Cultivating a Good Office Culture

This post was originally featured on AriMonkarsh.com

You’ve probably heard that the average human being spends one-third of their life sleeping. So how do we make sure that we’re getting the most out of our sleep? We buy an expensive, adjustable mattress, we shell out money for pillows from Sweden and we take all the necessary precautions to insomnia-proof our rooms–blackout curtains, dim alarm clock, white noise generator, the works.

So what about other parts of your life? Where do you think you spend most of your time? What do you think is the one place that might matter most for the sake of your mental well-being?

Your first thought would probably be your house–maybe your living room or den, more specifically. We do, after all, come home from work every day to our living room, relax on the couch and flick on the TV for a few hours before retiring to bed.

But what about the one place we spent eight or nine hours every weekday for years? That’s right–your office.

Cultivating an atmosphere in your audience that is both beneficial to work and conducive to employee morale remaining high is incredibly important in the grand scheme of things. So how do we create such an environment?

Lead by Example, not By Fear

Do you consider yourself to be a boss, or do you consider yourself to be a leader? If you’re running the office like a totalitarian regime, it might be time to dial it back a bit. The best bosses don’t lead their employees by intimidation or by sparking fear of being terminated in their minds. Instead, they help to motivate their employees and guide them towards success, not just demand that they hit certain milestones.

Open Yourself to Compliments…and Criticism

Everyone loves being told they’re good at their job. On the other hand, few are able to deal with criticism. Make sure that This goes for the management and the employees wherever you work. Opening up a two-way channel of communication between employees and management allows for critiques and corrections to be exchanged fluidly and smoothly. If someone at the office thinks that there is a better way to handle a problem they should be happy to share the idea with his or her fellow employees.

By creating a culture that revolves around an open flow of communication, employees will be more relaxed and easygoing, which will allow for a much more welcoming atmosphere.

Make It Relaxing

A relaxed employee is a happy employee, and a happy employee is a hard working employee who will enjoy coming to work. By nature, office work can be stressful. Really, any work can be stressful, but looking at the same cubicle wall day after day can come close to driving a man or woman insane. So liven up the office.

Make sure the office is well-lit. Dim lighting can give an air of prison, which is not particularly conducive to hard-work and fun. Having an office that has comfortable seating, a well stocked and well-furnished break room and doesn’t closely resemble Cell Block A will make the employees at any business enjoy coming to work much more than the alternate.

Unless it interferes directly, let employees listen to music. Essentially, make work a place where people can get work done without constantly being on the verge of a mental breakdown.