Impact of Work Environment on Effectiveness at Workplace

 

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This is a continuation of the article ‘Effectiveness at Workplace’ where a high level framework consisting of three critical factors that determine the effectiveness of a person in performing any task at personal level or professional level was presented. The ‘Ability to Work’ and the ‘Willingness to Work’ are further expanded in separate articles. The Environment, Process, Facilities, and Tools & Equipment’ act as enablers for effectiveness at the workplace. This article expands the ‘Environment’ aspect further. A positive and stress-free work environment leads to overall employee well being and happiness, that keeps the employees engaged.

 

The work environment consists of physical, emotional, and business environments. The business environment is closely linked to the emotional and to a small extent physical environment. Although the presence of a conducive work environment affects the effectiveness at work, its effect depends on the perception of the employee about the environment, where the emotional aspect plays a major role. Employee experience and memories at the workplace are more defined by the emotional environment than the physical. 

In today’s engaged world the work environment can be affected by external environments such as political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal (PESTEL). It can also be affected by business competition and rivalries. These external factors influence the effectiveness of employees at management and strategic level but have minimal influence at operational level. As such, external environments are not within the scope of our current discussion.

The Covid-19 pandemic presented the organisations with an opportunity to experiment on the work environment and a new operating model not conceived until then emerged. Most of the organisations were compelled to switch to work from home where the work environment changed overnight. For an employee, familiarity with the home environment notwithstanding, working in that environment was a new experience full of challenges. While this was supposed to be an ideal environment for work-life balance, in practice often it led to conflict between office responsibilities and home commitments. Thanks to Information Technology, managing remote work did not suffer much. The impact on the effectiveness at work varied from individual to individual. The highly engaged employees continued to be effective as if nothing changed. However, the effectiveness of the less engaged had a considerable negative impact. This experience also helped the organisations to find ways and means to keep the employees engaged and prepare for a sustainable remote working model even when the compulsions of the pandemic disappeared. Virtual organisations now became a new possibility.

The ‘Work Environment’ is a complex subject having varying dimensions based on the nature of the industry, geographic locations, culture, and level of automation to name a few.  For our discussion, only a few critical work environment aspects are covered in this article.

Physical Environment

What constitutes a physical environment is debatable. It can vary based on factors such as the nature of work carried out, level of automation etc. It has a hard component and a soft component. In this article the soft component of the physical environment that deals with aspects that affect our comfort and feelings about the workplace such as the lighting, ventilation, thermal comfort, space availability, layout, seating arrangements, furniture etc. are considered for discussion. The hard components of the environment such as building, utility, infrastructure etc. are covered under ‘Facilities’. The plant, machinery, equipment etc. are taken as part of  ‘Tools & Equipment’

Of the five senses human beings have, except the tongue, other four senses i.e. eyes, ears, nose and skin are sensitive to the workplace and impact the effectiveness at the workplace. The light should be right for the type of work performed,  the noise level should be within tolerable limits, the place should have proper ventilation for fresh air to breathe, and the temperature should not be too cold or too hot. The tongue also monitors the water that is available to drink and the food consumed at the workplace, but the monitoring is not continuous like the other four senses. The lighting and the temperature are two most important aspects that determine the effectiveness at the workplace to a large extent, especially in industrial setup. 

Lighting:

 

Improper lighting can affect the quality of the product and service, vision of the worker in the long run, and has the potential to cause accidents. There are standards for the amount of light and the type of light for different categories of jobs. The lighting needs for an office generally having computer work may be low and uniform, but an electronic assembly workshop requires high intensity focussed lighting. It is essential that the lighting is right for the work performed.

Workplace temperature:

Too hot or cold working conditions can cause lethargy, slow down the responses and  reduce the ‘Willingness to Work’. The temperature requirement varies depending on the work performed, geographical location and the weather conditions. Where strenuous physical work is performed, the temperature can be cooler compared to normal office work. The variations in temperature is also an important factor in deciding effectiveness. Too wide fluctuations in temperature during one working session can adversely affect the work effectiveness. People working in foundries, forging units and melting furnaces experience such variations. Often the PPE adversely impacts the work temperature but the safety consideration comes above comfort. More frequent breaks in such situations may alleviate the discomfort to some extent. Humidity levels combined with the temperature can greatly affect the thermal comfort levels of the employees and therefore along with the temperature, it is also important to control the humidity.

