Managing Your Workplace Environment

It’s most likely your business doesn’t operate from a “Googleplex” and you probably can’t afford a climbing wall, gourmet cafeteria, or lap pool for your employees, but as a business owner you do have the last say in your company culture and your business work environment.

How you manage your environment and the culture you establish will ultimately affect morale, job performance, motivation, absenteeism, employee retention, and eventually, your bottom line.

So what can you or should you do to improve your workplace environment? First, get a handle on your current situation. A good way to assess your environment is to conduct employee surveys. If you’ve got high turnover, exit interviews can also help. If you are sincere about improving your working conditions and retaining employees, you’ll want to obtain candid feedback.

If you’re a small shop with only one or two employees, conducting an employee survey may be overkill. Nonetheless, your employees will appreciate your interest in the workplace environment, so conducting regular interviews with them can provide you with a lot of information about the environment, what bugs your employees, and what they like about their work. On the other hand, if you’ve got a large organization, you’ll want to develop a full-blown employee feedback strategy.

Regarding exit interviews, they should be completely voluntary, and conducted in a nonthreatening way. Try to find out what motivated the decision to leave. Was it a money issue, a lack of recognition, or other factors?

If you’re running a small operation, you may not have the resources to hire a full-time HR department. Nonetheless, there are plenty of resources available—especially when you are dealing with employee issues.

A good place to start is the Utah Department of Workforce Services, which conducts “Better Your Business Workshops” and other seminars. DWFS business consultants can be reached by calling (888) 920-WORK, or (801) 468-0097.

Another good resource is Mountain States Employers Council, a private, nonprofit human resource management organization with 3,000 employer-members across the Intermountain West. MSEC’s 180 employees are attorneys, human resources and organizational development professionals, and survey specialists who provide coaching, training and hands-on assistance to employers.

The Society of Human Resource Management is also an excellent resource, with chapters Salt Lake, Ogden and Logan. SHRM offers a variety of resources for members, including a magazine and discounts on seminars and training programs. Membership is $199 a year.

Learn more tips for entrepreneurs at Zions Bank’s Online Business Resource Center.