10 Signs of a Positive Workplace

Happy workplaces are a myth.

If recent statistics released by the State of the Global Workplace are anything to go by, only 13% of respondents are happy at their workplace.

Why are work areas considered a den of despair?

How do you identify a healthy work environment?

Allow us at Cleverism to illustrate signs of a flourishing and harmonious workplace.

10 SIGNS THAT DEMONSTRATE A PRODUCTIVE AND POSITIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT

A happy workplace nurtures talent and promotes camaraderie between colleagues. It’s a blissful place where top quality services and product excellence are achieved daily.

No micromanaging bosses.
No negative gossip.
Just pure productivity and team empowerment.

But can such a fantasy truly exist beyond the depths of our desires?

Of course, they do. However, a happy workplace is more than just a relaxed atmosphere for the average employee.

A positive workplace exhibits certain signs like the ones listed below.

1. A Positive Workplace Promotes Fearlessness

That’s right. There’s no reason to fear the wrath of your managers or feel discouraged by the harsh words of your boss.

A fear-based workplace causes employees to work without the ability to express themselves openly. No ideas are shared around and there is less chance of innovative collaboration between coworkers.

A work environment that encourages its team members to share their ideas openly and discuss matters without fear of repercussions from a senior member is truly a wonderland.

In 2018’s World Economic Forum, CEOs from around the world confessed that a positive workplace is of utmost importance in the modern world. Creating the right environment for your employees to come up with creative ideas is critical in shaping business growth strategies.

IBM Studios have restructured their work studios to host collaborative areas for their employees to come up with fresh ideas and brainstorm during coffee sessions.

The president of Carnegie Mellon University, Farnam Haniam believes that the future belongs to those that allow cross-functional teams to tackle issues and promote innovation. Gone are the days where companies could rule using the fear ideology.

Imagine this verbal exchange.

Senior Manager: “Jennifer, you’re late by 20 minutes. This is completely unacceptable. You have absolutely no sense of punctuality. In the coming days, if you’re caught coming late, we’ll cut it from your monthly wages or worse, fire you!”

Wow! We do feel for poor Jennifer. That heated exchange is sure to demoralize her for the entire day.

Could the manager have done something better to improve her overall punctuality without sounding harsh?

Maybe set up an incentive system to reward employees that show up on time for the entire month?

Or create an office rule for every employee to work overtime to make up for the lost time.

These methods promote healthy behavior in employees without the risk of them feeling vulnerable and fearful for their jobs.

2. A Positive Workplace is Goal-Oriented

Everyone from the newest recruit up to the CEO is invested in achieving the company goals. A positive workplace is where everyone believes in their organization and works with their best efforts forward to reach their individual goals.

These goals aren’t just long-term but everyday ones. When people are excited about arriving to work and proceed to immediately work on their daily milestones, the workplace is lit up with a bright light of positivity emanating from every person working.

There are happy and serious faces all around and at the end of the day, the company moves forward towards success with every bit of contribution coming in from a positive workforce.

Strong signs that demonstrate whether employees are goal-oriented are.

• Every employee in the workplace holds themselves accountable and doesn’t blame others
• Employees assist and support other coworkers
• Employees aren’t afraid to speak their mind out to their managers and bosses
• Employees always meet their deadlines
• Employees are open to taking on new challenges

A positive workplace is an environment where coworkers are happy to take on new changes and adapt to the challenges undertaken by the organization.

3. In a Positive Workplace, Every Employee Matters

If a workplace values a few employees over others, there’s sure to be internal warfare between the coworkers.

Let’s perform the following mental exercise to demonstrate the importance of respecting every employee.

Close your eyes and visualize your company as a giant tree that is held together by the root.

Each tendril of the root is represented by an employee, each tendril is equally important, whether lengthy or short.

Now imagine the branches of the tree to be various goals established over the years. Imagine every fruit that springs at the end of the branch signifying the profits achieved every season.

Do you think the tree can withstand itself during a rough storm without a strong root to hold it in place? Will the tree be able to sprout fruits without the branches?

Certainly not!

Positive work culture is where every individual’s voice has the same clarity without bias creeping in.

A positive work environment is a fair and impartial zone. Men and women must receive the same level of respect without discrimination.

According to a report by Ultimate Software, 75% of employees prefer to stay in an organization that actively listens to their feedback and addresses their personal issues. Another report by Businessolver shows an overwhelming 93% of employees are likely to stay with an empathetic employer.

The following 2 verdicts make it clear that employees desire value and individuality without regard to gender and race.

