According to a recent study on workplace environments, the physical environment an employee works in has a direct impact on their performance. About half of employees believe that their current workplace is not adequate for optimal performance.
Creating an environment maximizing the performance of employees’ can be low-hanging fruit for employers, leaders, and managers. Small and instant changes can help your business to work and to grow. Here are important employee workplace factors that can help employee performance.
- Chemical cleaners that contain toxic chemicals can cause adverse allergic reactions in some people. You can avoid this issue by using cleaning products that are made from natural ingredients. You could also look at hiring a cleaning crew that uses environmentally friendly cleaning methods. Allergic reactions could also occur due to mold growth, which should be solved quickly. If you complete your OSHA certification online, this will be covered.
- Stress and problems at work can cause mental health issues or aggravate existing ones. It is important to consider your staff workload. Ensure that they are not working more hours than is healthy. Also, check that there is no workplace bullying going on.
- Damaged wires and electrical equipment can create electrical dangers that raise the risk of fire and electrocution. You should also employ a professional electrical contractor to perform any repairs or improvements to your electrical system. This will keep everybody safe.
- Objects that are placed on high shelves or in other raised spaces and not properly secured may end up falling and causing severe bodily harm to your workers. Damaged ceilings and other areas of your building could also collapse and hurt staff members. Securing items in high-up places safely and keeping up with the maintenance work to keep the building safe will be beneficial for you and your employees.
- Slippery floors throughout your building could present slipping and falling risks that could lead to broken bones, concussions, and other serious injuries. It is advisable to put warning signs on floors that are slippery from cleaning or liquids that have come in from outside your building. If, because of the purpose of your business, your floors are often slick, you should recommend that your staff wear shoes with slip-resistant soles.
- When designing the office, you want to focus on preventing big productivity killers that will distract employees from doing their work. You want them to focus on “doing the right things right”. Depending on the business, you want to know the impact of an open workspace or one with dividers. If collaboration is important, then having an open workspace may help productivity. If completing tasks without distractions or background noises is important, then having separate work spaces may be more ideal. You may need to experiment and see what the optimal workplace setup is.
- In addition to creating your workplace to be more conducive to productivity, make sure you balance it out with Workplace Safety & Health. All businesses have a general duty to provide work and a workplace free from recognized, serious hazards. Assign someone as the safety officer. He or she should continuously check and potential safety hazards such as updating fire extinguishers and clear fire exits of any obstructions. The goal is to be proactive and prevent safety mishaps from occurring at all. Need help? Hire professionals to inspect the area to help spot potential hazards. They can help protect areas such as the roof of your building with roof coating systems to any large machinery or equipment you use.
- Recent studies show that different generations (millennials, baby boomers, Y-generation, etc.) have different work habits. Based on your employee age group, what is the optimal way to arrange it so it suits their work style? Do you allow them to personalize their space? Do they want plants, windows, and sunlight, or do they prefer a very austere environment? How about room temperature?
- When you are designing your office, simple things such as commercial flooring companies can help safety, durability, and the aesthetics of an office. Even a simple plant or changing out light bulbs for different color temperatures can have a big impact on employee productivity.
- Another large aspect of an employee workspace is the location of the bathroom, break room, and the stock room. If employees need to go to the stockroom often, you may want to arrange it in such a way to optimize their travel time. If the business is a restaurant or coffee shop like Starbucks, you want the workplace to allow for easy access to the products and machines they need to make the food or coffee. This can increase productivity by helping them save time, by ritualizing the work environment to best suit the job duties.