Clean air:

Clean and fresh air is one of the basic requirements at a workplace that does not receive the same importance as lighting. Air that smells stale, humid and contains allergens and pollutants makes it difficult to work. Working long hours and exposure to such a work environment for a long duration can cause severe health issues and the employees avoid such work. Lack of clean air can cause fatigue, respiratory issues and impact the ability to focus and concentrate on work. It can affect critical thinking and decision making.  In cramped work conditions without proper ventilation, the oxygen levels can drop and the body odour of the employees itself can aggravate the situation. 

Even in air conditioned buildings there are several sources of air contamination such as volatile organic compounds from printers, certain types of furniture, cleaners, pest control chemicals, paints, air fresheners, carpets etc.  Molds from damp places and bacteria from the trash bins can also be a source of air contamination. 

Noise levels:

Generally unwanted and disturbing sound falls in the category of noise. A loud music of 75 dB cannot be compared with the same level of noise emanating from a stone crusher or a diesel generator. The former may be soothing because it is wanted but the latter stressful because it is unwanted. Noisy environment impairs attention and focus at the workplace, especially for the mentally demanding tasks. The communication with the co-workers and the signals from the machines is affected adversely, which may lead to wrong decisions and actions. A vehicle mechanic or a plant maintenance person knows the importance of a quiet and calm environment to listen carefully to the sound  emanating from the machines and diagnose the fault. The recording of music cannot be done if the recording room is not  soundproof. Although these are few exceptional examples, even in normal activities such as office work or workshop, intolerable noise can lead to diminished cognitive responses. The employees who are sensitive to noise may experience irritability and stress due to excessive noise. The ability to concentrate and focus on work is diminished. When you watch a movie you must have realised how different sounds are played in the background to evoke the feelings of suspense, fear, anxiety etc. in different situations. This is a simple example to demonstrate the effect of sound on our perceptions and behaviours.

Housekeeping:

When an employee comes to work, finding a clean desk and a clean office can immediately remove any stress and help in starting the day with a fresh mind. A clean, tidy and organised workplace may sound simple, but can do wonders on the effectiveness. This is the reason why it is common for organisations to implement 5S (Sort - Seiri, Set in Order - Seiton, Shine - Seiso, Standardise - Seiketsu, and Sustain - Shitsuke) as part of the improvement initiatives and reap immediate benefits. 

Cluttering, unorganised and unindexed filing systems - both physical and digital, unclean floors, walls, window glasses, unclean pantries, wash rooms all have their contribution to the visual appeal as well as the emotional wellbeing of employees. Cluttering and unorganised filing systems directly affect the time required to access information and may lead to errors. The adverse effect of bad filing and information storage systems is acute while working with very strict deadlines.

For a person with a very well organised lifestyle, an untidy and cluttered work environment can be stressful. Some organisations have tried giving employees freedom to manage their own workspace, which can lead to a healthy competitive spirit and improve the overall atmosphere of the workplace, bringing in creativity and diversity in looks. 

Workplace Layout:

The workplace layout should be appropriate for the work performed. Where focussed work is done that requires both privacy and no distractions, enclosed workstations or cubicles may be appropriate. In a manufacturing unit, the flow of material based on the process flow is of prime concern. In a fabrication shop shearing, bending, welding, phosphating and painting may be the normal process flow and the workplace layout should be aligned with this flow. In a warehouse if unloading, receipt documentation, quality assurance and storage is the functional flow, the physical floor space layout should be done accordingly. 

Work involves both physical and mental activities. Based on the nature of work, adequate work space and personal space needs to be provided for every employee. This is necessary for safety, efficiency and effectiveness. Certain workspace requires privacy and confidentiality of conversations, The privacy can be visual or of information and interactions. Here the reference to workspace is not limited to the office or table and chair. For a maintenance technician, it's the space around the machine for easy accessibility, for a surgeon it's easy movement around the patient, visibility of monitoring devices and space for support staff to provide effective assistance. For a forklift operator it is obstacle free space for easily and safely manoeuvring the forklift.

