When we talk about a work environment, we should be talking about an asset that provides an advantage to your workforce. Unfortunately, more often than not, we talk to barriers that they have to work around. Barriers that might seem abstract when boiled down to a few individual problems, but can be indicative of problematic areas in the business you could address if you organised your approach to them.
Security
Crime is always going to be a problem. The likelihood is that in most places it isn’t going to directly affect the safety of an employee. However, even missing items of inventory and disruptions to work have a lingering effect. People miss the resources they need and feel like they’re in an unstable, unprofessional environment. Focusing on security measures like an inventory system, CCTV security systems, and even adding more lighting to your surrounding workspaces can make them feel a lot safer. When an area is more secure, it makes the people in it feel more secure, too.
Safety
Of course, that security lasts only as long as it takes someone to fall prey to a workplace accident. Health and safety is an issue that reaches across all industries and all kinds of workplaces. You should be taking the time to address every potential risk factor and have a policy of hunting and addressing safety concerns. Employees need to believe you care about their needs to some degree and their physical health is the simplest need to ask for. Fail to do so and your lack of regard for those needs will shine loud and clear. You won’t see any loyalty that way.
Hostility
Environments aren’t just potentially harmful to employees but to the equipment they use to work, as well. In hostile work environments like manufacturing and construction, failing to prepare for things like debris and dust can have you dealing with malfunctioning equipment more often than not. Failing to replace things like vulnerable control pads with help from partners like a manufacturer of membrane keyboards and other resilient equipment won’t just cost you money thanks to repairs and more thorough maintenance. It creates a frustrating workplace where the failures of the equipment lead to feelings of failure amongst staff. Impotent workers will look for environments that can empower them.
Productivity
Issues of productivity play the same role but tend to work under the surface, chipping at the confidence of the team and undermining any attempts you make to get them motivated. It can be thanks to physical factors like uncomfortable temperatures and low lighting that make them sluggish and make it harder to get as much work done. It can be due to poor use of time and little implementation of management strategies that hone people toward a purpose. There are a lot of potential barriers to productivity and it’s your duty to find what they are and break them.
A keen eye over the barriers in the way of your workplace could help you create an environment that’s not only conducive to better work practices but essential to a more motivated workforce too. Stop ignoring the problems that seem minor. They all build up.
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