There is no denying that the world as we know it has changed considerably over the past 18 months. A lot of people have faced financial difficulties, lost a loved one, and suffered from health problems themselves.
Returning to work has been a challenge for many people as a consequence. Plus, acclimatizing to the “new norm” in the workplace is not always easy. People feel disconnected. Consequently, you may be looking for different ways to create a more positive environment. Below, we have some suggestions that will give you a helping hand.
1. Commit to giving something back
There is only one place to begin when it comes to creating a positive team environment, and this is by giving something back to your community. We have all experienced a difficult time over the past 18 months, and giving back to those who need it is something that can make us all feel better. After all, we should all be there for those who need it the most. ]
Corporate matching gift programs and donation matching are well worth considering here. Company matching donations are donations where you will match the donations employees make, which means your employees’ efforts are going to have an even bigger impact.
This is a great way to make your employees feel enthused and positive. They will enjoy fundraising and raising money for causes they care about, knowing that their efforts are going to be doubled.
2. Implement a flexible benefits scheme
Flexible benefits give workers greater options in the choice of benefits they want from the package their employer provides. Ultimately, you are going to decide the different types and levels of benefits that are available. However, employees can then choose from these benefits.
After all, we are all different. We all have different needs, wants, and interests. This means that one particular benefit may be helpful to some of your workers but it may be useless to the rest of your workforce. This is why offering a flexible benefits scheme makes a lot of sense.
By increasing the variety of benefits you offer, you can increase your recruitment rates and hold onto your best employees in the process. Your workers will feel valued and appreciated, which is more important now than ever.
3. Listen to your employees and make them feel cared for
Make sure you take the time to listen to your employees’ perspectives and let them know that they are valued and heard. There are a few simple practices that you can use for this, including the following:
- Communicate to your employees that you care about their well-being, not only their productivity
- Emphasize that people’s contributions are necessary and unique to them; do not let their good work go underappreciated
- When problems come about, be sure that you get full feedback from those involved – this will help you to identify bigger obstacles and issues while encouraging communication and strengthening connection
- Do not let people get lost in the crowd; lower team size and acknowledge the work and achievements of each member to the extent possible
- Validate and acknowledge the emotions and reactions of your employees
4. Provide greater flexibility
Before the pandemic, only around five percent of the workforce in the United States worked from home on a regular basis.
But working from home has an impact on every worker differently, depending on their living situations and responsibilities. For instance, with the widespread childcare and school closures, workers with small children need to balance trying to keep up with their work tasks and having the balance at home. The same goes for family members who look after their elderly relatives.
This is why it is important that flexibility is matched to the needs that your individual employees have.
An advisable step here for businesses is to require managers to have open conversations with their employers regarding when and how work can be accomplished, without an employees’ privacy being intruded on.
You should provide a broad number of options for flexibility, for example, more leeway when assignments must be turned in or amending work hours every day to enable more time for parents to care for children and others.
It is also vital for this order to come from the top, as not all managers view flexibility in a positive manner.
From a compressed work week to reduced hours in the office, there are a number of different ways you can offer more flexibility and it does not have to have an impact on the quality of work that is being produced either.
5. Host business events
Research that has been provided by the Center for Talent Innovation has revealed that a collective spirit and sense of belonging can significantly increase a business’ success by boosting engagement, motivation, and productivity by as much as 350 percent.
Business events provide a great opportunity to enable employees to come together and create strong relationships outside of the boardroom.
You need to consider the fact that your employees have a range of backgrounds, so try to create events that are diverse and suitable for everyone. After-work drinks are great from time to time, but they aren’t going to be suitable for everyone, so make sure you switch things up.
6. Provide opportunities for career development
Almost everyone wants an opportunity to improve their skills and increase their knowledge. In fact, research that LinkedIn support has stated that 93 percent of employees have reported that they prefer working for a business that provides career development and regular training.
This is more important now than it ever has been. After all, a lot of people have worried about their job security as a consequence of Covid-19. You may have even had to let a few people go at your business yourself. Therefore, providing opportunities for progression within your business can certainly help to make people feel positive and secure.
Encouraging your workers to grow will not only help with their engagement but it can also assist in terms of increasing retention rates and boosting your available resources, as staff can handle more complicated tasks. As workers become more advanced, you will be able to scale your company as well.
When providing training opportunities, you should offer chances for your workers to boost both their soft and hard skills, as well as offering opportunities for professional and personal development.
Some businesses give workers a monthly allowance to spend on training, enabling workers to spend one day a quarter on personal growth or to put together mentor programs.
All of these different options help to create a more positive work environment; somewhere where employees perform to their highest level, and they feel happy and engaged
7. Be spontaneous and have a little bit of fun
Last but not least, everyone wants to have a bit of fun at work, right? However, everyone has a different definition of the word fun, so you do need to be mindful!
However, fun is simply about creating a sense of enjoyment and making people feel like they can truly be themselves. Once you integrate this into the workspace, it can create a more fruitful environment for everyone.
Fun happens when people feel like they are in a well-connected team, where there is mutual respect, acceptance of who people are, open communication, collaboration, and everyone working toward the same goal.
When a team works effectively together, it makes it a lot easier to have some fun and be spontaneous, whether it is a brief pause in the afternoon to enjoy some afternoon tea and share some funny stories or a last-minute party on a Friday afternoon.
Final words on creating a positive environment post-covid
So there you have it: some of the different ways that you can create a positive environment in the workplace post-Covid-19. We hope that the advice and suggestions that we have provided above will help you to create a more positive and enthusiastic work environment.
From having some fun in the workplace and offering flexible benefits to giving something back to society and offering more flexibility at work, there are a lot of different ways that you can make sure your work environment is a positive one.
It is important to have patience. You cannot change everything in one day. Things like this take time. Plus, there are going to be times when the mood is low, and you need to make sure that people’s feelings are validated and they do not feel like they cannot express themselves.
Daniel Quintero is a Content Partnership Specialist at Skale in Venezuela, South America. He is a dedicated international business professional with a focus on foreign trade.
