How We Flourish In a Supportive Work Environment

On average, one-third of our life is spent at work. Doesn’t this fact make cultivating an environment that nurtures growth, productivity, and mental health indispensable? The employees feel demotivated due to many factors associated with job satisfaction. However, the factors within employers’ control, like physical environment, quality of workforce employed, taking care of their mental health, providing support and motivating them, should be managed efficiently to ensure that these factors don’t hinder their job satisfaction. Toxic work culture erodes the organisation’s and individual’s ability to thrive and produce satisfactory results. Additionally, individual factors like stagnant growth, boredom, and unwillingness to work sprouting from toxic leadership or environment impede the quality of work. 

Toxic work culture doesn’t have a precise definition and can vary based on individual differences. Environmental conditions that negatively impact happiness, question self-worth, make us feel mentally drained and underappreciated silently rob us of job satisfaction. Constant pressure, high workload, too many deadlines, competition, workplace politics, bullying, incivility, harassment and favouritism define a work culture where employees’ well-being is not even a matter of concern. The possibility of giving your best and maximising your productivity is meagre in this environment. Burnout, depression, anxiety, stress, and fatigue directly affect mental health. 

What a healthy workplace culture feels like? 
How it makes you feel is more important than the quality of the work culture. All the factors, from your productivity to happiness, are determined by how you feel while working. The requirements of a healthy workplace may vary from person to person but everyone favours some common aspects. 

Healthy work cultures will always provide you with a safe space to express your ideas and viewpoints. Feeling heard validates that your opinions matter and boosts confidence. Secondly, always confining employees to tight schedules and rigid hours can deploy efficiency. While it might not be possible to provide flexibility, some amount should be granted to enhance work-life balance and employee well-being. Both of these aspects provide an opportunity to be creative and explore new ideas. Creativity requires open discussions where individual inputs are valued and co-workers challenge each other’s ideas. Similarly, by granting flexibility job responsibilities can be fulfilled when employees feel productive and active. Support from supervisors and colleagues enhances the quality of work. Having direct communication, setting clear goals and being receptive to varied concepts improve work performance. A supportive environment fosters a work-life balance and acknowledges and appreciates employee contributions. Feeling valued and respected is also essential for an employee’s growth since it helps to inspire and motivate them to do better. Higher levels of engagement and satisfaction are natural results of appreciation.

Although all the factors discussed so far share a relationship with mental health, having separate initiatives that directly promote mental well-being are crucial to boosting productivity and fostering inventiveness. Activities like short meditation sessions, brief fitness sessions, offering calm spaces before taking major decisions at work, and easy access to mental health care facilities contribute to employee wellness, enhancing the quality and value of their work. According to Carol Ryff, the six aspects of psychological well-being are autonomy, environment management, personal growth, positive relationships, having life goals, and self-acceptance. Workplace culture shares a strong relationship with all aspects of well-being. Autonomy at work dictates a sense of freedom that doesn’t make a person feel too restricted by rules and regulations. The extent to which a job aligns with goals and contributes to personal development determines how content a person feels at work. Additionally, the relationships cultivated and shared at the workplace significantly influence teamwork, understanding, and leadership among employees and employers.  

Psychological safety at work is also related to the well-being of the employees. Psychological safety is a shared belief that enables employees to openly discuss and express ideas, concerns, mistakes and failures without fearing negative consequences like feeling shamed or degraded. A sense of safety and a willingness to communicate are fostered by a shared understanding that mistakes and errors help you learn and grow. When employees are not hesitant and feel comfortable in voicing matters, it enriches teamwork and communication which will naturally lead to better decision-making, learning, creativity, and resilience. A psychologically safe environment offers honesty, openness, opportunities to seek help comfortably, utilise the strengths and skills of each employee, nurture their passion, and a place where they are valued and respected. Innovation, new ideas, and calculated risks emerge promoting productivity, diverse perspectives and creating a positive environment. Studies have shown lack of psychological safety results in burnout, stress, and feeling emotionally drained.

All of these factors determine how we flourish in a supportive work environment. Not every workplace will be able to provide everything perfectly, but as long as businesses or employers are making an effort to look out for the people who work for them and serve them, it makes workers feel appreciated and less like mere machines who work six days a week from 9 to 6 pm. Their mental health, physical health, and basic needs need to be addressed. Honing abilities and talents are hard in a toxic work culture and having a healthy environment produces the best for the company along with the employees’ satisfaction. 

Thus, having some basic practices that promote overall health and guidelines that ensure effective management motivates the team to work more efficiently. Social support and connections are major determinants of well-being in the workplace. Expressing empathy and helping others can make one feel more inspired, loyal, and committed towards the team. Furthermore, employee wellness programmes for the staff boost productivity, increase engagement, and contribute to managing health risks. Above all, two major highlights are that a company is a sum of its employees which makes it imperative to espouse an atmosphere where they can give their best. Secondly, employees come to a company with their own aspirations and dreams and giving them the opportunities to work in their niche areas directly enhances job satisfaction.