One of the topics I touched on briefly during my internship at Pollenizer was the importance of Team Happiness in contributing to the dynamic of the workplace. At this point, after working at Pollenizer for more than 3 months, I wanted to expand this and highlight the importance of having a positive workplace culture and the impact this can have on employees in regards to their motivation and work ethic. To clarify, a positive workplace culture (at least in my view) is one where employees are comfortable speaking to each other as they are speaking to their managers both within the workplace and outside it, all contributions, regardless of significance are valued or appreciated, employees are still motivated to complete work which they would otherwise find uninspiring, and the physical workspace provided influences how individuals work in a positive way.
In my experience here, it is clear that having employees who are comfortable talking to each other is significant, especially given the teamwork based nature of Pollenizer. The weekly Cross-Pollenization and regular team events make sure to facilitate not only a healthy workplace relationship, but also a social relationship outside of work. This certainly makes it much easier to work together in teams as friends rather than just workplace associates (It’s much harder to let down your friends than it is a work associate). Furthermore, having close lines of communications with managers certainly makes it much easier to communicate issues or changes individuals might want to see in the workplace. By doing so accommodations can be made which can improve employee satisfaction. This goes some way to minimising staff turnover and improving employee motivation. However it should also be recognised that this is not perfect. It is important, at times, to make sure the workplace and friendship can be separated in situations that involve conflict or giving feedback. Sometimes our desire to not insult a friend may result in an outcome that is undesirable in the long term. Above all, what this boils down to is the importance of effective communication. I believe that this is the greatest driver of positive workplace culture as good communication and constructive discussion mean that all views are heard and the best decisions can be made to accommodate these views.
Something Pollenizer does really well, is in its recognition of employees and the work they do, no matter how significant it is; something which is largely facilitated by Wooboard. From my own experience, occasionally, I will have to do some scanning or filing; certainly not something most people would call exciting. In fact, I know the entire FinOps team sometimes undertakes tasks that can be tedious and in some cases, require learning how to do the task as they go along. Yet effort is always taken to make sure that these tasks, often seen as background work, and their importance in making sure Pollenizer keeps running is recognised. It cannot be understated how important it is for an employee to feel valued. Not feeling valued can lead to resentment and a lack of motivation creating an unhappy employee who is at risk of leaving the company for new work. The point I’m driving at is that even if a job is not what an individual would like to be doing, the knowledge that those around them value their contribution is often compensation enough for them to complete the task without resentment.
The physical workspace at Pollenizer reflects the nature of Pollenizer – chaos. And this suits us. Pollenizer employees are creative and dynamic and their workspace should reflect that. Pollenizer has a variety of areas for employees to work in dependent on their mood and needs, which ensures that employees can enter the right frame of mind to do their best work. Of course, this sort of workplace will not suit every company. Some companies require formality and structure in order to be effective. The main idea is that the workspace should mould around what employees need, not the other way round.
There are certainly many other things at Pollenizer that create such a good culture (the genuinely nice people, the casual yet hardworking atmosphere, a visionary and dedicated management, etc.), however I believe the aforementioned are the most significant. In the end, a positive workplace culture means more motivated employees who work well together while simultaneously creating strong social bonds beyond the workplace.