A good sign of a positive workplace is when every employee is heard and provided the same treatment as the rest.

4. A Positive Workplace Recognizes and Rewards Commitment

Imagine working for a boss that can’t be appeased. Every day you give your best efforts but it always falls short, leaving you with criticism and mockery.

A workplace that pushes its employees above and beyond with no words of encouragement is more or less a prison.

When you don’t get appreciated enough, you become less proactive and lose interest in your job.

A survey supports this thinking where 1 in 4 employees don’t have the motivation to continue working due to negative criticism received from seniors despite their best efforts put forward.

Organizations could improve the overall mood in the workplace by following a few tips below.

• Tracking individual progress of every employee and rewarding them for their hard work
• Making the effort to communicate and bolster weakened morale
• Praising workforce to commit towards a common goal and sharing the success
• Explanation of how individual roles are important to the company’s success
• Rewarding the most productive employees of the company by recognizing their efforts in front of the entire team
• Motivating everyone with positive quotes
• Hosting birthday parties
• Celebrating a major milestone

Small actions do wonders.

A positive workplace is a place for positivity along with constructive criticism to develop personal skills.

5. A Positive Workplace Offers Growth Opportunities

Stuck in the same job role for over 2+ years?

Job stagnation is a real threat to your career.

Without consciously knowing, it’s easy to become comfortable in your job role only to realize that your peers in other companies have moved far ahead in knowledge and pay upgrades.

Leaving you with frustration and outdated trends.

Signs of a stagnating workplace include.

No Progress in Knowledge

Every company strives for success and gaining knowledge is an outcome of that drive.

As an employee, if you’ve been working with the same methods for over a year, it’s time to move out of your company. Outdated techniques make you obsolete on the job market if you stick around long enough.

No Salary Raise

Often positive companies reward their employees with a bonus or commission on their sales. If your salary sheet reads the same 5 digits at the end of every month, there are no prizes for guessing that you’re in a toxic workplace.

No Promotional Opportunities

When was the last time any of your coworkers were promoted? If the answer is – ‘Not sure’ or ‘Never’, it’s clear that your workplace doesn’t offer enough favorable opportunities to grow.

Being promoted is a sense of recognition and failing to do so demonstrates a lack of intent.

No Challenges

Do you enter your workplace and let out a nice long yawn?

A boring workplace isn’t a positive one and with no challenges to pursue, chances are your coworkers aren’t delighted to show up to work.

A positive workplace promotes fresh ideas, brainstorming sessions, and an increase in workload to challenge the team while compensating efforts.

6. A Positive Workplace Supports Each Other

When entering your workplace, ever have the strange feeling of being transported to your high school and reminded of the school bully?

If your coworkers are mean and your senior managers are hostile towards you, chances are the company’s work culture isn’t ideal to support each other.

A positive workplace is built on values, trust, and friendship. If you haven’t made a single work friend since joining your new workplace, it demonstrates the poor support network that is endorsed.

Working in a negative environment drains you of precious positive energy and that’s why it’s important to immediately look for the warning signs such as –

• The discriminatory attitude from your coworkers
• Senior managers not taking complaints seriously
• Extremely aggressive leadership qualities
• Coworkers lack accountability while blaming each other
• Resentment or jealousy when colleagues are promoted
• Negative gossip around the workplace

If your workplace shows any of the above signs, plan for an exit before you become a part of the toxic workgroup.

 7. A Positive Workplace Promotes Hygiene and Health Safety

Personal hygiene is an important affair to measure how a company values work culture.

When a company maintains clean surroundings and promotes the use of good hygiene practices, you’re assured that the workplace is a positive work environment.

A tidy workplace is essential to make admirable first impressions and maintain a respectable position for visiting clients.

Ask yourself the following questions to see if your workplace meets the right hygienic standards.

• Does your workplace have natural light coming in?
• Are the windows cleaned every day?
• What about the restrooms? Are they clean and provide all the mandatory sanitary products?
• Is the workplace scented with air fresheners?
• Do your coworkers maintain a high standard of cleanliness?
• Does your company force people to report even if they’ve called in sick?
• Are the pantry and cafeteria products fresh and changed often?
• Are there multiple fire exit points? Does the safety team perform mock drill tests to verify the fire safety equipment?

These questions demonstrate whether your office maintains health and safety standards or not.

