IMPROVE YOUR WORKING ENVIRONMENT: BECOME A HAPPIER EMPLOYEE

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Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko from Pexels

Your back hurts from sitting the entire day on an uncomfortable office chair, the colleague at the office next to you is talking loudly to his customer from overseas and yet again your computer just won’t work as fast as you do? We all know the feeling. In everyday office life, we are often distracted by environmental factors or disruptions preventing productive work. Here are some good news: With just a few tips and tricks you can improve your working environment.

Communication is key

There is nothing that prevents you from working productively more than lack of communication. In order to be able to work well as a team and to always stay up to date, it is important to exchange information on a regular basis. It is vital to keep in touch with your colleagues even if you are not always in the office. To improve communication in your working environment, you can easily use tools such as Slack. Instant messaging services make communication quick and easy and avoid annoying emails or phone calls. When a meeting is needed, there are many video conferencing solution providers to choose from. For example, eyeson offers you a very flexible solution: you don’t need any installation or registration and you can use it almost anywhere, even with a slow internet connection.

Stay engaged

Your mind is full of ideas and you are keen to put them into practice? Do you go to work highly motivated every day? And you always create value for which you then get feedback from your manager? You’re lucky! You belong to the 15% of employees worldwide, that are engaged in their jobs, according to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report . Sure, it is also possible that your current job isn’t the right one for you, but in most cases, you can clear up ambiguities or discrepancies and thus improve your working environment. The best thing to increase your motivation is to talk to your manager. Determine the tasks you like and then ones you are responsible for. Set realistic goals together. And last but not least, ask for feedback.

Update your office equipment

It doesn’t matter if it’s about furniture or the latest technology – the right equipment for your own workplace can significantly improve your working environment. An ergonomic workplace, for example, can prevent pain or even worse consequential damage. Another good tip for your health is to move around regularly during the day to get your body and mind working. If technology in your office needs a new “update”, it is not always necessary to buy new stuff. In order to make your computer work faster again, you can simply restart your computer every day instead of just switching to energy-saving mode, deleting unnecessary programs, expanding your RAM, and installing important software updates on a regular basis. And if that doesn’t help, you can try convincing your manager to buy a new one with a simple calculation: 

If every team member of a team of 10 only needs 5 minutes less to start his computer every day, the whole team gains 50 minutes more working time during the day, which adds up to more than 4 hours a week. You not only improve your working environment in general, but you also work much more productively. A clear win-win situation.

When lone warriors turn into a team

Nobody is perfect. There will always be something you cannot do or you do not know. So you will need the support of your colleagues. Teamwork is required! Respectful interaction with each other and a good working atmosphere favor good cooperation. Team building activities can strengthen team spirit. Each individual can contribute to improving the social aspect. You can, for example, actively approach your colleagues, whether it is on a private topic or in order to exchange information. Spend lunch breaks together. And why shouldn’t you go for one or two after-work beers?

It is up to you – you spend so much time in your entire lifetime at work. So make the best out of it, try to improve your working environment and become a happy employee.