Your office is home to many of your employees for a decent part of their lives. As a business owner, it is your job to make their stay worth it. Otherwise, your business is going to suffer.
Many businesses tend to concentrate on their income and revenue above everything else. This can lead to low employee retention and employees being generally dissatisfied with their jobs. This is what is considered to be a toxic workplace. If you’re the kind of business owner who would only tell their employees to work harder because revenue is low, then you’ll have to change your mindset. You and the toxicity of the office might be the problem. It’s time to change the way you think and start investing more in your office and your employees. Here are ways you can create a healthier work environment.
Improve Space Both Inside and Out
Improvement should start in the physical aspects of your office. Gone are days when we accept gloomy office spaces with cubicles that promote isolation from others. Today, we are removing the walls and the gloominess away by are promoting a more open culture and more comfortable human interaction.
An Open-Plan Office
Cubicles should no longer be a part of your office because it promotes isolation from others. It’s time to remove these walls and give you and your employees a chance to see one another more openly. It fosters interaction at work, and it brings you even closer together.
An open-plan office removes all barriers to interaction. It’s pretty famous in countries, such as Japan, where cubicles are frowned upon. Moreover, an open plan is considered cheaper since you no longer have to buy cubicles to separate employees from one another. However, it’s important to know that you should only execute this plan if your employees have built rapport with one another. It has been found that teams work better in an open-plan office. However, employees who aren’t familiar with one another tend to communicate less in an open-plan office. So try and make everyone closer before implementing this plan.
Green Space Outside
Employees hate it when they have no place to go outside the office. This can make them feel like they’re prisoners, with nothing to do but work. It’s time for you to improve the space you have outside your office and make it habitable to your employees and more alluring to customers outside. One of the main ways you can do this is by hiring landscaping experts to work on your office. These landscapers can design whatever little green space you have outside your workplace. They can also add additional life to it by laying out grass and other plants. By having a place to settle and relax during their breaks, their overall productivity will increase.
Remote Work
Employees shouldn’t be constrained in working in just the office, especially during the pandemic. They should be given a chance to do and continue their work in their homes.
Remote work is becoming the norm nowadays. If you have implemented it in your office, then that’s good! If not, then it’s time for you to consider this policy. Now is the best time to do it because you never know when quarantine restrictions will be implemented in your state again. You should also consider keeping this policy once the pandemic has ended because it can help your employees work at their own pace. Let them come to the office when they need to do so, and only call them in for meetings and other important events.
Letting Go of Toxic Employees
Life is too short for toxic people, so get rid of them in your company. There isn’t much to say about this, aside from the fact that toxic employees are better when they aren’t working for you anymore regardless of the output they give for your company. This is because toxic employees create a domino effect in the workplace. Once they start damaging the reputation of one employee, that employee will then attack back. This can create an unhealthy cycle where you’ll be doing more work in mediating the problem instead of managing and boosting your employees’ morale. Identify problematic employees in your company and do something about it when you can.
A healthy work environment increases productivity and workplace culture. Both of these can make your company desirable among many other employees out there in the market. By implementing a healthier work environment, you’ll be a competitive force in the industry and be held in high regard by many of your competitors out there.
