How to Create the Ideal Work Environment as a Human Resources Professional

Starting a new job can be both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. However, there are many ways that you, as a Human Resources professional, can make it a little easier for a new person to transition into a job by creating the best work environment for your employees. So, how can you and your HR team create the best workplace environment? Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones, co-authors and academics, identified the six most essential attributes to create the most productive and rewarding workplace: 

• Let people be themselves 
• Unleash the flow of information 
• Magnify people’s strengths 
• Stand for more than shareholder value 
• Show how the daily work makes sense 
• Have rules people believe in 

The underlining themes are collaboration, transparency, and promoting positivity. Taking part in human resource courses online can provide you with the communication skills, conflict resolution skills, and the tools to construct a collaborative foundation.  

Prioritize Onboarding and Training 

Start your new employee off right with well-organized and thorough training. Whether that includes an online training course, shadowing co-workers, sitting in on meetings, or providing them with all the company files and policies, the first week should be mostly planned out. The quickest way to alienate a new employee is to leave the new employee just hanging out at their desk with no plan. In fact, a BambooHR survey identified ineffective onboarding as a major reason why 17% of new hires quit in the first three months. 

Create Community and Encourage Collaboration 

To allow for collaboration, your company should first and foremost be a diverse and inclusive place for all employees. Unsure how to develop this? Have someone on your team, or yourself, earn a diversity and inclusion certificate to improve work settings and initiate change.  A workplace that already has a strong sense of community and collaboration is more likely to be welcoming to new hires.  

A workplace, even when it is a collaborative community, will have conflict. To maintain that strong community, HR professionals need to know proper conflict resolution techniques and mediation tools. Require someone on your HR team to have a conflict resolution certificate or mediation certificate to be able to effectively resolve conflict in the workplace.  

Create a Comfortable Work Environment  

A workspace should empower employees to do their best work. Allow employees to decorate their space in a work-appropriate manner. Provide standing desks, ergonomic chairs and mouses, proper lighting, and ensure the temperature is regulated for comfortability. Employees cannot do their best work if they find their office disruptive or uncomfortable.  

As an HR professional, it is important to regularly check in on your employees and see if there is anything that can be done better. As the liaison between employees and upper management, you are also in charge of implementing any new change, big or small, to your employees. If this is a challenge for you, complete a change management certification course to gain the necessary tools and skills to facilitate smooth transitions in the workplace while maintaining morale. 

Facilitate Opportunities for Learning 

This can be thought of in two ways: providing opportunities for internal informal learning and knowledge sharing or external continuing education courses. A company can save millions in lost productivity by making sure that employees have access to the information they need to do their jobs. By encouraging professional upgrading and constantly hiring internally for higher positions you will create loyal and engaged employees. 

As an HR professional, you have lots of input into creating a positive and productive workplace and ensuring employees are happy. If you display collaboration, transparency, and positivity, you are on your way to creating the best work environment.