HR Managers: 9 Things to Switch Up to Improve Company Culture
The workplace is evolving, and company executives and HR managers need to keep up with the times. To draw in a young, talented, tech-savvy group of employees, you need to understand the importance of a positive company culture. Today’s employees definitely want more than a paycheck.
Your Employees Want to Make a Difference
They want to feel as if they are essential to your organization. Even if your company is not in the service industry, your employees want to feel as if they are helping society in some way. Rename jobs or reword tasks, so your employees understand how they are an essential part of your work community.
Your Employees Want Training
They want to feel as if they are learning and growing as individuals when working for a company. Because young people are not afraid to change companies or even industries, they want to work at jobs that improve their skills so that they can take those skills into new positions. Having a company culture that encourages education and training is essential in the modern workplace.
Your Employees Want Flexible Schedules
Today’s employees also want flexibility. While some older works may complain that millennials are not hard workers, the fact is that they have figured out the importance of work/life balance. They want to work smarter for fewer hours at a time, so they can still have time to be good parents, children, and friends. They are not afraid to try new technologies or methodologies so they can have flexibility within their schedule.
Your Employees Seek a Healthy Lifestyle
Also, today’s employees want a healthy work environment that promotes the fitness of the body as well as the mind. They want standing desks and healthy snacks. They want on sight fitness facilities or discounts at local gyms. Schedule yoga and meditation classes early in the morning instead of providing donuts in the break room.
Your Employees Want Collaboration Tools
Because so many of your employees work remotely, they don’t see what’s on the desktop of the other person on their team as they walk to and from the Keurig three times a day. Collaboration tools help employees get out of their bubble. Utilizing these tools help everyone understand the importance of internal communication systems to keep everyone in the “know.”
Your Employees Want Simplicity in the Workplace
Most of us are overwhelmed by keeping track of the websites, logins, and passwords that are necessary when navigating the modern world. Unfortunately, most workplaces are not any different.
Smart company managers know how much time is wasted navigating between different software and management systems. Finding a tool that keeps track of communication, collaboration, and scheduling is necessary for keeping business running smoothly.
Your Employees Want Social Interaction
Because so many employees work from home, they may feel isolated and immune to the ebbs and flows of a corporate office. Being able to chat or share bits of their personal lives with their coworkers is essential, whether they do it electronically or in person.
Having a virtual break room where employees can share success stories or personal milestones is essential.
Your Employees Want to Be Recognized
It’s only natural that employees want recognition for a job well done. Salespeople have the satisfaction (or fear) of sharing their numbers with others in their organization, but some workers productivity is not so easily quantified.
Since many of your company’s employees don’t share the same geographic region, this recognition often needs to come in the form of a virtual shout out that is shared department-wide or company-wide.
Your Employees Want to Make a Difference
One of the most significant ways you can improve your corporate culture is to have your employees work together for a good cause. Instead of planning another happy hour, schedule a time for your employees to serve a meal at a local homeless shelter or a Ronald McDonald House. Provide support to employees who need it and figure out ways your company can improve the environment in your local community.
The reality is that a company’s culture often comes from the top down. If the executives do not recognize the value of their employees, there is little you can do as an HR Manager to eliminate a toxic environment, but you can be the one ray of sunshine in an otherwise dismal office.
One small group of people who spread energy and positive attitudes can make a huge difference in a corporate environment. Be part of the solution in your company.
About the Author
Gill Artmore has spent the past decade working various roles in IT departments for many businesses, small and large. Recently, he started writing out the things he has learned, experienced, and witnessed in the small business/tech world during his career.
He is eager to share insights with the rest of the world.
This is a sponsored article.