When you own a business with people hired to work for you, it’s important to take care of your team members. It’s in everyone’s best interest to have happy workers. As a caring business owner, you understand that their whole health and wellbeing comes first. Whether they are stuck in a rut with their career or going through difficult times at home, or facing health challenges you can be there for them when they need that extra bit of support. Going to work should ideally will be something your workers are eager to do rather than feeling it to be a chore. You have everything to do with the quality of their experience working for you and your business. Providing a positive workplace for team members requires a commitment to attend to some specific considerations.
Ways to create a pleasant workplace for your team…
Teach and Train.
In order for your employees to grow and learn as people you have to be willing to train them on the job. Allowing their skills and passions to shine, will make them feel more comfortable and confident in their jobs. Allow new employees time to shadow and observe without throwing them into duties right away. This will help your workers learn the ropes without pressure to perform. Be sure that whomever they are shadowing is patient and nurturing in nature so your new hires will feel welcome and eager to learn.
Bring in experts to provide brief information-packed in-service talks to enrich your staff’s knowledge-base. Provide free continuing education events for your team once or twice a year! Send out a monthly email with interesting enrichment and learning videos you find. Create a lending library at the office and maybe start up a book topic discussion meeting each month.
Go Green.
Making your office a greener and healthier place will do wonders for the people who work for you. There are many job seekers that are purposely boycotting workplaces that are not ecofriendly as they actively try to reduce their carbon footprint. Make sure you are committed to conserving energy in the office and offering recycling. Bring in plenty of air-cleaning plants and offer a purified water station.
Set up for lunchtime yoga classes so your workers can relax and de=stress during a busy working day. Avoid having chemical cleaning supplies, opting for all natural plant based products. If you serve coffee, opt for fair-trade, organic beans.
Be Proactive with Mental Health Support.
Maintaining healthy mental health for mental health professionals and busy business support staff is so very important. Stress and burnout are all too common. Provide supportive reading materials about positive psychology and other self help resources. Create a culture in the work place where everyone can experience authentic connections and ongoing encouragement. Allow for a certain number of mental health days off from work and encourage your workers to develop a plan for their daily, weekly, monthly and annual self care.
Be Willing to Listen and Learn.
You would be surprised at what you can learn from your own employees. I continue to be amazed at the fantastic ideas that my own staff offers all the time. It’s important for you to realize that you don’t always have to the be the person who is teaching new skills and ideas.
In your next meeting try to soak up every bit of information, feedback or suggestions your workers have to share. Be sure to express genuine gratitude and reflect on the value of their contributions aloud. This type of positive reinforcement will make everyone feel like a truly valued member of the workforce. Listening and learning from others is one of the best ways that you can create a happier, healthier and holistic environment for all of your hard working employees.
Whether you want to shake up your on-boarding system, provide more mental health support or make your office space greener, there are many ways to provide a positive workplace for your team members.
Stay open-minded and willing to hear their suggestions and always try to make them feel as appreciated as possible. Soon you will find that your team members are much happier and productive in their jobs, because you are showing that you truly care about them. Be the boss you wished you would have had when you were starting out and your efforts will pay dividends.