Many employees have one foot in the office and the other ready to go

CONSIDERING that the typical employee will spend about eight hours at work each day, which is roughly one-half of that person's waking day and even more than their available leisure time, it seems sensible to ensure that the time spent at work is positive.

After all, employees who look forward to work are more motivated, more productive, easier to work with, less likely to steal from the organisation, more able to project a positive image to customers and less likely to quit.

In addition, employees in organisations with positive working environments tend to suffer less stress-related problems and remain longer with the organisation. This is all very straightforward and obvious, so it would make sense that every workplace takes this into account and ensures that the work environment is positive. However, the truth is that the majority of employees are not happy in their jobs.

Statistics from a 2006 Management Issues publication reports that, "If three people are sitting together in office or meeting room, the chances are that two of them would rather they were in a different job and one couldn't care less about the organisation they work for."

Furthermore, a poll of more than 2,800 employees in the UK has found that two-thirds go to work wishing they were in a different job. Six out of 10 said that they check job listings and recruitment websites while they are at work and one in every five has their details registered with a recruitment agency or online job service. Four out of 10 also have an up-to-date CV ready to go when it is needed.

Other shocking statistics indicate that 20 per cent of respondents say that they are simply bored and almost a third of those interviewed claim to have no loyalty towards the organisation they work for. Almost three-quarters said that they did not believe they were making the most use of their knowledge and skills and when asked if they thought their employer recognised their potential, an overwhelming eight out of 10 said that they didn't.

While this information comes from the UK, the statistics would likely be equivalent in Brunei. Private businesses constantly bemoan the fact that qualified employees are impossible to retain because they only work in private enterprise as long as it takes for them to get a government job.

The government jobs are not sought after due to their fabulous work environment, but rather because the security, pay and benefits package are far better than private businesses can afford.

So even in Brunei, where workplaces tend to be more relaxed than in other countries and employees are afforded far more 'personal time' serious consideration must still be given to ensuring the working environment is conducive to positive employee morale.

Creating a positive working environment is the responsibility of both the management and the employees themselves. While management sets the policy and rules that affect the working environment, it is also the attitudes and the interactions of employees on a daily basis that has a significant impact upon how these employees feel about their workplace.

Fortunately, it is usually the relatively small things that can create sizeable differences in the work environment.

As a psychologist with an education in business and extensive experience in organisation settings, I facilitate workshops with organisations seeking to improve aspects of the working environment. Usually, these workshops focus on several key factors that are relatively easy to improve once employees become aware of their significance.

Some of these areas are trust, acknowledgment of good work, clear communications, clarity of expectations and adequate feedback on performance, setting a positive example, increasing self awareness, showing interest in one another, asking for feedback and offering support.

When I begin any workshop, participants are usually very quick to list all the things they believe would help to make their workplaces better.

What they list is normally very similar to the factors mentioned above.

An important aspect of the workshop is then to help these employees take ownership of their own workplace environment and their own actions so that they themselves can create the environment they want, rather than waiting for 'the organisation' to do it, and resenting the organisation when they feel nothing is being done.

Not only is this process of helping these employees to become proactive very beneficial to their daily working experience, it is extremely empowering when they realise that they are in control of a significant portion of the workplace environment, and as a result, their own job satisfaction.

The Brunei Times