The way the workplace is constructed—physically, virtually, and managerially—can have a critical impact on employee productivity, passion, and innovation.
Aside from the job scope itself, one factor that significantly influences how employees feel about work is the environment. By work environment, I mean everything that forms part of employees’ involvement with the work itself, such as the relationship with co-workers and supervisors, organizational culture, room for personal development, etc.
A positive work environment makes employees feel good about coming to work, and this provides the motivation to sustain them throughout the day.
If you’re looking for a new job, then I would say that assessing the work environment is a crucial step you shouldn’t skip. After all, this is the place you might be working at in future and you wouldn’t want to be dragging yourself to work every single morning!
Due to the job variety available in the marketplace, this article is probably a little generic and may not apply to all types of jobs. However these qualities are much valued by employees and employers in most jobs. I would say that they are pretty universal in that sense, except in a few exceptional cases.
1. Transparent & Open Communication: In essence, a transparent and open form of communication addresses the employee’s need to feel that what they have to say has value. It is what makes employees feel that they belong in the organization. Work then becomes meaningful because the employees know that what they contribute affects the organization that they are affiliated with.
2. Work-Life Balance: Here has to be some sort of balance between work and personal life. In general, having that sense of balance will improve job satisfaction among employees because they will feel that they’re not overlooking the other areas of their lives that are, if not more, important to them than work.
3. Training & Development-Focused: In a time when change is more rampant than ever before, it is necessary for organizations to be keep abreast with the changes and train their employees accordingly. Adapting to change is never more crucial in this era because those who don’t, get replaced. This applies to both the individual and the organization itself.
4. Recognition for Hard Work: Rewards are necessary to encourage certain behaviors in persons. This is known as positive reinforcement under operant conditioning in the field of psychology. It is used in organizational behavior management as well: by rewarding employees who put in effort for their work, this will promote similar behaviors in the future.
5. Strong Team Spirit: As social beings, we naturally seek support from our peers and seek to belong to a group. Come tough times, the team should come together to deal with whatever problems are out there. This is where a sense of unity is evoked in the team and employees will no longer just feel that they’re working for themselves. They are now working towards something bigger than themselves, and as a team.
So what do you look for in your ideal working environment? Comment Below!
