7 Tips To Keep Your Staff Happy And Healthy In An Office Environment
The office environment is a place that you want all your employees to feel safe in, and that means making the relevant changes necessary to keep them content. From their mental well-being to their physical health, everything that makes your employees who they are should be looked after and cared for.
You have a duty of responsibility of as an employer to look after your staff and the office environment you create, certainly helps towards that. With that being said, here are several tips to keep your staff happy and healthy in an office environment.
- Foster a positive work culture
The work culture of any business is important to pay attention to. Often is the case that a work culture is imperative to get right because it influences the rest of the workforce. If it’s a negative or toxic culture for example, then this is going to lead to people complaining to HR or even walking away from the company because of it.
With that being said, it’s important to look at how you could promote a more positive work culture. From addressing complaints of bullying or discrimination to putting in workplace policies that ensure everyone is contributing to a happier work culture, rather than a negative one.
A positive work culture is going to go far in keeping your staff safe and happy, so speak to your employees about what might need to change.
- Create a productive workspace
Workspaces can certainly be productive, but sometimes, the space itself needs a bit of an update. Try to ensure the space itself offers everything your employees need to work hard and to maintain that productiveness throughout the day.
For example, it could be office water coolers that are missing from the space or a vending machine to provide snacks to those needing a little boost at their desk.
Consider what breakout furniture you have available to staff who are taking their lunch away from their desk or having a quick five-minute break away from the screen. A productive workspace is all areas of the workspace and not just the workstations themselves, so think about what else might need updating.
- Encourage healthier work-life balances
A healthy, work-life balance is important, and it’s something that’s not often thought about by a lot of businesses. In fact, some companies don’t do much to encourage a healthier work-life balance, choosing to make their staff work more than live outside of the workplace.
Even workaholics need a rest from their work, so it’s always good as a business to encourage staff members to take proper breaks throughout the day.
Staff members should also be taking the time off from work when they need it, as well as focusing on any time off whereby they need to recover from an injury, perhaps grieve a family member’s death or take a day off for their mental health.
A healthier work-life balance might also include offering staff members the ability to work remotely. It might not be appropriate for all industries and workplaces, but it could be something that works for yours.
- Implement more communication
Communication is an important part of your business, and it’s something that can do a lot of benefit when done right. Think about how you currently communicate with your staff members. Some staff may feel like they get enough contact with their peers or management, while others might get very little and express their concerns about it.
Implementing more communication so that nothing gets lost in translation and staff members feel supporting is beneficial. There are many ways in which communication can be improved across the board. This could be making sure collaborative platforms and tools are set up, to organizing more 1-2-1’s between employees and their managers or supervisors.
Try to keep up communications with all staff, and where it’s becoming less frequent, make the necessary changes to ensure it continues.
- Provide opportunities for growth and develop
Growth and development are two opportunities you could be providing for your staff members. Not only is it great for the business because it’s shared knowledge and experience, but it’s also great for motivating staff and making them feel as though they matter to the business.
When a business provides opportunities for its staff, whether it’s something as simple as customer service training to management courses that help staff get their next promotion, it all matters.
You will find that your staff are more appreciative when they’re given such opportunities, especially if it benefits them further down the line with a new title or job role.
- Offer well-being packages and perks
Well-being packages and perks are definitely something to consider. When it comes to the well-being of your staff members, nothing else matters more.
From their mental health to their physical wellbeing, anything that you can do to make it better is key.
So, with that being said, look at what you’re offering your staff members in the way of well-being packages currently. There may be some new perks and benefits you could offer to make it more attractive to those who are looking to stay around for the long term.
You might also want to level up the packages depending on the roles and responsibilities the staff have. The higher up they are, the more they get in benefits.
- Show appreciation to your staff however possible
Showing appreciation for your staff is important, and while not all businesses show that appreciation, your business should be doing the opposite. Everything you can celebrate and reward, the better.
No,w you don’t need to reward absolutely everything, but the little acts of appreciation can go a long way in keeping your staff members onyour side.
Keeping your staff happy and healthy is important, so use these tips to make sure that your employees are always feeling their best. Ultimately, keeping them happy is only going to benefit the business more, so make the changes needed to keep them present, motivated, and ready to do more.
