Here at www.BeMoreEffective.com we are totally convinced that a positive working environment will inevitably lead to a positive work force and as such that workforce will of course work better, they will come to work with the attitude of “I love my job”

99% of successful companies provide an environment for their staff which is conducive to individual happiness in the workplace and because of this those companies do reap the rewards, the old saying look after your tools and they will look after you has never been truer than in the case of a company looking after and looking out for its workforce.

With all of this in mind we would urge companies to ask themselves the following questions;

• is your workplace a positive one?
• are there any ways that you can make sure your employees love coming to work every day?

There are some important things when managing the workplace and in fact managing your staff that you can do. It will involve setting the right atmosphere at work.

There is nothing more that they like to do than to retell horror stories about awful line managers or terrible jobs that they’ve had, the best thing to do to counter any of these things is to create an environment where your workforce only experience positivity both in their jobs and their working environment. This is not difficult to achieve and furthermore does not necessarily cost much money. The rewards however can be immense because if your workforce see that you are making an effort for them they will of course naturally reciprocate and feel loyalty towards you the employer.

We are all influenced and motivated by our everyday environment, your workforce needs to respect you and love you not fear you.

Any company investing in creating a positive work environment will find that their employees will work harder and achieve much better results both for themselves and the company, indirectly this will also result in better service for your client base.

Creating a happy and positive working environment can only result in benefits for all parties involved in any enterprise.

Communication is an enormously important part of making that happy work environment a reality, communication between an employer and his workforce is of paramount importance in the working relationship.

Staff need to understand what their responsibilities are and what is expected of them but equally employers need to have their finger on the pulse of the company. They need to keep an ear to the ground to be able to positively create the working environment that the workforce actually wants. For example, it is no good putting up pictures that you might like but your workforce hate, find out what they want, find out what will make it a more pleasant experience coming to work, put yourself in their shoes and think about what it is that they do every day and if it was you what would make your day more pleasant.

The key to positive and worthwhile communication in the workplace is without a shadow of a doubt to be as clear and direct as possible in all communication and if there are issues address them head-on and clearly. If the workforce knows exactly where it stands there is less room for negative issues to arise.

One issue that is of major importance is to make your workforce feel valued by listening to everyone’s ideas and making sure that they know that you think their input is worthwhile and valued.

Every single one of your workers has taken the position with your company for a reason, making them feel valued by giving them time to voice their ideas is of enormous importance, sometimes the idea maybe rejected but the true value is in listening not necessarily acting on the idea. Being a good listener will clearly demonstrate to every one of your workers that you are a listening company and value the knowledge and experience of your workforce. Acting in this way will create more of a team feeling and will allow every member of the workforce to see that they are valuable in one way or another and not just a cog within a bigger wheel.

Make time every day to speak to members of your workforce. If the workforce is too big to practically do this, then make sure that your line managers are spending the time each day to get feedback from employees then make sure that your line managers have the time to bounce these ideas off you. Make sure that if a good idea comes from a member of the workforce that you then make the time to visit that worker and speak to them directly about their idea so that they know that the line manager system is working for them and the big boss is not just some remote individual that is inaccessible. This will help cement relationships within the business and show that everyone’s input is important as the next person’s.

We at www.bemoreeffective.com have also found that recognising hard work is also one of the main key is to creating a positive work environment recognising workers who work hard encourages them to keep up this great work and also instils the idea that hard work is acknowledged by the hierarchy within the business and that it is appreciated. This will encourage other employees to strive for the same recognition. Make sure the reward is worth striving to reach.

Create team goals with a reward for the best producing team. Not only does the reward act as a prize for hard work and recognition for the hard work but any activity that is given as a reward can then also add value to the business by acting as a team building experience, as we all know, team activities carried out by the workforce outside of the workplace pay dividends.

Trust is a major player in making your workers feel valued and happy.

Making sure that your workforce knows that you trust them to work on their own initiative is also majorly important within any company the old saying don’t mollycoddle your children, give them space to breathe is very true if you want to develop individual characters to their full potential. You will find that employees treated in this way that know they are trusted will in fact work harder and harder to repay that trust, we are all grateful to those that give us trust whether in the workplace or in any other environment.

Sometimes taking a step back to let your workers do their jobs in their own way can be difficult as you might think you know best however, invariably these people have their own store of knowledge and experience that they bring to their roles and at the end of the day you did hire them for a reason.

Of course every now and again checking in with your workers and making sure that you know what they’re doing is a good idea, but make sure that this is done in a way that will not make them think that you don’t trust them or that you don’t think they can do their job without your interference. Trust your staff and you will find that they will repay that trust in spades.

Fun in the workplace.

Let’s not forget that your workers are spending a minimum of eight hours every day in the workplace. Of course maintaining a professional environment is important, but let’s make it fun. It really does not have to be boring as we have covered earlier on; happy employees perform better and so therefore are more valuable if they are happy.

There’s lots of ways of making the workplace fun and yet still keeping it professional, considering allowing your workers to decorate their own work area to show off their individuality can work for some.

Ask your workforce and they will tell you what they would like to make their environment more fun.

Set the example.

Let’s face it if we have people around us who are miserable and negative we tend to mirror that atmosphere. If you are the boss and your example is one of negativity and grumpiness, your workers are going to react the same, smiles cost nothing. What’s more, smiles spread and when someone smiles, others feel better and if you are positive and happy your workers are more likely to be positive and happy.

When you have created this happy environment that your workforce looks forward to entering every day you will find that it is easier and easier to maintain. Happiness is habit-forming and what more can be trained.

Start with yourself and your workers will follow.

If you would need a more positive workplace – email us here