As many companies transition back to working in-person at the office, many employees are hesitant about this decision. While there are cons to working remotely, there are plenty of pros that will be hard to let go of.
To make your team feel comfortable with returning to the office, here are a few ways to create a healthy work environment:
1. Prioritize Air Quality
You and your team will be spending a great deal of time inside the office. Therefore, it only makes sense to ensure that the indoor air quality is top-notch.
Although you may not have control over outdoor air and related risk factors (such as air pollution and other various pollutants), you do have a say in providing a safe indoor environment. This is especially helpful for employees who may have asthma, lung disease, or respiratory infections.
Here are a few ways to help eliminate indoor air pollution:
Make sure your air conditioner is working properly. An AC is one of the best ways to stay cool indoors, but it can contribute to poor indoor air if it isn’t cleaned or updated. Ensure everything looks good by having an appliance company (such as Del-Air) do a consultation or check-up.
Include plants as part of your office decor. There are plenty of benefits and positive health effects from keeping plants indoors: it improves focus, increases creativity, and helps to improve indoor air quality. Plus, plants are gorgeous to look at and will help brighten up the office scene.
2. Online Courses
If there’s one lesson we learned from the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s that employees can do a lot of work at home. But, even more so, there’s a preference to work remotely. This extends to training, too.
Nearly every company has some standard training that’s required of its employees and staff. Unless there are courses that demand the instructor or educator meet their respective learners in person, it’s pretty convenient to take care of the training online.
Instead of holding an in-person training (that will likely take a great deal of time to work through as a group), it would be ideal to use an online training platform, such as Lambda. An online course platform is perfect to use in this case. You can save yourself the headache of conducting in-person training through individual courses, quizzes, and various assignments.
Plus, with an online learning platform, there’s also the option for your team to find new online courses through the course creator factor. Whether it’s graphic design, data science, or management system for consumer products, one of the best online learning platforms will be able to provide all the training and teaching.
3. Provide Personal Care Products
This is a small but incredibly important way to upgrade your office space (er, office bathroom). For those of us who experience menstrual cycles, we know how big of a headache (and nausea, and dizziness, and other discomforts) they can cause us.
It’s a great idea to keep an ample supply of menstrual care products for anyone who menstruates. It’ll provide a sense of relief and comfort to know that you don’t have to run out (while likely in pain) to get the necessary products.
Instead, they’ll just have to duck into the bathroom for a galore of assistance: pads, tampons, painkillers, and related products.
While this gesture won’t take the discomfort of cramps entirely away, it will help alleviate the pain.
4. Implement Acknowledgement Circles
Most humans like to be recognized and praised for the work that they do. This is likely also the case for your team.
As an entrepreneur, you’re responsible for running a business and creating a healthy, positive work environment. An easy exercise to use for your team is to have acknowledgment circles.
Acknowledgment circles are when your team members get to praise each other for their respective work. As a team member, it feels good to receive this type of shout-out.
This type of continuous positive feedback will inspire your team to create phenomenal work for your company.
5. Complimentary Snacks and Drinks
One of the major perks of remote working is that many people were able to save a great deal of money by eating at home. Now that office culture is returning, people may be wary of how they’re spending their money on food while out of the house.
Having a well-stocked supply of office snacks and drinks is a convenient and considerate way to improve your office. If you do decide to keep complimentary snacks and drinks on hand, it’s a great idea to do a survey or poll over which food and beverages would be preferred and determine any dietary restrictions.