Do you know the signs of a toxic work environment? Are your employees tired, discouraged, or burned out? If you see these symptoms in more than one or two employees, there’s a strong chance that a toxic culture may have entered your workplace. Unhappy workers are less productive, make more mistakes, and are more likely to seek employment somewhere else.
It’s important for your business to change this culture as quickly as possible. Here are five tips to turn your office around.
Tip 1: Identify Problem Behaviors
Keep an open mind and take a look around you. Before you can make any changes for the better, you have to face the uncomfortable truths around you. Be on the watch for: gossiping, aggressive bullying behavior, excessive absenteeism, illness or fatigue, unrealistic workloads or deadlines, or unsafe or morally questionable working conditions. Once you identify what problems your company is facing, it’s time to figure out how it happened.
Tip 2: Evaluate Leadership
Start at the top and examine your company’s leadership and they values they bring to the office. Then you work your way from the top of the corporate structure to the bottom. Be on the lookout for issues such as: discriminatory beliefs leading to imbalanced work policies and/or compensation; dehumanizing employees; information guarding causing poor communication and unclear expectations; aggressive or hostile leadership styles that create resentment and fear or lack of appreciation for or recognitions of good work.
Tip 3: Plan Your Repair Strategy
Now that you know what’s going on from the top down, you can strategize a treatment plan. It’s impossible to change everything at once, so set your priorities. Some important things to include in your plan:
- Listen to your employees. Hear their grievances and make the changes necessary to address their issues.
- Assign realistic workloads and deadlines. Know exactly what your employees do and how long it takes for them to do that work.
- Communicate transparently. Make sure your employees have all the information they need to do their jobs well.
- Acknowledge work well done. Appreciation is key to an employee’s happiness. Build a supportive work environment.
- Treat employees by the same rules. Make sure your policies do not unfairly benefit one group more than others.
Tip 4: Implement Your Plan
Your primary task is to help your employees see how the changes you’re proposing will deliver on that promise. Be prepared to say goodbye to any employees who will not support the new and improved corporate culture. Be willing to protect your new culture.
Tip 5: Reflect and Adapt
Give your policies time to work. Change always takes time. Take stock of where you are every few months and get different perspectives. Keep asking questions and change tactics when appropriate.