3 Tips for Ensuring a Healthy Workplace

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If you’re running a creative business, and are employing staff members, you might prefer to have a nuanced, flexible, and “organic” workplace and office culture, as opposed to the strict and hyper-competitive hierarchy commonly associated with the business world.

A key factor in establishing this kind of working environment is taking steps to ensure a healthy workplace. That is, a workplace where people are physically and emotionally healthy, and are free from health conditions brought about as a consequence of the workplace itself.

Here are just a few tips for ensuring a healthy workplace.

 

  • Have the building audited by experts on a regular basis, and patched up if there’s any sign of structural trouble

 

Generally, you will be obliged to have certain regular safety checks conducted by trained professionals, on at least an annual basis or so. Gas safety checks, for example, will follow this template in many countries.

If you suspect that there may be creeping issues developing in the structure of your workplace, however, it could be a good idea to regularly bring additional experts in to audit the place and assess its healthiness.

There are many things that could happen in a workplace that can make it physically unhealthy for the people who spend their days there. It might be that dangerously eroded asbestos is discovered, in which case you need to get in touch with a safe asbestos testing and removal company in a hurry.

It can also be the case that stagnant water in your air conditioning system leads to an outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease.

If in doubt, get your workplace checked out.

 

  • Have a system in place to record and review employee feedback on their workplace experience and concerns

 

Many employees may well suffer in silence if they are dissatisfied with the culture, or environment, of their office – partly due to a desire to not rock the boat, and partly due to fears that they will be ostracised or looked on poorly.

Of course, it’s not possible for you to maintain a healthy workplace, if you don’t have systems in place to record and review employee feedback on a regular basis.

Depending on how you want to go about things, this feedback system could be anonymous, or not. But you should ensure that the people who work for you feel free to come forward and voice their concerns.

 

  • Set a positive and accountable example via your own leadership, to contribute to a healthier office culture

 

The leader of any business will naturally have a major impact on the general workplace culture that develops and thrives within that business.

If you get in the habit of passing the buck, being hyper-confrontational with your subordinates, and placing unreasonable expectations on the people work for you, it stands to reason that that pattern of behaviour will trickle down the chain of command, and contaminate the entire environment.

By contrast, it’s often been commented on that leaders who adopt a lot of personal accountability, and who “lead from the front,” contribute to a significantly healthier and more robust company culture.

The buck stops with you – so set a positive and accountable example via your own leadership.

Vinh Van Lam
the authorVinh Van Lam
Vinh Van Lam, co-founder of ArtSHINE, is a visionary art coach and entrepreneur with a passion for fostering creativity. With a diverse background in art and business, he brings a unique perspective to empower emerging artists, enabling them to thrive in the dynamic art industry through the innovative platform of ArtSHINE.

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