Creating a positive work culture

The knowledge that happy employees make happy customers is a well-known but often overlooked fact in business. There are many things that organizational leaders can do to increase employee satisfaction. However, executives cannot make workers happy with short-term fixes. A long-term approach is better for supporting sustained morale and productivity and creating a positive work culture.

A healthy work setting is especially vital in high-stress settings. In any workplace, however, the environment ultimately influences employee satisfaction.

Studies have consistently shown that a positive work culture improves the bottom line. When employees are happy, they call out less, remain with companies longer and file fewer workers compensation and healthcare claims.

Happy, healthy employees are productive. They enjoy and are satisfied with their work. Employers can ensure optimal outcomes by keeping staff members happy. Otherwise, employees May grow disengaged, and the quality of their work will diminish.

The Importance of a Positive Work Culture

There are key areas that employers can focus on to build the foundations of employee happiness. A positive workplace culture, for instance, creates an environment where staff members are generally content and happy. In this kind of setting, workers feel safe and secure. Moreover, they care about the company that they work for because they feel as though their company cares about them.

Staff members are the most important part of any organization. Resultantly, employee wellness promotes teamwork and productivity, while reducing accidents and sick time.

Human resource leaders can create a happier team by promoting ongoing positive peer feedback. Furthermore, everyone encounters personal issues at some point in their life. An environment where professionals support each other makes it easier for workers to navigate these kinds of inevitable obstacles.

Boost Employee Development and Professional Diversity

Employers should encourage employees to develop new skills, and hire people with diverse talent who can add more to your team and culture. Social workers, teachers, and people with a background in psychology, for example, are great to have on teams because they can add a new perspective and engage in creating a positive environment.

The expertise that specialists with a background in psychology can provide is increasingly needed in the workplace. In fact, the U.S. Census Bureau forecasts a 16-percent career growth spurt for social workers between 2016 and 2026.

The Importance of a “Happy,” Positive Work Culture

Happy workers are more likely to remain with an organization. Employers can promote worker satisfaction by encouraging them replace bad habits with healthy lifestyle choices.

For instance, weekly team yoga sessions or jogs are a great way to promote camaraderie and help workers improve their well-being. In addition, organizational leaders can create a supportive organizational culture by showing compassion and being there for workers when needed.

Have an Open Feedback Culture and Confront Negative Behaviors

The modern workplace is a melting pot of varying backgrounds and ethnicities. Unfortunately, there are people in the workplace who sometimes contribute to an unsafe and uncomfortable environment because they refuse to accept people who are unlike themselves. Not all workers make a conscious choice to accept their peers based on their character, and some people just don’t get along with others.

A recent survey reveals that 75-per cent of polled employees have experienced workplace bullying. To maintain morale and productivity, it’s important that workers feel comfortable and safe. Accordingly, employers must speak up, defend employees and refuse to look the other way when witnessing racism and bias in the workplace.

 A Positive Attitude Elevates the Work Environment

Workers learn from the examples set by their leadership. The way that supervisors and managers conduct themselves in the workplace will often influence the behavior of employees. Because of this, organizational leaders can create a more positive work environment by treating others cordially, fairly and equally. Employers who do this create confident team members who do their best to perform their duties.

In the business world, corporate culture is vitally important. In this regard, employers have the opportunity to “choose their family.” By ensuring that new hires fit in with the corporate culture, employers can ensure that everyone works together.

To promote corporate culture, it helps to treat workers as equity stakeholders. This creates an environment where employees feel motivated and excited about their work. If successful, business leaders can create a work environment where stakeholders care about each other as much as they care about their company.

The days where disparate business units operate in silos are obsolete. Sustainable prosperity requires teamwork. In a happy corporate culture, where workers feel a sense of value in their career, employees perform optimally. In this environment, employees share potentially beneficial ideas freely. This is the kind of work setting where ideas thrive and innovation abounds.

Andrew Deen has been a consultant for startups in almost every industry from retail to medical devices and everything in between. He is currently writing a book about scaling up business and his experience implementing lean methodology.