Coworkers that follow basic hygienic methods such as

• Washing their hands with moisturizers after using the restroom
• Utilizing paper cups to reduce plastic usage
• Sanitize hands before shaking hands with others to prevent transferring germs

These positive habits promote a healthy work-culture and prevent everyone in the office from falling sick as well as prevents accidents such as wet floors.

A positive workplace is one that invests in the comfort of their coworkers to provide them with a comfortable experience.

8. A Positive Workplace offers Ideal Work-Life Balance

Remember work-life balance?

You’ve probably forgotten what it’s like to have a good work-life balance when dealing with your micromanaging boss.

A research conducted by Susanna Shagvaliyeva in the importance of work-life balance has demonstrated positive results. Some of the statistics include –

• Boosted productivity rate by employees
• Decreased stress and reduced sick leave
• Increased positive family relationships and social bonding among peers
• Higher profits recorded
• Increased mental wellbeing

It’s a win-win situation for the organization and the coworkers.

So, the big question – “Why don’t more companies follow a flexible work-life balance?”

The answer is because companies believe that workload hours translate to profitability.

In fact, the Harvard Business Review reports that while companies see a boost in productivity from their overworked employees, it’s short-lived.

In the long run, the concept of overworking backfires because it promotes negative emotions within the workforce – greed, envy, anger, arrogance, etc. Many employees won’t be motivated to give their best and the profitability slows down.

The formula is simple – Happy employees = Increased profits.

If you find yourself desiring more time away from work, maybe your workplace isn’t following any positive tactics.

9. A Positive Workplace Enforces Employee Development Programs

Knowledge is the warm rye bread that our brains crave ever so often.

When a workplace denies its employees with learning opportunities, you’re left with dated techniques. Employees are a key part of the company and when a company hosts training programs and creative workshops, the entire organization flourishes.

Benefits of knowledge development in employees include –

1. Employee Retention

When employees receive training programs and free knowledge, they turn loyal to the company and utilize enhanced knowledge to improve the company. This boosts productivity and in time, profits will follow.

2. Empowerment

Knowing that a company invests in its future is enough to create future leaders by empowering your employees.

These leaders will further lead the company to new heights and in turn, create a cycle of empowerment for the younger generation.

3. Positive Work Culture

Undoubtedly, providing training programs is an exciting time for all employees to learn something new.

Employees engage in discussions among themselves and promote knowledge growth in a company. In short, your employees gain improved satisfaction when bonding with peers.

That’s not all. A positive workplace assists employees to improve their soft skills.

Over 80% of professionals in the U.S. and Canada believe that knowledge development is a top priority for organizations to invest in.

Employees are more than happy to learn these programs on their own time without cutting into the company’s time. For this, digital learning is an excellent platform allowing employees to access knowledge at any time.

10. A Positive Workplace Makes You a Better Person with Values

Ever had a moment when your friend or acquaintance exclaimed – “One of my biggest career mistakes was leaving that company, it gave me everything and now I am stuck in hell.”

A positive workplace forever changes your values and your commitment to your profession. Everything that you learn forever changes you and makes you a better person.

Let’s understand some of the positive organizational values to learn.

• Honesty – When you don’t fear your workplace, you simply embrace its honest approach. Positive workplaces are a breeding ground of integrity and good relationships. Interacting with the right people gives you a sense of trust.
• Confidence – Among the values you gain, being extra confident about yourself and your abilities is something you learn working with positive attitudes. Companies that let their employees make mistakes and take risks are the ones that reap the positive image.
• Loyalty – The greatest trait for an employee towards their company is loyalty. It’s an internal emotion that gives back the trust and recognition that you learned from your workplace. Employees that have worked together in a positive environment are extremely likely to remain friends and network in the future.
• Accountability – A positive workplace allows you to be responsible instead of being fearful of the repercussions. There’s no blame game and your coworkers respect each other. Dependability is an important core value to cherish.
• Motivation – The motivation to live independently. The motivation to unleash your talent. The motivation to learn and grow. A positive workplace instills these values by providing a safe and supportive work environment for its employees.

All of these values are lifechanging and you lose out on these elements by choosing the wrong workplace. That’s why it’s important to take charge of the place you work in and notice the signs given in this writeup to make a positive career change today.

CONCLUSION

Working in a constructive environment is a dream come true for many individuals. But how do you find out which workplace is ideal for you?

By following the signs in this article of course!

Remember, a negative workplace thrives on fear and a positive one builds on trust. What does your gut feeling tell you?

The answer is quite clear.

Do you work in an aggressive environment or are you among the lucky ones to tick all 10 signs listed here? Comment and let us know.