There is no specific standard for the amount of work space required for different types of work. It depends on the number of people working, type of machinery and equipment used, type of automation, nature of work, geographic location and climate conditions, cultural considerations, and cost of space to name a few. Sometimes the amount of space signifies the position and authority of the occupant. Higher positions have larger offices and this differentiation is emotionally satisfying to the occupants.

The tools, equipment, safety devices, emergency response devices such as emergency push buttons, documents etc. should be within the reach of the employee with minimum movement to access them. In an assembly shop the parts being assembled should be easily accessible from the seated position or appropriate work position and should be in the sequence of assembly.

The need of the employees for socialising must be taken into consideration. Total isolation during work can have a severe adverse impact on effectiveness. Where transparency is of prime concern, an open workplace is the norm. Open workplace is also a preferred layout where the job requires frequent face-to-face interactions with other employees. It fosters idea sharing and informal learning.

In IT industries it is common to have flexible offices where there is no fixed place assigned to an employee. One can occupy the desk available and everything being online, the workplace is ready to go. This type of workspace however, cannot be used for organisations having more physical functional structures with requirement of physical resources such as paper based documents requirement as part of the work. 

Furniture & furnishings:

The differences in a dentist chair, draughtsman chair and office chair are distinct. Each one built for a purpose. The furniture chosen for the workplace should be ergonomic and appropriate for the work. It should ensure easy movements, prevent body injuries and be safe. It is important to have some differentiation of furniture for different positions to fulfil the functional and emotional needs of the employees. The marketing office that frequently receives VIP clients may require a different type of furniture and furnishings compared to a normal sales office.

Safety and Security:

Provision of adequate safety and security to the employees is a legal requirement in most of the workplaces, which also reduces the element of fear and risk, thereby having a positive impact on effectiveness. Adequate safety measures reassures the employee of work sustainability thus creating a stress-free work atmosphere. Lack of safety measures make the employee take additional precautionary measures in every step of the process, delaying the work, leading to ineffectiveness. In addition, safety at the workplace ensures minimum downtime of plant and equipment, directly impacting the effectiveness. Traditionally safety is understood in relation to machines and accidents, however the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us to think about health safety at the workplace.

Security is a particularly critical aspect of effectiveness in riot prone areas, conflict zones and other such high risk areas. Inadequate safety and security can diminish the ‘Willingness to Work’ and can also impact the availability of facilities, tools and equipment.

The security includes physical security and IT security. Today's business is heavily dependent on IT and any breach of security in IT infrastructure or data can cripple the business rendering a person ineffective. Theft, pilferage etc. can limit the availability of raw material, tools, equipment etc. impacting the effectiveness.

Emotional Environment

We cannot think of human beings devoid of emotions. Satisfying the physical needs may be easy, but satisfying emotional needs at the workplace is challenging.

Happiness

Everyone seeks happiness, no matter where they are and what they do. Generally the happiness sought is current, but in some cases the current happiness is sacrificed for the future happiness. In search of happiness people take up work and leave work. They move from one place to another and even migrate to an unknown destination. The work environment therefore must make people happy if they have to be effective in what they do. Happiness is one attribute that radiates out from individuals and is contagious, transforming the whole work environment for others around them. Happiness triggers positive emotions and is key to productivity, learning, collaboration and progress. We often hear of job satisfaction, but happiness is far more higher than job satisfaction. While job satisfaction is related to the work performed at the workplace, happiness cuts across the job boundaries. Job satisfaction is about meeting the current job related expectations of the employee, while happiness is about meeting the current needs and positive expectations of future needs inside and outside the workplace. The happiness however, may be momentary and may even fluctuate several times a day, or may last for several days at a stretch.

Happiness triggers a positive emotional response when faced with challenges at the workplace. Happiness can be personal or collective.  At a personal level, the same environment can stimulate different levels of happiness in different people based on their perspective. It is therefore important for an employer to initiate actions to align the perspectives of employees based on shared vision and mission. Collective happiness is felt based on the group perception of events or surroundings. Have you watched how a football team collectively responds to a goal scored or a win? The collective happiness is in full display in such instances. Same thing is true in a work environment, although to a lesser extent, because the sense of competition is different..

Work culture:

The work culture is the implementation and practising of shared values, attitudes, behaviours, and standards that make up a work environment, and reflecting those values in the day-to-day behaviour of employees. Some of these aspects are documented in the Governance Documents while others reside in organisational memory by way of traditions and shared beliefs. Merely having the governance documents approved and published does not form the work culture. 

