The numbers speak for themselves—having a work environment that engages employees is just as important as good sales numbers and loyal customers.
How to Improve Office Culture
Here’s 10 ways you can make your company’s office culture better.
Be Transparent
A company that wants to build an office culture where everyone feels engaged needs to be open and transparent. Making sure that your office is positioned for growth means spotting and fixing problems before they knock everyone off course.
Being transparent means sharing the lessons from any failures or mistakes. When you hide shortcomings from employees, you’re only maintaining an office and not fostering a culture.
One quick way to get this ball rolling is to let employees submit anonymous questions that get answered by management at scheduled meetings.
Stop the Burnout Cycle
It’s important for business leaders to understand that a healthy work environment means long term growth. Burning people out so the company succeeds has always been a bad idea, more so now when skilled people are in short supply.
Scheduling the week’s work in advance can make all the difference. There’s lots of software on the market that can help you and your team take the needless hustle out of your office like this offering from Zoho.
Dress Appropriately
Working in an office means that you need to be respectful of your clients and fellow co workers. Common sense needs to prevail. Even though many dress codes are more relaxed these days, you still need to be mindful of how you represent your employer by what you wear.
Align Your Office Culture with the Bigger Picture
When you’re looking to shape an office culture, you need to be sure you’re designing something that can fold into the bigger company picture. Do your teams work together toward clearly defined goals or do you foster competition to boost sales numbers?
You might need to brainstorm across several departments here to get input.
Foster Collaboration
This needs to come from the top down so it spreads through your small business. Hosting a social team event is a great way to break barriers down so everyone gets to know each other on a personal level.
Define the Mission
If you want everyone to work together and be on the same page, you need to tell them clearly what’s on it. Start by tackling the tough questions like what people can expect from working in your office and what values are front and center for your business.
Don’t Come to Work Sick
You might fall behind on a project or two if you’re sick and stay a home to recoup. However, coming in when you’ve got a bug can give the whole office the sniffles.
Use Technology
Everyone needs to be on the same page for your staff to stay motivated. There’s a variety of digital tools to get that done like Alexa For Business. This is a great way to alert everyone quickly when there’s a meeting or big announcement.
Maintain Office Equipment
Motivating people to do great work is at least partially about giving them the right tools to work with. Preferably ones that are well maintained. Slow computers that crash a lot can actually be an unnecessary anchor on your office atmosphere and production both.
Keep the Atmosphere Bright
The right lighting makes a big difference. Natural light and plenty of windows actually improves the energy level and motivation.
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