Negative work environment: “It’s been red for a while, something isn’t good“
A Negative Work Environment: Data
An example of how one company handled a negative work environment with a lot of ‘red pulses’ from their employees.
“It’s been red for a while, something isn’t good“
The HR Director at a Swedish firm gradually saw a crisis coming, when it suddenly exploded.
She knew something was up.
She had spotted a negative work environment trend in their daily employee morale data.
How?
Thanks to the Celpax mood meter, a device at the exit door that gives continuous employee feedback with a touch of a button:
This way you can quickly validate the impact of your leadership skills, and actions.
“I saw that OK, it’s been red for a while, something isn’t good. So I simply started asking some questions around it”, she says.
The crisis explodes
The negative trend then suddenly took an unexpected turn after an incident.
In just fifteen days the company dropped from an Employee Mood KPI of 74% green, to reach a Mood KPI average of just 58% pressing green.
Two months previously they had an average of 86%.
Ouch!
What action did the HR Director take?
Find the right words to describe a negative work environment
There was a big learning for the HR Director the following days.
“I could see that there was a negative trend but I didn’t want to think that I was part of it.”
She spoke to almost everyone on the team about the negative work environment and what was happening.
“In the end, I understood that the pressure was too hard. Our employees didn’t feel appreciated, they felt too controlled.”
The company didn’t have a work environment where people were making their own choices and working as they wanted to.
As an example of what created the negativity in their workplace, people felt like the managers checked up too much.
Their employees started getting annoyed because of this.
“Bad moods influence others and that’s where the downward spiral came from, as showed on the Celpax device and on the dashboard.”
“It’s getting better”
As the red to green ratio plummeted after a specific event, the HR Director tried not to focus too hard on just how low their green daily Celpax score was when she talked with her coworkers:
“I referenced to the Celpax, that I had seen that there was a LOT of red.”
“Everyone knew that it was bad and that there was a negative work environment. They didn’t need more negative results pointed out.”
Her opinion is that people won’t remember the good things if you focus too much on the negative.
“I just wanted to manage the problem and see how big the problem was, I caught it at an early stage.”
Let go of control at work!
“I saw the change in the data already within 1 week in my closest group, and then among the rest”, she says.
“We have spoken much of letting go of the control in our management team. I think we are getting better.”
“We have had a lot of red pulses and it’s been turbulent.
But it’s getting better!”
Tired of your negative work environment? Start improving your workplace!
Hej! I’m Rebecca, co-owner at Celpax. We help employees and leaders create a better workplace, together. We use simple tech tools to help them get there. And build a better society while at it! We want more people to wake up in the morning and feel good about going to work. Let’s talk about how to get out of a negative work environment, join me on Twitter!
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