Creating a Great Work Environment

You are in charge of your team’s productivity and willingness to keep pushing forward. If you can satisfy the needs of your team, your team will take care of customer satisfaction. Satisfied customers bring more customers, which is basically what you want as a startup founder.

If you want to create a team full of inspired and engaged people, you should start paying attention to what people want from their jobs. Researches tell that almost every employee wants something more from work than just a paycheck. Actually, even the worst job in the world pays people money. So, what are the things that people would want from their workspace?

Environment

Here are a few things that you can offer to make your workplace more likable. Keep these things in mind while finding a place to set up your workspace.

Peace & Silence

First thing first – the workspace must be peaceful. Disturbance and a noisy environment generally become more destructive to employees’ ability to focus on their work. A poor working environment also slows down productivity and even causes health problems, including stress, depression, and anxiety. Many companies have started fostering a fun environment that inspires employees to take joy in their work because an unhappy workplace can never benefit a company.

Fresh Air & Nice View

Nice view, a lot of open space, and a well-ventilated place to work make a place more bearable even on the worst days. A closed space without windows and moist air only makes the job more depressing for everyone. If you can afford, rent/buy a space with many windows, preferably above the third floor. Most ground floor spaces get dusty really fast, and the outdoor view is almost non-existent in urban areas. If a little more money can buy a better space, go for it without a second thought. Your team will love gazing out of the window when they need a break.

Resources

Take care to supply anything the team needs on time. If the resources are not delivered on time, the team’s interest and energy will be lost. Readily available resources boost the team’s efficiency and willingness to do the work. Some of the common resources include work machines, tools, books, and stationery. In some cases, the resources might mean access to online subscriptions or information required to complete a task. It’s your job to make sure nobody is stuck because of the lack of supply of required resources.

It’s a good idea to have an easily accessible shelf stuffed with commonly needed tools in a physical office. In a virtual/cloud setup, a centralized place to request, track and return the resources goes a long way. For digital information sharing, you can set up a knowledge-base that is easily accessible to all your team members.

Life at Work

When a team member feels unsure about what goals they are trying to achieve, they may start questioning their worth in the company. Keep these things in mind to ensure maximum productivity.

Purpose

People want to feel valued and important in their workplace. They want to have a sense of purpose in their workplace and know that their contribution is making a difference. Having a sense of purpose can make your team members feel good about coming to work every day and motivates them to give their best effort. Having a sense of purpose boosts confidence to make the most significant impact in their work, and without purpose, your team may look incompetent and incomplete.

Clarity

People want clear instructions from their managers and supervisors to properly understand what things they are doing and what they need to do. Without proper guidelines, the team might get stuck in trivial jobs. They get confused about what they should be doing, and what they should not. Constant doubt and confusion make them slowly lose interest in their work. Clear instructions give them confidence, which also helps them feel comfortable enough to approach a co-worker or manager for help. When employees know what they should be doing at work, it clears confusion and meets defined expectations.

Trust

People are unable to take risks when they don’t have a feeling of being trusted. You should trust your team to complete their tasks responsibly and accept the consequences of their actions. The feeling of being responsible and trusted boost your team’s self-esteem and make them confident enough to take risks, innovate new ideas, and allows them to count on each other. If everyone in the team treats each other with respect, share ideas without enviousness, trust can be built within the workplace. This feeling will give team members the ability to work more effectively as a team rather than as individuals.

Recognition

People want to be recognized for the work they have done. Once in a while, you should take a moment to acknowledge the progress of your team members. It would help if you took care to praise outstanding work publicly and develop a culture of recognition. Identify people in your team who truly value the company’s goals and offer them something in return. It could either be a cash bonus or a cool new gadget as a token of appreciation.

Work-Life Balance

People don’t want to feel pressured since it disturbs their mental health and destroys their ability to think clearly. You need to ensure that your team members’ work-life balance is maintained. Staying late hours after work, taking a lot of stress, not taking breaks, and so on are some indications that you are putting a lot of pressure on your team. You can also practice peer-work in daily operations and make work more enjoyable. Short deadlines and constantly changing plans can make anyone feel pressured and shift their focus from work.

Vacations

Vacations are the key to relaxation. Giving breaks and vacations to your team will benefit everyone in the company. After a little break from work, people can refocus again on their work with more energy and more creativity. Their minds will be restored, and vacations also improve mental and physical health. Researchers have found that people who work and earn money would like to spend their money on vacation and tours rather than spending it on anything else. Continuous work and stress are also not good for mental health. Ask your team to take regular breaks from work, and offer paid leaves to go on at least a week-long vacation once a year.

A great workspace does not only make your team members happy, but it also helps you expand your team with ease. If you keep your team members happy, they will even recommend people in their circle to join.