For decades, it has been proven that companies that take work culture seriously are typically going to be more successful. In reality, people just want to be treated with respect in their professional and work environments, and so companies that are considerate of their employees’ needs, tend to bring out the best in those employees.
For example, even something as simple as bringing in office coffee machines can be a morale booster, and will save your employees a bit of money day to day. And whilst investing in the culture of your company can come in a myriad of forms, the end goal is to make a more positive and productive environment for everyone.
Continue reading below for some great ideas on a variety of ways to boost the positive culture in your business moving forward.
1. Communicate with your staff
This may sound like a common sense tactic, but this is also something that seems to be uncommon throughout a number of industries. The people who work for you every day are going to develop ideas on how things could improve on a number of different levels. With that, taking the time to talk to your staff on a regular basis, as individuals or groups, can help make positive communication a norm in your workplace.
You may not get ground-breaking ideas to launch your business into the next tier with every open meeting, but consistent communication with staff will ensure that they feel heard, and can address minor issues well before they become major. And who knows? With these lines of communication open, you may find that employees are more likely to come to you when they do have a great idea that could propel your business forward.
2. Show Your Staff They Are Valuable
Everyone has seen memes over the last few years where large corporations showed appreciation for their staff with downright embarrassing ‘gifts’. Don’t be that company. And if you followed through with the first tip, you shouldn’t be that company, as developing employee appreciation initiatives should be much easier to handle. After all, you should have more information to work with straight from the employees themselves.
This isn’t saying that you should go broke giving insane bonuses and luxury gifts for employee achievements, but it is an opportunity to provide personally valuable tokens of your appreciation to individual employees. Take the time to acknowledge when staff are doing well with bonuses and ‘treats’ that they will actually appreciate.
3. Invest in Their Future
In the current economy, this little tip may be one of the most important on this list. Everyone around the world is on the edge, financially. So if you can do little things that make your staff feel more secure in their careers and not just their positions in your business, then it will surely go a long way with regards to nurturing your own company culture.
Investing in the future of your employees can also come in many forms, and it is up to you to figure out the best options for your specific company. For instance, you could invest in new technologies like business automation tools that make jobs easier for your staff. Or you could even offer learnerships, upskilling opportunities or enrolments in training courses that allow your staff to not only gain new skills for their work in your company, but to also improve their own resumes. After all, employees are more likely to stay in a professional role if they’re both well-remunerated and learning lots every day.
4. Poll Staff for Important Matters
While it is asinine to think your entire staff should be involved in every major decision for the company, there are many areas where it will benefit you as a business owner to poll them or at the very least, to ask for their insights. After all, these are the people that spend a large portion of their daily lives working and learning for your business. This means that they should know fairly confidently which areas or systems may need changes.
Staff will also feel more respected in workplaces that actually ask for their input, so opening the floor to members of your team can help them develop their own sense of ownership for the work that they do within your business. So give your staff this opportunity to make their own contributions, not just as professionals that are filling roles but also as valuable voices in the tapestry of your business.
5. Team Building is Still Pertinent
Team building exercises have been the butt of a number of jokes over the years, and for good measure at times, but that doesn’t mean they are useless. In fact, when you plan the right team-building activities with your specific team and their collective interests in mind, you can see major changes in the relationship dynamics throughout the company.
Of course, there is an art to planning the perfect corporate team building exercises. For starters, managers are required to gauge the type of activities your staff may be interested in alongside the kinds of activities that will actually foster team building. If you have an office full of role-playing fantasy enthusiasts, it may not be the greatest idea to take them rock-climbing, and so on. But a DnD campaign on a Tuesday night where everyone role plays as their own fantasy hero to complete a collective quest is sure to be a great bonding activity.
6. Take a Positive Stance on Mental Health
Finally, with mental health becoming a growing concern for workplaces across the globe, the single most important thing that any manager can do when investing in their company culture is simply making sure that their employees have access to mental health services and resources.
The overall change we have seen in the way the world looks at mental health is astounding, and there are far too many prominent mental health advocates and organisations to thank for that. You can do your own part as a manager by being vocal about your own perspective on mental health, and communicating with your staff as to where they can go and who they can talk to if they do need support with anything at work or even in their personal lives.
Workplaces may even opt to host mental health awareness sessions or participate in fundraisers for various charities. So long as your staff feel supported and seen, however, then you’ll know that you’ve fulfilled your responsibilities as a supervisor.
Make Sure Your Employees Feel Valued Moving Forward
Ultimately, people truly just want to feel like they are respected, valued, and heard in the workplace. This is the basic foundation for any positive company culture. So be sure to communicate with your employees in order to determine which workplace culture investments are most likely to make them feel valued as your company and body of staff continue to grow.
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