Like building a sturdy home, a solid foundation is the first step in creating any successful business or organization. Your organization must be founded upon a culture that facilitates a healthy working environment for its employees. Failure to establish essential fundamentals of the workplace culture often leads to employees questioning their own importance and developing counterproductive work habits.
Various studies have demonstrated the importance of a company’s work culture and its employees’ performance. The culture in which employees work will profoundly affect mindset, which will ultimately influence productivity.
The Importance of Motivation.
When employees feel that their position within their organization is integral to its success, they are far more likely to take on an invested role. Unfortunately, organizations often report that their employees do not think that their performance is integral to their success.
Overly Competitive Work Environments.
While likely in the pursuit of creating a solid work ethic, curating an excessively competitive atmosphere in the workplace may likely end up turning the focus of the employees onto each other instead of their responsibility to their employer. As authors Emma Seppala and Kim Cameron from the Harvard Business Review write, “a large and growing body of research on positive organizational psychology demonstrates that not only is a cut-throat environment harmful to productivity over time, but that a positive environment will lead to dramatic benefits for employers, employees, and the bottom line.
Engagement Among Employees Is Key.
Positions held by employees who feel invested in their employer’s success are less likely to experience turnover. Is employee engagement something your company is measuring, and do employees feel interested in what they are doing? Answering these questions is vital to a productive work environment, especially since businesses that have engaged employees see an increase in productivity and a reduction in absenteeism.
Creating a culture that facilitates a healthy work environment for its employees can be difficult, but it can be done. If you have any questions or would like to speak with a team member to discuss how to improve your company’s work culture, please feel free to contact us.
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Sources:
https://brandongaille.com/17-employee-motivation-statistics-and-trends/
https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2016/10/06/3-how-americans-view-their-jobs/
Gallup’s State of the American Workplace report
https://hbr.org/2015/12/proof-that-positive-work-cultures-are-more-productive