58 Ways to Create a Positive Workplace

Posted by Mick Kopp | June 23, 2008 .


What does a positive workplace do?

A positive workplace contributes to the overall productivity of your workers. Therefore, creating a positive workplace will equal more success for everyone.

When you create a positive workplace, your workers will start to do the following:

  • show up on time
  • complete their tasks on schedule
  • pitch in to help others when needed
  • look forward to coming to work
  • generate lots of good ideas
  • be more friendly to your customers
  • be more loyal
  • quit less often
  • generate more sales or revenue
  • look after your bottom line
  • have a greater self esteem
  • accomplish more
  • stop stealing from the company
  • stop complaining
  • have more energy to make it through the day
  • be more pro-active

And:

  • You’ll have increased customer loyalty.
  • Workplace injuries will decline.
  • You will be able to recruit better people.


How do you create a positive workplace?

Creating a positive workplace can be simple if you truly desire to accomplish it. Put yourself in your employees’ shoes. Think of what kind of environment you would like to work in and would thrive in. Then, think out of the box. There are many ways to get your workplace out of a negative rut and into a positive, productive place to work.

Here are 58 things you can do to have a positive workplace.

  1. Take your employees on a retreat.
  2. Set an example for all to follow by not talking behind employees backs to other employees and by making everyone feel like they are included.
  3. Give employees long vacations or more vacation time.
  4. Give employees more sick days and personal days.
  5. Have your meetings while walking or riding bikes around your business.
  6. Buy gym memberships and have a scheduled time to work-out together. Exercise helps create a positive attitude.
  7. Get a positve mental attitude.
  8. Smile at your employees often.
  9. Give your employees honest and sincere praise for a job well done.
  10. Listen to your employees, and show them that you are genuinly interested in their ideas and what they have to say.
  11. Keep your problems to yourself. Instead of burdening your employees, who could care less, talk to your friends and family about your problems.
  12. Show your employees what you want them to do, then let them do their work in peace. Only look over their shoulder if they are being trained.
  13. Make your employees as comfortable as possible. Create an ergonomic work environment for them. For instance, in an office setting, you might let them pick out their own chair, keyboard, mouse, and even their own desk if you can swing it.
  14. Hire the right people first. No whiners allowed. Only winners. Try to weed these people out during the hiring process.
  15. Walk away before you get mad. No one likes to get yelled at, even if they messed up big time. This will give you time to cool down and approach all of your problems in a more upbeat and tactful way.
  16. Show up on time.
  17. Be respectful to your employees and your customers.
  18. Put together a game room and have your meetings while playing a game of pool.
  19. Have snack time. Go around and hand out snacks to your employees when that afternoon slump arrives.
  20. Play some upbeat music.
  21. Have team meetings and parties.
  22. Use profit sharing to make them feel like they are owners, and that what they do really counts.
  23. Do something new.
  24. Work in the park, a coffee shop, the beach, or your own back yard for a day. Maybe even once a week if you can.
  25. Let your employees work at home.
  26. Swap people up. Let people cross-train. They’ll feel more empowered and will be able to empathize with others.
  27. Involve them as much as possible.
  28. Do all the fun stuff on Monday! Everyone knows that Mondays are the worst. Make it easy for people to come to work. They want to be more relaxed and have fun. So set it up for them. Have surprise parties for them. Celebrate birthdays on Mondays. Get some donuts. Grill out. Work in the park or let them work at home.
  29. Let your people bring their personal items to work. Family photos, pictures they like, toys, books and the like will make them feel more at home.
  30. Have a bring your kids to work day.
  31. Have a family fun day at the park.
  32. Bring in positive, inspirational and motivational pictures.
  33. Place some live plants around your workplace.
  34. Put up a goal board or have people make their own. Their goal maybe to stop working for you. That should be okay.
  35. Use Feng Shui “The Chinese art or practice of positioning objects” to arrange or design your workplace.
  36. Set up creative work spaces. Use bean bags, sofas, odd looking chairs and tables to create a space where people can meet up and work.
  37. Don’t call people to your office for a meeting. Work out in the open where everyone can participate.
  38. Set up a company carpool system and ask everyone to participate.
  39. Hire a motivational speaker every six months.
  40. Invite a guest to come speak on a topic everyone is interested in.
  41. Have a free, fun movie weekend. Set up a place where everyone can bring their families to watch all the new releases. Throw some burgers and dogs on the grill, and you have a party.
  42. Have a library of motivational and inspirational books and magazines on hand for employees to read.
  43. Maintain daily contact with your people. They will have more pride in their work when you care about what they are doing.
  44. Help your employees to remain social. Events, parties, phone calls, emails all help a person to have a sense that they belong where they are.
  45. Stock the fridge and the cupboards with food. Free food makes everyone happy.
  46. Know everybody’s name and make sure you call them by their name often. There’s no sweeter sound than your own name.
  47. Have an employee of the week parking spot.
  48. Let your employees take calculated risks.
  49. Managers could be called “leaders” or “coaches” instead of managers, because that’s what they really are.
  50. Give out “Caught Doing Something Good” tickets. Post these on a bulletin board somewhere for all to see, and make sure the employees who earn them know that you are putting a copy in their personal file.
  51. Set up a nap or meditation room, with a comfortable couch or chair and an alarm clock, or allow employees to nap in their work spaces, if possible.
  52. Only deal with customers that treat your employees with respect.
  53. Call a quick meeting to give sincere thanks for all the good work everyone did the previous month. Say only thank you and give out complements during this meeting.
  54. Challenge your employees. Give them more responsibility as they continue to learn your business.
  55. Reward your employees for finding ways to save the company time and money.
  56. Get rid of clutter. Whatever is old and useless, get rid of it.
    Junk that clutters up the workplace can cause a lot of anxiety.
  57. Paint your walls a more vibrant and uplifting color.
  58. Open those curtains or blinds and let some light in.


As a bonus for reading this, I’m going to give you a success secret that most businesses don’t know. This secret is simple and easy to use. Start using this, and you will notice a positive change in your workplace overnight.

Success Secret

“Treat your employees better than you treat your customers.”

Do you call your customers on the phone just to tell them how much you appreciate them? Do you send your customers nice gifts? Do you take your customers out for a night on the town? Do you take your customers to see a game or go golfing? Do you have drawings and give away free, cool stuff to your customers?

Your people want to be treated like this, too. Whatever you do for your customers, do twice as much for your employees. Your reward will be a positive work environment where people feel valued and enjoy doing their best for you.


Posted under Goal Setting, Success Secrets, Success Tips, Uncategorized | Like this article? Subscribe to our RSS feed

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