What Makes A Healthy Work Culture?

Healthy work culture is important.  But what makes a work culture particularly pleasant? The strategy, the products, or the positive environment? What is certain is that every employee appreciates a positive and healthy work environment. Because that is what attracts talents.

What is Work Culture?

Work culture is the values, beliefs, and traditions of a company. It also influences the behavior and attitude of employees. Read more about this on our blog post Being more productive in positive work culture.

What Does it Take to Feel Well at Work?

Among the basics that go into making an employee feel comfortable at work are the work materials, which include the choice of furniture, the equipment, and the room itself. With a room that is well lit and inviting already you can create the right atmosphere to work productively. Employees perform at their best when they are a part of the growing company and their individuality, values, and creativity are encouraged. So, to feel comfortable at work, you can design every workplace to focus on people. When you design the room you should support the Well-being and the creativity. Then employees can work effectively and productively, which is positive for the company. 

Why is a Healthy Work Culture Important?

• Healthy work culture is as important as a corporate strategy. It helps achieve the company’s goals and attract talented employees. This is because a potential applicant researches the company before contacting it. Good potential applicants are attracted to healthy and positive work culture.
• Another reason why healthy work culture is important is to keep employees motivated. When employees feel good about their work, they can be more engaged and driven. They are also more likely to choose to stay with a company. When employees feel good about the company, it also leads to stronger performance, increasing the company’s success rate.
• In addition, a healthy work culture helps to adapt to constantly changing business processes. If a company wants to be successful today, it should be able to react quickly to changes. In unhealthy work cultures, employees may have the feeling of having failed.

What Does a “Healthy Team” Consist of?

• It’s easy to get lost in the workday, so you should make sure to create a series of activities that are all about team building. If there are these activities regularly, over time it becomes a habit and therefore a structure.
• An example of this is a weekly meal with the team. You could do this by setting a fixed date each week or month for team members to eat together.
• Other habits that you could introduce daily would be, for example, a Scrum event like the Daily, where everyone tells in the morning what everyone is currently working on, or another idea could be a lunch. Team building activities that can be done from time to time are team outings like bowling or karaoke. Also, birthdays or launch events could be celebrated in the team.
• It always depends on the team itself, ask the team what they are in the mood for, and then plan different activities!

Defining a Work Culture

Here are a few indicators of healthy work culture:

• Respect
  • Employees want to be respected and this includes that you respect their work and personal conflicts or gossip are rather avoided.

• Open Communication
  • You should make employees feel that they can freely contribute ideas. And that they don’t need to be afraid of rejection. Make them feel that any idea is welcome.

• Clarity
  • You should be clear about the direction you want the team and the company to move in. Goals and the strategy should be accessible and understood by everyone.

• Willingness to Learn
  • Show your employees that they can grow within the company. Therefore you should give access to workshops and trainings.

• Fairness
  • You should make sure to evaluate employees’ work performance equally according to certain standards. Another point is that you should base promotions and other recognition also on a system so that it does not seem as if you would favor some employees.

Final Thoughts

It is important to focus on the team and adapt the various measures to the team members. This includes talking a lot with colleagues and maintaining a close working relationship. This can build trust and foster collaboration. You should also keep in mind that not everything works for every team, so it is important to find a good solution for your team in small steps.