If you’ve been working for a while now and have been to a couple of different companies, you will soon realize that people continue to go to work or leave due to the culture. Sure, at first, when you’re still hunting for a job, you’re more focused on the salary, benefits and even the caliber of the company. But more often than not, those aren’t the reasons why people stay.
There may not be a company where the culture is impeccable but there are definitely companies with better culture. That’s where you’d find loyal employees who are happy to compromise on their pay as long as they’re working for a company that has a healthier environment. So, whether you think your company nailing this aspect or not, here are ways to steer your company into the better end of the spectrum.
Engage Your Employees In A Regular Communication
Employees sure are paid to do their job but they’re not some robot that just works as they’re programmed. Employees are people who think and feel and likes to voice those thoughts and emotions regarding their work and be heard. If they feel like they can’t do that in your company then that’s where the problem starts to breed.
As a company CEO, you don’t even have to go around each employee to talk to them. You can just allow the managers for each department or the team leaders to organize a regular get together to ask each member about how they feel about the company’s culture and their suggestions to improve it. Then have those managers or team leader submit a consolidated report to you. Believe it or not, but this simple act of making each employee feel that their opinions actually matter makes a huge difference when it comes to a company culture.
Think About Ways To Inject Flexibility
Company rules and regulations are there to enforce unity and order. Lack of it would result to employees doing whatever they want, coming in at work whenever they want, and not meeting deadlines and a lot more problems like that. However, being too rigid and unreasonable with it would also be problematic because people would eventually find a way to rebel. It’s no longer news that individuals who are stuck on the same working routine becomes less productive due to burn out or even sickness from the stress.
People say that stress is all in the mindset, but you should know that your body condition play a big role in it too. Receiving adjustments from a chiropractor here in Singapore can make a significant difference in your stress level by relieving pain or discomfort caused by misalignment, helping you sleep better at night, and even treat other health conditions like constant headache and digestive problems which are without a doubt stressful. Aside from that, you’ll find that when your body is in tip-top condition, your performance at work improves as well and you’re less likely to feel sick and tired of going to work every day.
A good way to balance this is by allowing flexibility. Things like working remotely sometimes, coming in an hour later on Friday mornings, or having a more adaptable PTO structure helps in creating a more breathable working experience.
Encourage Professional Development
Just like how people like to upgrade their gadgets when the get the chance, they like to upgrade themselves professionally too. Even the ones who says they’re content with where they are now will jump at the opportunity to develop their skills or go up in ranks in their career.
If your company allows employees to spread their wings wider, you’ll have happier and harder working employees as a result. What you can do is include career plans into those regular employee get together mentioned above so you know your employees’ career goals and plans and then provide flexibility for employees who want to pursue some continuous education courses that will help them achieve those goals.
Recognize Your Employees
Aside from being allowed to voice opinions and be heard, working individuals want to be acknowledged for their hard work too. They may be receiving their monthly salaries but it’s also important that you give credit where it’s due. And believe it or not, acts or recognition don’t even have to be anything grand, as simple as allowing them to take a day off on their birthday, creating an Employee of the Month honor, or simply giving public shout outs when employees achieved something big for the company can make them feel appreciated.
This gives them the impression that you value them as employees working for you. This is already a huge deal because there are times when employees are treated like disposable pawns when they no longer serve their purpose.
Allow Them To Innovate
Another way to build a company where employees are actually eager to go to work and work harder is by allowing more room to innovate without the fear that the tiniest failure may cost heavy penances or worse—their job itself. Doing so is very empowering for employees knowing they don’t have to blindly follow instructions or orders from their superiors. The knowledge that they can follow their instincts, use their creativity, and come up with better ways of doing things promotes confidence, self-sufficiency, and efficiency as employees. With employees like that, you definitely can rest assured your company is in good hands just as your workforce believes they’re following a good leader.