“Create the kind of workplace and company culture that will attract great talent. If you hire brilliant people, they will make work feel more like play.” — Sir Richard Branson
What makes an organization a good place to work for employees? If you said it related to pay grade and company reputation, you’d be partially correct. In fact, many management and hiring professionals would tend to agree with you.
However, a major factor that is often ignored when answering this question is workplace culture. Workplace culture basically encompasses how your employees relate to one another, and is what makes your company either a great place, or a toxic place to work. Essentially, workplace culture is defined by the principles your company represents.
So, if it seems like the work culture among your employees needs a bit of a facelift — or even if you’re confident about the strong positivity of your workplace’s culture — Read on. We’ve created a list of our top 6 simple strategies for making your workplace culture even better!
1. Promote a team atmosphere
Shift your thinking about the people who work for you. They aren’t simply numbers, or somehow dispensable — They are your team. They don’t single one another out, but rather work together toward a common goal. How can you connect with them, so they can connect better with one another?
2. Define and live by your company values
At all times, the core values of your company should be the compass for anything and everything that goes on within your employee ecosystem. Remember what you set out to do from day one, and the difference you set out to make in the world. Familiarizing your team with these values is paramount to not only your success, but the overall culture of your workplace.
3. Be willing to give AND receive feedback… Regularly
Giving and receiving feedback appropriately is something of an art. To be direct, specific, and tactful all at once can be quite challenging, but like any skill, it must be practiced. Once-per-year feedback is also nowhere near enough for employee growth, so give it often. Consider giving out employee engagement surveys regularly, so you can grow too. After all, no one is perfect, and one-sided feedback is unfair.
4. Be flexible
Particularly among millennials, work schedule flexibility is not just appreciated — It’s often expected. According to a study by Bentley University, 77% of millennials said that a flexible work schedule would increase their productivity at work. Remote employees also want the same thing. So in a post-pandemic world where the popularity of remote work is exploding, it’s more important than ever to accommodate for their needs as well.
5. Have an open-door policy
It’s incredibly important to build trust with those who work for you. Build an individual relationship with each person on your team, and make it known that you are willing to lend them an ear for both work-related and personal issues. No employee wants to feel like there’s an iron curtain between them and their superiors. Fostering this kind of personal, emotionally-available trust will pay dividends when it comes to retaining your invaluable talent.
6. Align your goals with theirs
Quite often, low morale within a company can be attributed to a misalignment of goals. If one of your employees sees no chance for personal advancement while working for you, there’s a great chance that they won’t be up to par with their performance, or outright quit. So for this reason, much in the spirit of strategy #5, familiarize yourself with the goals, dreams, and aspirations of your team members, and incentivize good performance with a promise of a raise, advancement, or a glowing referral for future employment opportunities.
