Work Environment

Breakroom Exercise

A healthy workplace is one where both employees and management work together to promote healthy actions and behaviors to keep everyone safe and well.

Review the listed actions for leadership and employees that create a positive, trusting, and healthy work environment. Discuss areas you feel are the strengths and weaknesses and add other actions you can think of that would or do create a healthy work environment. Employees will fill in the form to anonymously share the strengths and weaknesses of leadership and employees. Leadership will review submissions to be aware of what’s working and decide what areas they want to address for improvement.

Leadership actions that create a positive/trusting/healthy work environment:

• Acknowledge an employee’s work performance as quality due to their ability to complete tasks in a timely manner and the work is measurably up to standards, not by judging their performance as being right or wrong due to how you would do it.

• Express your appreciation to your employees.

• Have regular check-ins.

• Encourage team support and/or collaboration.

• Be warm and welcoming to everyone.

  • Use polite and professional language.

  • Demonstrate respect for one another.

  • Be aware of team members and customer needs.

• Build connections.

  • Get to know your employees. If you approach or reach out to them regularly instead of when there is an issue, they’ll be more comfortable with your presence.

  • Ensure employees have what they need to efficiently perform their responsibilities.

  • Leave your door open as much as possible to not close yourself off but create a welcoming environment.

  • Employees may contact you through your preferred method of communication

  • You respond to employees voicemails and emails

• Have humility, you’re a leader who’s also human, no one expects you to be perfect and know everything.

  • Be honest if you make a mistake.

  • Be honest if you don’t have all the answers.

• Celebrate. Let employees have fun together.

  • Have annual events and/or monthly celebrations.

• Allow employees to tastefully personalize their workspace if it makes them feel more comfortable.

• Set clear expectations to ensure employees can proficiently perform tasks.

• Provide flexible work arrangements

  • Reduce the rate of absenteeism if employees have times they need to work remotely for child care, adult care, mental health conditions, etc.

• Be fair when assigning tasks.

  • Are you giving everyone a chance to exhibit their skills or are the same employees being perceived as the only ones who can successfully complete specific tasks?

  • Depending on your company structure rotate who takes minutes, organizes refreshments for meetings or events, cleans, etc.

• Design for a fair and inclusive environment – An organization can be diverse without being inclusive. Having a diverse team doesn’t mean everyone is being included. People often say that “diversity” is an invitation to a party, whereas “inclusion” is being asked to dance. Inclusion is about value. Having a diverse workplace means differences exist, and inclusion takes it forward to ask how everyone, from team members to end-users, can feel valued. People want to feel valued, whether in teams, organizations, or when interacting with a product or service.

  • Fair pay scale.

    • All genders, all races/ethnicities, all ages, etc. make the same pay for equal time at work and responsibilities.

  • Equal access to opportunities.

    • All genders, all races/ethnicities, all ages, etc. have an equivalent chance for promotion.

  • Have an appreciation for all employees instead of showing favoritism and bias against certain workers.

  • You don’t impose your cultural beliefs on employees and respect other perspectives, lifestyles, values, and cultures.

  • A diverse workplace acknowledges there may be people who practice their religion or spirituality during the day. Inclusion means creating a space for people to pray, meditate, or observe. This shows people they are valued and encourages them to bring more of themselves to the workplace.

  • Acknowledge commemorative months like Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Black History Month, Gay Pride Month, Women’s History Month, etc.

  • Allow employees time off to honor their religious holidays.

  • Magazines/reading materials in office and lobby – relevant to industry and/or diverse.

  • Visuals on the company website and careers page showing the diversity.

  • Value all voices in meetings or when approached with new strategies to reach goals, etc.

  • Wheelchair accessible facility.

  • Gender-neutral restrooms.

• Have consequences for harassment and/or discrimination.

  • Taking action helps employee retention and is the only way to prevent future offenses or lawsuits.

  • Consistency in how you address and resolve issues shows you take incident reports seriously.

  • Don’t make the person who’s filing a complaint be viewed as a “troublemaker” where in return they end up being victimized further as they face consequences of being mistreated

Employee actions that create a healthy work environment?

•  Create an inclusive work environment by not establishing cliques and excluding colleagues.

• Accept feedback or constructive assessments and guidance.

• Respect each other's culture.

• Respect each other’s perspectives.

• No gossiping.

• Have respectful communication

• Have a strong work ethic

Work Environment Form

Share strengths and areas for improvement with leadership and then with employees.