The work culture should be fostering dignity and respect for individuals, free from violence and must be supportive for the employees, especially the new and the distressed. It should generate a feeling among the employees that they are important and their worth is acknowledged by the employer. Working for a common goal with shared values and true team spirit must be visible in words and actions. A culture of respect and dignity involves fairness, equity, inclusivity and ethicality in policies and management practices. This becomes the foundation of all employee relations. The presence of violence and denial of respect and dignity are some of the symptoms of a toxic work culture. 

Violence at the workplace is a form of denial of respect and dignity. It may be physical or psychological resulting in insecurity in the minds of the employees. The physical violence is easier to detect and deal with, but the psychological violence goes unnoticed for a long time until the victim reports or the symptoms of the effects are visible. The employee may retaliate, quit the job or in extreme cases may even consider suicide. 

The psychological violence may be verbal, written or by gestures. It may be in the form of actions or inactions. Singling out and intentionally and repeatedly ignoring the grievances of an individual is an example of harassment by inaction. Psychological violence may take the form of bullying, intimidation, humiliation, dehumanization, sexual harassment, unequal and unfair treatment or other abusive behaviours. The more violence a person endures, the more ineffective he/she becomes and in some cases the ineffectiveness may be irreversible. It is important therefore for the employer to establish a mechanism for the early detection of hotspots and address them before they become a major issue.

The violence, especially psychological, can also be on a group of persons based on their nationality, ethnicity, culture, colour etc. 

Denial of respect and dignity based on gender, ethnicity, culture, country of origin, race, religion, qualifications, organisational hierarchy etc. is also a form of psychological violence. Diversity and inclusiveness must not only be practised, it must be felt by the employees. The cultural context is important while dealing with dignity. What is normal in one culture may be a taboo in another culture. A simple gesture that is insignificant in one culture may be an insult in another culture.

For a positive work culture, employee engagement should be at the right level. Over-engagement may help for a short time to overcome some temporary constraints, but if continued as a general practice can result in burnout and affect the delicate work-life balance and prove detrimental to the employee, organisation, and the society in the long run. 

Workaholism is a sign of over-engagement at the workplace, though it may not be the only reason. Sometimes workaholism is simply an escape route for an employee from domestic or other external problems,

Work-life balance:

If an employee works,  it is not for the sake of work itself, but for the sake of earning a livelihood and to support  life outside the work. It involves personal life, family life and social life. This being the case,  if the employee has to spend all his/her time and energy for the job, the personal life gets stunted, the family life can be disturbed and the social life turbulent. In such a situation the very objective of an employee accepting an employment and doing a job gets defeated. Leisure is part of the human need as much as the need for work. Free time is essential for the continuation of learning and socialising. Quality time at home is essential for harmonious family relations and development of children. Time for recreation is essential for maintaining a healthy body and mind. Working hours therefore assume significance in balancing work and life. Over the past few years several countries and organisations have taken measures to reduce the number of working hours and the results speak volumes about our traditional misconception that more the number of hours, more the output. Output has not suffered in any way in those organisations. This goes on to prove that the work expands to fill the time available. Along with the number of hours, flexible timings can have a positive impact on work-life balance.

When we speak of work hours, it's not just the time spent in the office. It includes time spent commuting, time spent on business travels, time spent with clients outside work hours and the time spent at home preparing for next day's work. The information technology has been a boon and bane to the employees. Mind cannot be switched on arrival at the workplace and switched off when leaving it. There are several jobs, where the mind remains engaged with the work all through the waking hours. For such jobs it is essential to have flexibility in requirement of presence at the workplace. 

Communication:

The information within an organisation is like flowing water. If you block it from one side, it finds another path of least resistance and often at a workplace that path is the gossip and grapevine communication over which the employer does not have any control. This informal channel of communication can be distorted and sometimes be toxic. In the interest of maintaining a healthy work environment, it is essential that the upward, downward and cross communication should be transparent. The policies, processes and procedures must be documented using structured ‘Governance Documents’, formally approved and accessible to all employees. For guidelines on developing effective process and procedures refer the article ‘Developing Effective Process & Procedures’ in this blog.Any strategic decisions taken by the management that affects the work environment or employment terms must be formally communicated before it reaches the employees through back channels. It is also important that anything that affects the credibility or reputation of an employee must be kept confidential. Utmost sensitivity is essential in such situations. Confidential channels must be established for grievance communication and whistleblowing to establish a trusted work environment.

