15 Factors Distinguishing Excellent Workplaces

What sets excellent workplaces apart from “other” workplaces?  Here’s some research against which you might like to score your own workplace. There are 15 significant factors that distinguish excellent workplaces and, interestingly, they tie back to work done in the 1950’s by Abraham Maslow, whose work was the subject of a previous article here.

Where there is a cross over, I’ve used “M#1” etc to reference sections within that article.

The 15 significant excellence factors are:

1. The quality of working relationships (Maslow’s #3) – people relating as friends, colleagues, and co-workers and supportive relationships that ‘get the job done’.
2. Workplace leadership – immediate supervisor, team leader, manager or coordinator acts as a role model or ‘captain/coach’ rather than someone who gets in the way.
3. Having a say (M #5) – participating in decisions that affect the day-to-day business of the workplace.
4. Clear values (M #2) – the extent to which people could see and understand the overall purpose and individual behaviours expected in the workplace.
5. Being safe (M #2) – high levels of personal safety, both physical and psychological. Emotional stability and a feeling of being protected by the system.
6. The built environment – a high standard of accommodation and fit out applicable to the industry type.
7. Recruitment (M #3) – getting the right people who share the same values and approach to work as the rest of the group.
8. Pay and conditions (M#1) – a place in which income levels and the basic physical working conditions (hours, access, travel and the like) are met to a reasonable standard.
9. Getting feedback (M#4) – always knowing what people think of each other, their contribution to the workplace’s success, and their individual performance over time.
10. Autonomy and uniqueness (M #5) – the organisation’s capacity to tolerate and encourage the sense of difference that excellent workplaces develop. Their sense of being the best at what they do.
11. A sense of ownership and identity (M #5) – being seen to be different and special through pride in the place of work, knowing the business and controlling the technology.
12. Learning (M #5) – being able to learn on the job, acquire skills and knowledge from everywhere, and develop a greater understanding of the whole workplace.
13. Passion (M #5) – the energy and commitment to the workplace, high levels of volunteering, excitement and ‘wanting to come to work’.
14. Having fun (M #2) – a psychologically secure workplace in which people can relax with each other and enjoy social interaction.
15. Community connections (M #3) – being part of the local community, feeling as though the workplace is a valuable element of local affairs.

What sort of workplace do you intend building today? If you’d like some guidance on that score, it might be a good time to talk to us about Business Coaching as a way of accelerating you towards your goals more quickly than would be the case working on your own.