October 2021

Your immediate workplace environment and surrounding have a great impact on the state of your mind. The work environment vibe depends on different factors.

It may include the company values, workstation design, and styles of leadership. Only when all these factors come to play will you be able to establish a healthy and positive workplace.

Positive work environments make employees remain loyal to businesses. They also have a direct implication on mood, performance, and productivity at work.

However, a happy working environment is basically not something that happens by accident. It is rather a product of intangible and physical changes. These are factors to consider to achieve such a working environment:

1. Encourage a Work-Life Balance

Presentism results in lower motivation, resentment, and decreased productivity. So do everything possible to discourage this type of culture.

Likewise, when employees work from home, are able to deal with family problems, and take some time off for medicals or other appointments, they will be happier, leading to better staff retention and higher productivity.

2. Handle Background Noise

Some individuals prefer working with the hustles and bustles of public and busy places. Working alone in a very quiet place might seem boring to some people. It’s important to monitor the activity level around you so as to determine whether to keep your focus on the task at hand or not.

While it’s vital to be focused, looking for a working environment that enables you to work for long hours is equally important.

3. Create a Strong Line of Communication

In some ways, modern technology makes it simple to communicate at lightning speed. More than 250 billion emails are sent every day globally, and many workforces depend on online communication tools, such as Zoom, WhatsApp and Slack.

However, having a lot of options might not be a good thing. It’s easy to miss messages as most workers only open around 23% of the total emails.

Poor communication may negatively affect all aspects of business, including your bottom line, team’s capability to meet deadlines, customer services, productivity and employee retention.

It can be wise to consider how you and your workers communicate. For instance, you may host monthly catch-ups to discuss the progress of your business and how it aligns with workers’ roles.

4. Consider Sustainability

Making the working environment more sustainable needs a little effort and initial investment from the start. Renewable energy remains the best way to make your working environment sustainable. It can improve your business image, reduce carbon print and save unnecessary costs.

In addition, Norwegian power supplier ELEVO Norway, has shared advice on digital routines and activities, which you can introduce in your business. Some of these suggestions include:

• Creating a social group
• Virtual coffee breaks
• Friday games

5. Facilitate Learning Opportunities

When setting up a team for success, it can be tempting to concentrate on matters, making them productive for a short time. Experimentation and workplace learning are equally vital. Performance increases, and employees thrive when a business becomes a learning organization that prioritizes professional and personal growth.

Offering opportunities for knowledge sharing and informal learning is also important, particularly to new hires. Your company may even save some expenses by ensuring workers have access to the skills and information required to work.

6. Advocate for Teamwork

Most workers tend to be more productive when they work as a team. Rather than being stressed with project completion deadlines, they will get motivated and put their minds together to solve problems.

This also allows workers to foster and communicate ideas with their colleagues instead of getting trapped in cubicles by themselves.

As a project manager or employer, always make sure you congratulate your team after completing a project and celebrate, even when it’s just small wins.

7. Make it Feel Like Home

Modern techniques to workplace design are a vital part of worker satisfaction. Physically comfortable working environments where individuals feel at ease can help to establish a positive working experience and improvement in mood.

When it comes to an office, ensure pieces of furniture are ergonomic and comfortable. Remember also to add plants and flowers to boost productivity and mood.

In a non-office environment, be sure to provide breakouts where staff members may grab a cup of tea and interact with their colleagues.

The Effects of The Work Environment

The work environment affects the drive, performance, mood and mental health of employees. If your workers work in dreary office settings with unfriendly colleagues, they will not guarantee job satisfaction and confidence they need.

Establishing a healthy and comfortable environment doesn’t have to be costly and difficult. With a couple of effective measures, you can build healthy workplace environments that also helps reduce costs associated with absenteeism, medical claims, workers’ compensation and turnover.

As the seasons change to wet, cold and windy weather, both domestic and commercial properties can experience damage to their roofs. Even at the height of summer roofing can be hard and dangerous work, with these risks only further amplified in the autumn and winter months.

Sadly severe roofing issues do not wait for the weather to clear up before occurring, so contractors can frequently find themselves working in less than ideal conditions. That being said safety must be at the forefront, and not just for the roofers. There are a range of contingencies that need to be in place to also protect members of the public and surrounding properties.

In this article we will cover some of the primary factors that roofing contractors should be mindful of to keep safe working conditions.

Obtain Safe Access & Working Areas

When assessing a job the primary factor should be ensuring that the working area is both safe to access and continue to operate on. With damaged roofs this can understandably be a challenge, loose tiles and massively degraded surfaces both mean that caution should be used and a full assessment take place before any worker is cleared to work on the roof for any span of time.

Access solutions will vary based on the building and the projects requirements. For longer jobs, or those that are part of a larger build, general access scaffolding is the most secure option with the correct implementation. Even for shorter jobs of a few minutes the correct ladder with roofing hook should be used on sloping roofs.

Use Personal Protective Equipment, Even For Short Working Periods

Minimising strain and risk to workers using PPE is a common sense step, but sadly one not fully adopted on smaller sites. Work on a roofing job likely requires:

• Workmen’s trouser – to prevent cuts, grazes and other injuries from rough or sharp materials. Never wear shorts when roofing
• Steel toe capped boots (or the equivalent) – both the toe cap and midsole protection can assist you in keeping debris from dropping on feet and from sharp object penetrating from below
• High visibility clothing – should be worn at all times when on site to keep visibility for vehicles when ascending or descending the roof
• Knee pads – kneeling is frequently required as part of a roofers job, which will cause strain and damage even over a short time period.

Adapt To The Weather

Spring & Summer

During hotter periods of the year it’s essential that proper precautions are taken to encourage workers to protect themselves. Wearing light clothing under their high visibility clothing is a good way to stay as cool as possible and not restrict movement.

Suncream and breaks in the shade, where the working area has none, are both crucial to prevent sunburn and heat stroke. Water should be kept safely nearby as well to allow workers to stay hydrated, although this should be stored appropriately to reduce the risk of drop hazards.

Autumn & Winter

Where the weather turns colder thicker clothing is required, however it’s essential that this doesn’t restrict any movement required for the job. The correct gloves in particular are crucial, fall rates increase in colder months due to numb hands making slipping grips and stumbling more prevalent.

Protect From Potential Accident Claims

Accidents are sadly inevitable, and for roofers this can mean a serious event such as severe injury or even death. For those operating a business, or as an independent, then roofing contractors insurance is crucial to reduce the impact of a claim.

Where injury or death are concerned a potential liability case brought against you can be financially devastating. Ensuring you are adequately protected when working on site is a crucial part of being a roofing contractor, and these risks extend far beyond typical health and safety, you also need to ensure you are secure when an accident or incident does occur.

Such cover can be created to be uniform, meaning you can acquire essential cover such as public liability as well as optional protection such as business interruption insurance. This means you can obtain one policy to effectively manage most risk cases, one premium cost and one contact in the event of a claim.