adaptable
Things happen in life, and they will get in the way. Employees should not be afraid of facing repercussions if they take time away from work to deal with other emergencies or responsibilities. For example, if an employee is having difficulty balancing work and family life, try to come up with a solution that allows them to be productive at work without sacrificing their personal life.
As a result, you’ll gain the respect of your employees rather than the reputation of being unapproachable and unaccommodating. Not only that, but flexible schedules can help you attract top talent; 88% of people would prefer a lower-paying job over a higher-paying job if it offered flexible hours.
6. Plan Social Get-togethers
Despite the pandemic, humans are social beings who crave interaction. Make time for employees to get to know one another both at work and outside of work to foster meaningful relationships. You can keep things simple by hosting a hybrid Friday happy hour at the office while also providing remote workers with an online presence at the party, for example. When brainstorming new work culture ideas, consider the types of events that your team would most enjoy.
7. Be Open and Honest
Employees who are engaged put their entire selves into the company’s success, and they deserve the trust of your leadership team. Encourage open and transparent communication among department heads, management, and team members. This will result in a positive workplace culture where employees feel heard and valued.
Consider implementing a recurring internal newsletter to communicate critical information to the team and hold a monthly town hall meeting to make company-wide announcements that require more context.
