Are you worried about having an unhealthy office environment? It’s a common concern among those with leadership positions. However, most problems have solutions, although some may take more time than others.
Facts
It is important for leaders to quickly assess the signs of an unhealthy office environment. According to a statistic, at least 38 percent of employees state that toxicity at the workplace directly affects the quality of their work. On the other hand, the same statistic shows that at least 12 percent of the employees have left their job due to such conditions.
However, you can solve a problem without identifying it first.
We’ll help you identify the different signs of an unhealthy office environment for today’s article. This way, you can start planning your way towards a productive and supportive work environment where your employees are more than happy completing their daily tasks.
3 Common signs of an unhealthy office environment and their solutions
Poor leadership
According to a Randstad investigation, at least 60 percent of employees have left or have considered quitting their current jobs due to their supervisor.
Poor leadership has diverse causes, and some of them are the following:
- Micromanagement
- Overwork
- Lack of accountability
- Egocentrism
If you’re a leader and think you may have fallen into these behaviors, maybe it is time to reevaluate yourself. Identify your goals with the company and the team members are. If you can only think of things that have to do with you, perhaps you’re following the wrong way. You can also read more about work etiquettes.
Bad communication
When the members of a team are not communicating well, many problems will appear at the workplace. Communication skills are quite essential for any company, including remote teams.
We can enumerate infinite causes of poor communication. Instead of that, here we have some potential solutions to the problem:
- Clarify the communication channels available at the company, so each member of the team knows how to reach each other in case of a problem.
- Encourage assertive communication.
- Establish workplace boundaries.
- Give clear guidelines for the communication style your company follows. For instance, remote teams with workers from different countries may take advantage of an asynchronous communication style.
Please note that the changes won’t take place from one day to the next. It will take time for the whole team to get used to the new communication guidelines in your company.
Harmful employees
Most workplaces have dealt with harmful employees from time to time. Whether they like to gossip or are power-thirsty, there are diverse ways to assess these issues and keep your workplace as healthy as possible for the rest of the team.
- If you’ve already identified the problematic employee, perhaps you can talk to them directly and kindly ask them what’s happening. If you find that there might be solutions to the problem, go on and implement them. If not, maybe it is time to let them go.
- Sometimes, coaching can help someone identify their behaviors and change them. It is impossible to remove a habit, but it’s possible to change them for healthier ones. Some people only need a little “push” to reach that.
Taking into account these reasons can help you build a productive work environment where everyone is accountable for their actions and happy to contribute to the team.
