In 2021, over 24 million US workers quit their jobs and according to various studies and analyses, the biggest reason for that mass migration was ‘toxic workplace cultures’.
This means that more and more businesses are beginning to pay closer attention to their business workplace culture to help cut back on employee turnover and improve job satisfaction.
However, this isn’t the case for every business – so here is a guide to how you can start actively encouraging a better workplace culture at your business rather than letting it passively die under your watch!
Check out the guide below and take note!
What Is A Passive Culture?
According to LinkedIn, an active workplace culture is when the employees and management are actively trying to create a type of positive atmosphere in the workplace.
This means that a passive culture is the opposite – the workplace where everyone is unproductive and unmotivated, and everyone has a kind of ‘meh’ attitude.
A passive culture can overtime increase in toxicity and as the boss, it’s your job to ensure your business’s culture remains active and lively to help keep your employees happy and productive. So, how can you stop passivity in your workplace from killing its culture?
Follow the steps below for some bright inspiration!
Start Recognizing And Rewarding Employees
A popular method for encouraging a positive culture at your workplace is to start recognizing employees for their efforts and introducing rewards for things like hitting targets, going above and beyond to help customers or clients, good attendance, milestones, etc.
This is because a lot of employees in various surveys have stated that reward and recognition actively impact their job satisfaction. In one report, 69% of employees said that more recognition at work would encourage them to stay at their current job.
Another study found that 37% of respondents believed that recognition had an impact on their job satisfaction and motivation – the largest result compared to other responses like ‘increase salary’ (7%) and ‘more autonomy’ (12%).
So, it’s clear that rewards and recognition are important to employees, and you should start introducing a culture of recognition at your business.
If you don’t and you just let fantastic work and effort go without notice, then you will find your workplace’s culture slipping into one that is unmotivated and low in productivity.
Don’t passively stand by whenever an employee does something great – recognize them verbally, reward them, and this will encourage others in the workplace to start recognizing others too!
Improve Employee Onboarding
Properly introducing your new employee to the business is a great way to encourage a more active, positive culture at work. This works for many different reasons.
The first is that a proper employee onboarding experience will help improve new employee productivity. A big cause of passive cultures is that employees don’t really understand their role or what their company does, so they are not as invested in their work.
Businesses that introduce a structured onboarding process generally see a 60% year-over-year improvement when it comes to revenue – so a better onboarding process can motivate your employees and improve their productivity!
A good employee onboarding process can also improve workplace communication and reduce feelings of loneliness or isolation, especially if the work is remote. 47% of businesses use a buddy program for onboarding new employees so they have a familiar face to reach out to and communicate with.
Of those 47% of businesses, 87% also found that assigning a mentor to new employees saw an increase in the new employee’s efficiency too!
Encourage Breaks
This point may seem counterintuitive but encouraging your staff and employees to take regular breaks can actually improve their productivity and satisfaction over time.
Passive workplace culture can quickly lead into a seriously toxic, stressful workplace culture where managers are pressuring employees to meet targets and deadlines without tackling the issues surrounding motivation.
Instead, this just increases the burn-out your employees are feeling – and this can contribute to them leaving the role entirely.
So, you don’t want to overwork your employees but you want them to feel more motivated and productive. The answer? More breaks!
Studies have shown that 90% of US employees believe that a break makes them feel more ‘refreshed’ and ‘ready’ to return to work. So, by making sure your employees have that dedicated time to relax, scroll through their phones and eat their lunch, they are less likely to do it on the clock.
Not only that but this can provide your employees with a chance for social interaction to help them get to know one another and work better as a team in the future.
To help encourage your employees to take breaks, revamp the break room so it’s somewhere your employees actually enjoy being.
Start a walking club or stretch club so your employees can bond together and keep active, and let the company pay to add snacks and drinks like fresh fruit and coffee (see also “What Is A Barista?“).
Final Thoughts
Passivity can completely kill your business’s workplace culture.
It is the result of unmotivated, uninspired workers who do not understand the purpose of their work or feel like they cannot communicate with others for support or help.
Other employees may think ‘what’s the point of it all?’ because their efforts are not rewarded or recognized, so they don’t feel the need to put in more effort.
Overall, this can tank your business’s productivity and seriously damage your reputation and profits. It’s no good to just stand by and watch your employees complete meaningless task after task – you need to fire up your employees and get them feeling motivated.
Follow the simple steps above to help reduce passivity in your workplace culture. An onboarding program can help new employees understand their tasks and roles, while a rewards and recognition system can give employees a sense of achievement whenever they do some outstanding work.
Remember to take breaks so your employees can have the chance to talk to one another about something other than work!
If you do this, you will be actively encouraging a better workplace culture!
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