As the business grows worldwide, it’s become apparent that companies need to change and improve their work to attract and keep valuable employees. How much effort a company puts into fostering a healthy working environment directly affects its profits. Boosting employee satisfaction has proven to inspire them to do their best work!
In the past, long hours of toil served only to exhaust and irritate employees, causing them to, consciously or not, sabotage productivity. Poor conditions even led exhausted, hurting employees to seek office syndrome treatment to alleviate the eye, back, neck, and arm pains they developed from too much sitting at the desk and not enough time stretching and resting their eyes!
It’s a situation that is eminently remediable, with some understanding and support from a caring management team who sees the human value of their employees, not just viewing them in terms of profits and costs. If you want your company to be a healthy workplace both employees and managers alike can enjoy and respect, then let’s look at what you can do to improve and thrive!
First, let’s define just what a healthy working environment consists of. It’s a place where the physical, emotional, and professional needs of the employees are taken into account for the betterment of all.
By making it easier for employees to practice better self-care on the job, like implementing frequent stretch breaks or holding informal coffee klatch style meetings regularly where people can share their feelings and ideas in an informal setting with a receptive group that allows them to speak their minds freely, allowing employees to thrive and do their best work.
There are four major components to a healthy working environment:
Healthy work culture – This begins with employers communicating their expectations and making sure they are reasonable in their requirements. Collaboration is encouraged, employees’ ideas and input are taken seriously, and followed by real action instead of just vague promises. A work/life balance must be achieved, and everyone must feel well cared for and valued, learning from mistakes and growing together.
Safe, inclusive environment -It is vital that employees never encounter any unnecessary dangers while performing their jobs. All working areas must comply with government safety regulations, have emergency protocols and training in place, and always promote safe practices.
Health and lifestyle – We have already touched on this, but allowing time during the workday for humans to be humans and not have to perform like some labor automatons, goes a long way to achieving a healthy workplace because the employees are healthier!
Professional support – A healthy working environment is one that encourages employees to develop their professional skills in a positive atmosphere of cooperation instead of pitting them against each other in meaningless and inevitably unproductive competition. This creates team members who create value and opportunities for the company and themselves. The fact is, businesses that support healthy working environments prosper.
