How the best workplaces set themselves apart

Businesses aim to cultivate a positive working environment and ensure employees are productive, fulfilled and content in their roles.

While a business may develop its workforce to fulfil the needs of both workers and consumers, there is still a gap between what is offered to employees and what workers want.

As a result, creating a good workplace is vital to foster a favourable working relationship with employees, leading to increased and consistent productivity.

What is a good workplace?

AIM WA Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Professor Gary Martin FAIM said a good workplace enabled productivity, as well as respect for its staff.

“They care for their employees, treating them as people first and employees second,” he said.

“If you want the best people, then you actually have to provide a great workplace culture."

“If you don’t provide some of the qualities or things people want in a workplace, then they will move.”

Professor Martin said it was the opposite of a negative workplace, which was toxic by nature.

He said this was defined by bullying, harassment, a lack of teamwork, dissatisfaction and an unhappy environment.

“People don’t feel aligned with the business’s purpose and don’t get the feedback they need to do the job,” Professor Martin said.

“The leadership is poor, resulting from people in leadership roles who probably shouldn’t be there.”

The elements of a good workplace

According to Professor Martin, 10 core elements form a good workplace.

These include positive leadership, backed by clear communication, a vision, empathy and emotional intelligence, as well as protection of employee wellbeing and an inclusive culture.

The elements also cover equitable pay, opportunities to progress one’s career, such as through training and mentorship, giving employees trust and autonomy, and properly recognising and rewarding them for the work they do.

The final aspects include effective two-way communication between individuals and their superiors, ensuring physical and psychological safety, along with an organisation holding to values that employees can resonate with and find purpose in.

These elements emerged in how organisational development has evolved over the years.

“If you go back 20 years, we wouldn’t be talking about things like mental health in the workplace or work-life balance,” Professor Martin said.

“The main realisation for people is we don’t live to work – we work to live.”

Professor Martin said combining the 10 concepts created a more involved experience in the workplace.

“If you address things like employee wellbeing, an inclusive culture, and people being aligned with their purpose, they have an opportunity for growth,” he said.

“It’s fair to say they’re likely to be more engaged, living and breathing more of the workplace, rather than seeing it as purely a job and nothing more.

“They’re actually enjoying the work they do.”

Diversity powers innovation

CEOs for Gender Equity Chief Executive Officer Ashley McGrath said inclusive and diverse workplaces foster greater collaboration, safety, innovation, financial performance, and employee and customer satisfaction.

“I believe that workplace diversity plays into a good workplace because you should represent the population you serve,” she said.

“If you don’t have diversity and inclusion around the decision-making table, you’re going to have groupthink and blind spots, you won’t grow as fast as you could, and you don’t make the best decisions and outcomes for the organisation because everyone is looking, sounding and thinking the same.”

According to Ms McGrath, poor workplace diversity and inclusion are mainly due to a lack of awareness.

“People aren’t fully aware of the ‘why’ behind diversity and inclusion, and how everyone is set to gain,” she said.

“It isn’t always well articulated by organisations and leaders. 

“If people don’t know why it is important, they are less likely to engage and embrace it.

“We must step up and be open, frank and vulnerable on why we’re taking this action.”

Ms McGrath said while many organisations had come up with solid policies or programs of work, there was still a gap between this and the process of rolling policies out, generating engagement and seeing behaviours change.

She said Western Australia still had very gender-segregated industries – for example, health and community services being female-dominated, while construction having a larger concentration of male workers.

Diversity in WA industries is also impacted by a lack of proportionate representation for those with disability, along with First Nations and culturally and linguistically diverse groups.

However, when organisations make a deliberate change to increase diversity and inclusion in their workplaces, it results in individuals feeling respected, connected and that their contributions matter.

“When it’s done well, employees’ day-to-day experiences are so much more positive and the companies are just better places to work,” Ms McGrath said.

“Employees are happier in themselves, and they take this happiness home.”

Physical and psychological safety promotes wellbeing

As businesses evolve, they factor in the health and safety of their employees as a vital part of their growth, with a focus on both physical and psychological safety.

Francis Burt Chambers Barrister Cavaliere Maria Saraceni said this ranged from ensuring protections against physical injury to measures taken against psychological harm, such as bullying and sexual harassment.

She said physical and psychological safety were the responsibility of both employers and their workers, with a risk management approach as key following the introduction of new work, health and safety laws.

“You need to be proactive,” Ms Saraceni said.

“You are meant to spot hazards – the law requires you to assess the risks posed by those hazards, which are both physical and psychological.

“Then, if necessary, you need to make changes to eliminate those hazards and risks insofar as is reasonably practicable, and ensure those changes are effective for what’s happening.”

According to Ms Saraceni, while workplace proactivity assures employees of their health and wellbeing, some feel the more thorough measures imposed by some employers, such as ticking off a comprehensive checklist before using a work vehicle – which you would not do so when using a personal vehicle – are going overboard.

“It is paper safety without adding any demonstrable value,” she said.

“They feel everybody is so risk-averse, they can’t do anything. 

“There’s no easy answer.”

Creating opportunities for improvement

According to Professor Martin, a good workplace sees continual improvement, ensuring workers’ wellbeing.

He said regular group and one-on-one meetings with staff established transparency and enabled a business to evolve.

“Provide opportunities for employees to provide feedback without them feeling there are going to be repercussions,” Professor Martin said.

“We don’t always like what we hear, but the very best organisations will make sure they get this feedback along the way, so they can go from strength to strength.”

Ms McGrath said introducing technology and external collaboration could progress inclusion towards a strong sense of belonging.

“Technology and artificial intelligence are going to be able to be leveraged to help organisations – whether this is coming up with programs or frameworks, or crunching the numbers on data to advise your next steps,” she said.

“What would help more holistically is for organisations to work with their peers, their suppliers, research and university institutions, as well as peak bodies to really collaborate on the cause and help everyone get there faster.”