If we went along asking employees - What matters in the longer run - Money or Job satisfaction? It is highly likely that employees choose a happy and positive work environment over money. We work to buy ourselves the needs and comforts to be happy and if we start putting money over our mental peace, that would be trading something to buy it again later. After all, the question talks about would you be likely to trade your mental peace for money to buy less mental peace?
Research done by the Society of Human Resource Management in 2013 shows that fewer and fewer people are now preferring job satisfaction over money the surveys done over the past 15 years.
This brings us to the crucial question what are the characteristics of a positive work environment? Ready to check if you're in the right environment? Let's dive into the checklist -
Characteristics Of A Positive Work Environment
1. Constructive Atmosphere
A constructive environment is one in which mistakes are shown the right direction to improve on. An employee is not criticized or taunted for their mistakes. Every individual who is a part of the organization is respected and never looked down upon.
Constructive criticism is delivered instead of just criticism and the employees are given a chance to redo their work and learn from their mistakes. Such an environment poses a plethora of learning opportunities and truly trains an individual throughout their career.
2. Non-judgemental towards one’s personal life
The whole meaning of being professional means being respectful toward someone’s personal life. Think about this - it is considered to be unprofessional to talk behind anyone’s back about their personal life. Similarly, it is also considered to be unprofessional to taunt someone over their appearance or personal issues. Some of the most basic judgments are made about one’s clothing style, fluency in English, and social skills.
A positive work environment is void of such judgments and lets an individual be the person they want to be. Rather more and more offices today allow their employees to dress casually and work during the time frame they are comfortable. Such offices are only bothered with the work, the quality of work, and the time it gets completed instead of the unnecessary details.
3. Open and Honest Communication
Have you ever wondered why children lie? Children are understood to be innocent and yet they choose to lie to a parent or a family member to avoid conflict or a stressful situation. This does not happen suddenly. When a child makes a mistake for the first time and when they are scolded for it rather than given the right direction, they choose to lie the next time the same thing happens.
Similarly, if the truth of an employee is judged, teased, or unaccepted by their superior then the employee would choose to lie the next time they encounter the same situation. This also brings us to the topic of being professional. Professionalism talks about respecting one’s decisions and reasons. For example, a sick child and a sick pet are equally worrisome reasons for someone to take the day off. But if an employee is judged for either one of them, then it is highly likely that that person wouldn't be comfortable being honest again.
4. The Praise-Based Approach
Have you ever trained a dog? There are two methods to it. One of them is giving treats to your dog whenever he/she obeys you. Eventually, the dog registers the activity that they do that gets them the treat. In this approach, everything that the dog does wrong is often ignored and not punished. This method builds a strong foundation of love and trust between the person and pet to the extent that the dog goes to length in defending his/her family.
There is a second method of training dogs which is with the stick. A dog is threatened with a stick which causes pain and hence he/she obeys the command for the sheer reason of avoiding pain. In this method, no bond is built rather a relationship of fear is established. But eventually, the dog becomes resistant to the stick and would bite or snap at the aggressor in their self-defense.
Similar is the treatment of children, students, and eventually employees. Nature is hard-wired in us. And therefore, the things that create stress and fear inside us become stressors in our life. Eventually, a child or an employee can snap out or even suffer from mental trauma due to the constant stress.
Therefore, a positive work environment is the one where an employee is praised when they do something productive and when the same person does something wrongly, he/she is given constructive solutions and taught the right way of doing things.
5. Training and development
A good workspace lets their employees the time to upgrade themselves with time. This can be related to doing a certain degree, master's, Ph.D., certificate course, or taking up training lessons for various evolving technology. This also includes learning a new coding language, learning the latest tech trends, or can be as simple as learning to use the computer.
A good company allows its employees to grow instead of replacing them. And this way, they create an intangible bond of mutual trust and respect with the employee and eventually increase their collective productivity.
6. Strong team spirit
Among colleagues, the company must inculcate the importance of learning from each other instead of rivalry and excessive competition. These can be achieved by many team-building activities that allow individuals to communicate without any barriers and help each other with free will.
A supportive team creates a haven for every team member. The employees who are a part of this feel like they have someone to rely on instead of feeling a continual sense of competition.
7. Good to Satisfactory Compensation
Having a good work environment doesn't mean that you need to compromise on the pay that you receive. A positive work environment ensures that an employee is well-compensated for their time and expertise. This does not mean extravagant payments but the compensation that an employee deserves for his/her quality of work and the time invested in it.
Good to satisfactory compensation along with a positive and growth-friendly atmosphere is a huge attraction to the talent out there. The word of mouth regarding a company’s treatment spreads across like wildfire.
A positive work environment is not just a boon to the company but a big asset to the company in the longer run. It ensures that the employees come and go with utter positivity and have respect for the company in their hearts. Loyal employees are always a good company’s asset and a positive work environment ensures the same. Therefore, let's promote having a positive work environment as the most basic and must-have quality of a workspace.
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