How to Create Positive Workplace Culture

Just like our society has a culture that influences how everyone behaves or acts, the workplace also requires a set of beliefs and values to guide the actions of employees. After all, the workplace can be seen as a ‘mini community’ and is where many people spend most of their time outside their homes.

Having a positive work culture increases productivity, boosts morale, and improves employee retention and teamwork. Employees feel less stressed and become better satisfied with their roles.

However, positive workplace culture doesn’t happen by chance. Employers need to take conscious steps to stamp out negative behaviors and toxic attitudes. Failure to eliminate toxic behavior can be very costly as employee turnover increases and revenue drops.

Customers are increasingly becoming interested in an organization’s culture and want to do business with those they deem to have a positive culture. Below, you’ll find some of the best ways to create positive workplace culture in your organization.

• Establish Clear Organizational Ethos And Values

Workplace culture is part of a company’s identity and is defined by clear ethos and values. Every organization needs to have core values that define who they are and such values have to be effectively communicated to all employees.

Employees need to be familiar with the core values and even relate to them. The business also has to take demonstrable actions that are in line with the established ethos and values from time to time. After all, action speaks louder than words and seeing is believing.

The ultimate goal is to have employees take pride in the core values and embody them. And eventually, a positive work culture that makes work enjoyable for everyone will be established.

• Recognize Hardwork

Employees are the bedrock of any organization and having highly skilled workers can provide a competitive advantage. This is why many businesses spend considerable time and money on recruiting and training top talents. But recruiting skilled employees is one half of the equation. The other half involves retaining them, something that’s achievable with competitive compensation and positive work culture.

Your staff wants to know their hardwork and accomplishments are being noticed. They want to be recognized for their accomplishments and feel valued. The American Psychological Association (APA) found that employees’ morale drastically increases when they feel valued at work. And the reason for that is clear as day. It’s human nature to want to be valued and appreciated.

This is why organizations should recognize employees through awards, trophies, bonuses, employee recognition, and so on. Awards are quickly becoming popular among businesses as they are inexpensive and highly appreciated by employees.

Management can spice things up with the wording and design of the awards. Take a service award, for example, a bit of thinking can bring about unique ideas for years of service award wording. The same also applies to the shape of the award.

Your creativity is your limit as far as awards are concerned and you can make your awards as fancy or funny as you want.

• Encourage Collaboration And Communication

Upper management needs to work on encouraging collaboration between staff members as well as open and honest communication. Collaboration can be encouraged by establishing small teams within the organization or encouraging job rotations occasionally.

You can also create opportunities for social interaction such as coffee mornings or team getaways. Activities like the aforementioned can make teammates that have become distant closer and foster a sense of belonging and community in the workplace.

Open communication is also important but management can easily lose sight of this amongst busy schedules and higher priorities. So, conscious efforts need to be made to create an environment that encourages open and transparent communication.

There should be a channel for disseminating information to all employees so one feels left out. There should also be a channel that allows employees to anonymously voice their concerns and supervisors/managers should adopt an open door policy.

• Create An Inclusive Work Environment

Businesses can create a positive work culture by eliminating any form of discrimination. When employees feel valued and respected regardless of race, gender, and sexual orientation, employees feel welcome and accepted. And this makes employees motivated and eager to put in their very best. Employee retention rate is also bound to skyrocket.

Inclusivity is both a legal and moral obligation and organizations that prioritize this are essentially creating safe and comfortable working environments for their employees. It’s worth mentioning that inclusivity is not an afterthought. It’s something that has to be planned and included beforehand.

Another way businesses can create a positive culture is to encourage flexibility and work-life balance. Remote/hybrid working models can be introduced and employees can be judged based on productivity rather than hours.