Matthew Walker-Jones discusses how your business could benefit from having a strong employee-friendly culture.
Companies need to realise that creating a positive employee experience is not solely a HR initiative, but also a business initiative. It is time senior executives developed one common shared vision on what employee engagement should look like, and how it can be achieved.
Your business could benefit from having a strong employee-friendly culture, whether achieved with smart employee engagement software, or with strategic tasks allocation.
Positive attitude means positive business outcomes. The problem, of course, remains with the abyss of the human psyche – how do you achieve workplace engagement without forcing it? And how do you do it, when you know that you have gathered as many unique people under one roof as you could?
One solution is to improve the communication channel that you have with your employees. Asking questions, or to be more specific – asking the right questions, is fundamental for retaining productive workers with passion to achieve business goals.
It builds a culture based on mutual trust – many employers shy away from asking difficult questions because they are afraid to find out the truth. Recall the famous Uber scandal, that revealed the ugly truth about the company struggle to end sexual harassment in the workplace and, if not promoting, then definitely not openly opposing macho culture, that affected the work of female co-workers.
Eventually, Travis Kalanick, the former Uber CEO, launched an investigation into the culture the organisation but the serious stain on the company’s reputation was already visible.
Asking the right questions is fundamental for retaining productive workers with passion to achieve the business goals.
This example shows that if employers weren’t afraid to open the so-called ‘Pandora’s box’ and be ready to address sometimes difficult questions, they would be able to tackle problems that are either hindering the company’s success or signal some real difficulties ahead.
The transparency you encourage is a stepping stone for another value that you can’t run your business without – honesty.
It gives you direction – being ready to change should be written into the DNA of every company, big or small, that treats their dreams of further expansion seriously. Presenting your employees with opportunities to make their voice heard is crucial not only for creating a friendly company culture but also for getting hints about what could be done better.
As an example, questions about possible process improvements can uncover small yet powerful insights into how things should be that help you through the continuous journey to business success.
Achieving more with less – it’s common knowledge, that happy workers are more likely to go the extra mile if the company’s goals are aligned with their interests and passions.
It might not always be easy to bring those two together, especially, if you know that your assistant manager likes to golf and golf only, but the key here is to look closely and see what really fires them up when they do their work.
Not everyone was born to love spreadsheets, therefore you need to find out what motivates your employees. According to Gallup poll – 87 % of millennials consider development as crucial part of their jobs. This mutual gains perspective on employee engagement and people management is what businesses should be doing to be more productive, deliver better services and improve their products.
About the author
Matthew Walker-Jones is a staff writer for Questback.