Welfare:

Employee welfare involves healthcare, canteen facilities, creche, recreation facilities and socialising opportunities that ensure a healthy and stress-free work environment. The creche and day-care facilities ensure that the parents are not away from young children for a long time and also are reassured that during their work hours they are in responsible and caring hands. This ensures that they are focussed on their work. The healthcare facilities help in maintaining a physically and mentally healthy and effective workforce.

Business Environment

The business environment in this article deals with the internal environment and not the external such as political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal (PESTEL). 

Organisation and governance:

The vision, mission, and the core values of the organisation are implemented and enforced by a well designed governance framework and organisation structure, policies, processes and procedures. Good governance ensures continued employment in a conducive and ethical environment enabling the employee to engage all the energy and resources in work without much distractions. A well designed organisational structure with clearly defined roles, responsibilities and authorities facilitates harmonious functioning of the organisation without any ambiguity, overlap or friction.  It defines functional boundaries for each organisational unit and delegates authority to manage those functions. The reporting hierarchies are kept to bare minimum to avoid delays in decisions. In this environment an employee is clear about the role, responsibility and expectations without bothering whether the actions are within his/her scope or not.

Delegation and Empowerment:

Freedom and adequate functional autonomy at the workplace is one of the attributes that most employees look for and that affects the decision of an employee to continue in work and to be effective. In a rigid bureaucratic setup employees cannot contribute their best. These types of organisations are necessary only where strict compliance takes precedence over efficiency and innovation. The delegation and empowerment is expression of trust in the employees and their capabilities in achieving the objectives independently using their own work methods and based on their own planning. If an organisation can be sure of hiring the best talent, it should be able to trust the people it has recruited, or else, it raises doubt about its governance and recruitment process. At higher organisational hierarchies this freedom means freedom to take decisions using delegated decision authority and financial authority. In the absence of such delegation and empowerment both the quality and the timeliness of action is affected, reducing the effectiveness at work drastically.

Functional and operational freedom ensure efficiency and innovativeness. The bottom up approach of the Kaizen system relies on such freedom, immensely contributing to improvements.

Empowerment at operational level means less rigid procedures, stating what needs to be done and merely providing only guidelines on how to do it. Maintenance is one such area, where the technician is informed what is to be done and based on actual site conditions, the decision and the process is decided as to how to do it. Research is another area that cannot work without operational freedom and empowerment. 

Expecting a person to be effective at the workplace without delegation and empowerment is like pushing a person to a swimming pool with hands and feet tied and asking to swim. 

Employee engagement:

In employee engagement the employee’s mind, body and spirit are fully engaged with the work being done and the association of the employee with the work becomes his full work identity. An emotional bond is established between the employee and the work, which at times extends into an emotional bond with the organisation. The employee takes pride in the task performed and would like to leave his signature of quality on it. The employee achieves a sense of fulfilment doing the work and is generally in a state of happiness. An engaged employee takes better ownership of the job done and constantly tries to improve it. It must be remembered that for achieving employee engagement the other factors in the work environment such as physical, emotional, business etc. should also be favourable. Engagement initiatives ignoring other factors cannot guarantee effectiveness at the workplace.

The work where an employee's identity is linked to the success and outcomes tends to be more happy compared to the place where he/she is just an insignificant part of a larger group achieving success. 

Employee Development:

The employees look for adequate opportunities for growth in an organisation. After recruitment the employee’s competency does not remain stagnant. The employee must get opportunities for the newly acquired knowledge and skills to be put to productive use. In the absence of such opportunities, the employee’s updated full potential is under utilised, thereby rendering the employee ineffective. Opportunities for growth and development made available to the employees are also a form of recognition of their work and competency, which motivates them further and increases their effectiveness. The opportunities offered should facilitate both horizontal and vertical movement.

Rewards and Recognition:

A work well done must be recognised and rewarded in a timely manner. The effect of recognition diminishes if delayed for a long time. It is also true that the recognition and reward further motivates an employee to do more and the longer it takes to recognise a good work, the incremental improvement is delayed by that time.