{"id":906,"date":"2020-01-06T14:00:04","date_gmt":"2020-01-06T03:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sage-people-scraping-ca.local\/?p=906"},"modified":"2026-02-05T20:11:42","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T09:11:42","slug":"fair-working-environment-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/fair-working-environment-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Can you create a fairer working environment? Three things you might not have considered"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPeople & Leadership<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tCan you create a fairer working environment? Three things you might not have considered\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"Headshot\t\t\t\tCharlotte Penny<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

HR and People teams are no strangers to diversity and inclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many ways HR and People teams can help to make their organisations fairer places to be \u2013 from flexible working and maternity packages, to role-sharing and pay-gap reporting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, there are often inequalities hiding in plain sight when it comes to the working environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are, in fact, subtler ways you can drive change in the workplace that you might not have previously thought of, that you can address alongside your wider more strategic D&I strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, have you considered your office temperature? What about ditching the dress code? Here\u2019s three things to consider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Reconsider your office environment <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Loved by architects, the open-plan office appears to be a fair way of working. After all, there is no obvious hierarchy as with the old-style offices, where senior managers would be tucked away in corner offices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, research has shown that many people feel uncomfortable in open-plan offices. It can also cause issues on employee\u2019s concentration, productivity and the overall employee experience.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With their computer screens on view, and having people being able to interrupt them at any time \u2013 as well as hear their phone calls \u2013 the lack of privacy can lead to anxiety for some employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, this style of office can exacerbate, rather than support, wellbeing issues generally. Women, for example, have reported feeling they were being watched and judged in open-plan offices.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peace and quiet is also extremely important. In a study by Oxford Economics, more than half of respondents complained about noise in the workplace.<\/a> Another study by WeTransfer found that 65% of creative people say they need quiet<\/a> to do their best work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not always possible to redesign an entire building, yet there are tweaks that can be made. For example, can you provide quiet, safe spaces around the office including break-out areas, sofas and phone booths?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Free research report: The changing face of HR<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Seismic shifts in the way organisations operate, work, and manage their people are occurring. We surveyed 500+ HR leaders to discover how they are responding.<\/p>\n

Uncover insights on how to stay ahead and transform HR from a process focused function to a people driven business.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDownload Report<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

2. Change your office temperature<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On the face of it, it seems obviously important to keep the office at a comfortable temperature for all employees. Yet this isn\u2019t always as simple as it sounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your office is air conditioned, the temperature may not suit everyone. Traditionally, office air conditioning was designed for the average body temperature of a man<\/a>. Because women tend to have a slower metabolic rate, they often feel the cold more at work. Older employees may also be affected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t so easy to solve as a comfortable temperature is individual preference. However, organisations can now get temperature-controlled apps<\/a> to localise temperature to a desk or an office space.  You could also consider branded jumpers or hoodies that people can keep at work for when the office is too cool for them, or alternatively desk fans could be used when the temperature is too warm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Update your dress code policy<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Has your company kept up with the times when it comes to dress code? Do you set out what employees should wear?  Or has your organisation binned the dress code altogether?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst only one in 10 people<\/a> now wear a suit to work, there are still many traditional sector employees \u2013 such as law and banking \u2013  abiding by strict dress codes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Business Insider<\/a> asked bankers about their dress codes, ties, suits and formal shoes were the norm \u2013 with even \u2018dress down Fridays\u2019 having its own dress code. For example at ING, they will allow a checked shirt on dress-down Friday, but jeans are still off limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, for organisations that haven\u2019t already, could you ditch the dress code?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many schools and colleges have introduced gender-neutral dress codes, and forward-thinking organisations will not be far behind. In fact, Stonewall recommends that, \u201cdress codes and uniforms should be gender-neutral and applied consistently across the organisation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you asked your people what they need?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Whilst it makes sense for many organisations to rip up the dress code or take down the gender descriptive signs on the bathroom doors, a fair working environment goes far further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flexible working or addressing the gender-pay gap are even bigger challenges to address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, guess work simply isn\u2019t enough. Creating a fair working environment relies on two-way conversations between your HR and People team and your employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Progressive organisations understand that it\u2019s important to stay connected to their employees with regular conversations, whether they have a dedicated feedback email address, or ask managers to regularly talk to their teams and record their feedback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you asked your employees if there are subtle ways you can make the working environment fairer?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Free research report: The changing face of HR<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Seismic shifts in the way organisations operate, work, and manage their people are occurring. We surveyed 500+ HR leaders to discover how they are responding.<\/p>\n

Uncover insights on how to stay ahead and transform HR from a process focused function to a people driven business.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDownload Report<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Subscribe to the Sage Advice Newsletter<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Get a roundup of our best business advice in your inbox every month<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three ways HR teams can drive change in the workplace, that you can address alongside your wider more strategic D&I strategies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1660,"featured_media":1744,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sage_video":false,"post_featured_image_hide":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[222],"business_type":[9],"context":[],"industry":[],"persona":[103],"imagine_tag":[65,263,25,40,264],"coauthors":[284],"class_list":["post-906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people-leadership","tag-hr","business_type-medium-sized-business"],"sage_meta":{"region":"en-au","author_name":"Charlotte Penny","featured_image":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/Afianza-04_ES_BB_2018_33555.jpg","imagine_tags":{"65":"HR and Payroll","263":"HR processes","25":"HR software","40":"Mid-sized business","264":"Top HR resources"}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Sage Advice Australia","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/1660"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/1744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=906"},{"taxonomy":"business_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/business_type?post=906"},{"taxonomy":"context","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/context?post=906"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=906"},{"taxonomy":"persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/persona?post=906"},{"taxonomy":"imagine_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/imagine_tag?post=906"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}