What Would Your Workplace Look Like to a New Employee for 48 Hours?
Imagine someone new joins your workplace tomorrow.
For their first 48 hours, they don’t do any work. They don’t read your policies, values or Employee Handbook.
They simply watch.
They sit in meetings. They listen to conversations. They notice how managers respond when someone makes a mistake, who speaks up, who stays quiet and what happens when someone disagrees.
After 48 hours, what would they say your workplace is really like?
What would they notice?
Perhaps they’d see an employee regularly working through lunch while everyone accepts that’s simply what they do.
Maybe they’d hear a manager make an offhand comment about someone taking sick leave, notice an employee hesitate before asking a question or see messages being sent after hours with an unspoken expectation of a quick response.
Or they might see something very different, like…
Managers who admit when they’ve made a mistake. Employees who are comfortable offering another point of view. Colleagues who check in on each other. Employees who take their breaks and finish work without feeling guilty.
These small moments might seem insignificant, but together these create the employee’s first impressions of your workplace.
The workplace on paper vs. the workplace in practice
Policies, procedures and company values tell employees how a workplace should operate, but everyday interactions show employees how it actually operates.
The business might encourage employees to speak up, but what happens when someone does?
It might promote wellbeing, but what happens when workloads become unreasonable?
It might have comprehensive policies in place, but what behaviours are being accepted when nobody refers to them?
The answers can reveal a lot.
See your workplace through fresh eyes
Want to put this into practice?
- Questions to guide your observations
- Common workplace behaviours to look for
- Indicators of positive workplace culture
- Potential psychosocial hazards that may otherwise go unnoticed
- A simple reflection tool for identifying gaps between policy and practice
MindWell Psychosocial Essentials
MindWell Psychosocial Essentials provides practical tools to help employers identify psychosocial hazards, assess risks, consult with employees and implement appropriate controls.
Sometimes the best way to understand your workplace is to stop looking at what you’ve written about it and start looking at what it feels like to work there.
How HR Advice Online can help
At HR Advice Online, we help businesses look beyond policies and procedures to understand what employees are actually experiencing in the workplace.
We support organisations by:
- Developing workplace policies and expectations that encourage respectful behaviour and teamwork
- Providing practical advice to help managers address workplace issues early and confidently
- Delivering Respect in the Workplace training to help employees and leaders understand their responsibilities
- Supporting managers to build positive team cultures and manage performance effectively
- Helping businesses meet their workplace obligations while creating an environment where people can do their best work
Our approach is practical, supportive and tailored, because no two workplaces are the same.
If you’d like to strengthen team culture or need support managing people issues, our HR Advisory Team is available on 1300 720 004 to talk through the options with you.
