Harmony In The Workplace: How It’s Done

Creating a harmonious work environment can be pretty challenging. There are multiple things which can stop you and your workforce from being at your most productive. Each industry differs of course, and beyond this each person will run their business in a different way. You need to find out what makes your employees tick and what gives them that self belief that they can do a top quality job. Harmony plays a huge part in that. If your team can be happy and harmonious in what they do and how they do it then they’re going to be more productive. Productivity ensures that they can do the job to the best possible standard meaning your customers and clients get good quality work so they come back time and time again. So, harmony may sound strange, but it can lead to more sales, happier customers and employees who really want to be in the office.

Focus On An Outdoor Space

Sure, you want to make sure the indoor is in a good state of repair but having an outdoor space can really make a difference. If you live somewhere that has nice weather most of the year you really want to be making the most of it. Building an outside space for your employees to relax on break or to even work from can really make the working day a bit easier. Perhaps you want to work on a good decking area where people can sit, in which case you can find decking suppliers here, perhaps you’d rather a patio area. If the sun is pretty strong where you are make sure that you get parasols or ensure the seating area is out of direct sunlight. You might want to make it a nice place to be. Ornamentation, statues, flowers can all add to the area. You can even get your workforce involved in it if you want to. A nice break from work, you can treat it as a team building exercise and it’s certainly something they’d appreciate. After all, they’re the ones who are going to be enjoying it. Having them feeling involved ensures that they know you care, and that you want the best from them. Even if they don’t have much input, the gesture counts.

Focus On The Internet Connection

It needs to be good. You know slow internet can absolutely kill good work output. You need to ensure it’s good enough for the work you’re trying to do. If the internet is too slow, or if it drops out often from time to time then it’s going to break the harmony in the office space. Also, it becomes unfair if your benchmarking them against work completed by other people who had a good connection on another day. It’ll simply create bad feelings in certain individuals. So, ensure that you have got a great internet connection. This can be fixed by buying wifi boosters, especially if some computers are far away from the router. Or, you can try plugging them in so they’re directly attached to the router with an ethernet cable. It’ll always be a lot speedier if you go down this route. It might be that you have to bite the bullet and get a better speed. Call them and fix it. Perhaps there’s something wrong and the provider can address the problem. If you are looking to upgrade to a faster speed you might be better off asking a different provider for a better deal. It’s worth comparing.

Don’t Ask Them To Go Too Far Beyond

Asking colleagues to reach up in some ways is great. You’ll stretch them, give them a challenge and ensure that they’re always learning. It also gives them a chance to push for promotion. However, sometimes you can ask too much. Take finding different selling platforms. Ensuring your products sell from different locations is extremely hard. Think about amazon, ebay, etc. There are real marketing agencies which do this for a living. Asking them to do this is asking them to learn a whole new skill. Sure, if they want to, and you can provide the manpower, then go for it. Otherwise, you’d be better off using experts to help you get it over the line. Be respectful. Remember, you own the business. You have a vested interest in pumping excessive amounts of hours into it. You can’t expect the same from everyone else. Quite simply, they don’t care as much. Consider what you’re paying them, and ensure that what you’re asking them to do is proportionate. Doing the opposite promotes bad feelings. If you think you’re asking too much, try to gauge their reaction, and if they do a good job, you’d better make sure that you reward it to the right degree. Otherwise next time, they won’t do the same.

Allow Flexibility

Flexibility is the new norm. Only antiquated businesses demand their employees stay at their desks 9-5 these days. Sure, some have no choice. If they’re a store, or a school, they have natural opening hours. However, offices are different. If the work you do can be done at variable times, then you should allow your employees to work when they want. As long as the work is getting done, and to a high standard, it doesn’t really matter. You can allow them to come into work on their own schedule, so long as they do the right amount of hours. They can make appointments at awkward times, drop their kids to school and pick them up, decide to lay in one day and work later the next. Flexibility is the way forward. Allowing them to work from home is a great step in the right direction. They’ll be relaxed at home and allow them to eschew getting ready and the commute. Look at coronavirus. Which businesses do you think had the better chance of success? Those who allowed people to work from home, or those who didn’t? Those who did had people go home and hit the ground running. Minimal disruption to business operation.