Ideas on How to Improve a Workplace Environment

What Is a Healthy Workplace Environment?

The retail and restaurant industries are fast-paced and stressful. These factors can create a poor employee and customer experience, but you can combat that by creating a healthy workplace environment. First, you need to learn the three components of a healthy workplace environment.

Healthy Workplace Culture

First, you must consider the workplace culture. Workplace culture refers to your company's atmosphere and personality. The culture includes shared attitudes, rules, beliefs, and guidelines that govern your business. It can also include healthy activities, such as yoga, to show your employees that you care about their wellbeing.

A positive workplace culture reduces stress, increases engagement, and builds loyalty. This, in turn, can reduce turnover. Turnover is a huge problem in the restaurants and accommodations sector, hitting 74.9 percent in 2018. Having a positive workplace culture can help you avoid becoming a statistic.

Safety Is a Priority

Businesses that have healthy workplace environments make safety a priority. Retail and restaurant employees are prone to slips and falls, broken bones, repetitive strain injuries, cuts, and more.

Workplace violence is also becoming increasingly common in both sectors. Many employees are afraid to go to work because of the possibility of attacks or injuries.

By committing to keeping employees safe, you will gain the trust of your employees, and they will feel secure. You'll also benefit since you'll have fewer missed days due to injuries.

Commitment to Employee Support

Far too many employees feel like they are just names on timesheets. They don't matter to their employers, so they don't feel loyal to the company that signs their paychecks.

Employers need to be supportive if they want to provide a healthy workplace environment. Employers that have an open-door policy are more likely to build quality relationships with their employees. Then, their employees are more likely to stay engaged and motivated at work.

How to Improve Your Workplace Environment

Since the workplace environment impacts engagement, productivity, loyalty, and retention, improving it should be high on your list. Even if you currently have a poor workplace environment, you can make changes to start improving it today.

Have Open Lines of Communication

Communication is key to improving your workplace environment. Create an environment where employees feel free to share their ideas. At the same time, let employees in on important decisions.

Open lines of communication make employees feel they are a part of an organization. Instead of just being employees, they feel like they belong to the organization as a whole.

Create a Clean and Comfortable Environment

It's impossible to have a positive workplace environment if you don't invest in the physical workplace. Create an environment that employees love by ensuring it's clean and well-maintained and has a comfortable breakroom with amenities, such as free coffee and soft drinks. When you take pride in the workplace, your employees will do the same.

Make Work-Life Balance a Priority

Presenteeism is a serious issue in the workplace. When you force employees to be present, regardless of illness, family needs, injuries, or other issues, they won't function at their best.

That reduces productivity and hurts your workplace environment. Instead of focusing on presenteeism, make work-life balance a priority.

Let employees tend to personal needs when necessary, so when they are at work, they are fully committed. Then, they will be less likely to end up burned out and looking for a new job.

Organize Social Events

You want your staff to work well together, and you can accomplish that by organizing social events. Picnics, holiday parties, team lunches, and exercise groups are some examples of ways your employees can socialize.

This will improve team-building and help your employees work together when they are on the job. It will also make work much more fun, which will increase productivity and retention.

Recognize Your High-Performing Employees

Yes, employees are expected to do a good job, but still, it's wise to recognize them. When someone does an excellent job, thank him or her. You can also recognize the employee in a staff meeting or provide the employee with an award. When you appreciate employees, they want to continue doing a good job for you.

Make Sure Employees Are Trained

Training sessions can also improve your workplace environment. Employees are confident and engaged when they know how to do their jobs.

When they don't know how to do their jobs, the opposite is true. Implement a training system with tracking, so you can make sure all your employees know how to function at work.

Then, you will have confident, well-trained employees who are ready to do their jobs to the best of their abilities.

Take Steps to Improve Your Workplace Environment Today

You need to make sure you have a healthy workplace environment. That means you must address-

• Workplace Culture
• Safety
• Employee Support

• Creating a clean and comfortable environment
• Making work-life balance a priority
• Organizing social events
• Recognizing your high-performing employees
• Making sure your employees are trained