At the heart of any business is its employees. They are the ones who run the ship, keep everything ticking over nicely, and ultimately, stop the company from going into liquidation. Employees deserve the credit for all the hard work they put into the business. If you run your own company, you will want your team to feel happy and satisfied in the workplace. This is key for reducing staff turnover and most importantly, maintaining a successful brand.
Whether you’re about to hire your first employee or you’ve got long-serving staff, here are some ways on how you can build and retain a positive company culture that keeps you on top of your game.
Encourage Communication
Effective communication is essential in the workplace. Without it, barriers can break down, and all kinds of problems can quickly arise. Whether your team are working on an important task or you’re laying out specific rules and targets, everyone needs to come together for the job to be done successfully.
It’s not only your team who needs to be communicating effectively with one another. You must follow suit too. Communication is key to building healthy working relationships. What’s more, effective communication boosts employee morale, satisfaction, productivity, and engagement. Ultimately, effective workplace communication drives better results for both individuals and the team. This can only be a good thing for your business profits!
Hold Interactive Meetings
Regular weekly team meetings are a must for any business. This gives you chance to speak to your team, see how they’re getting on, and making sure targets and objectives are being met. Before you hold your next meeting, have a think about how you structure them. Do you essentially talk the whole way through, or do you give your team a chance to speak? If you’re learning to the former, it’s time to make some changes. You need to allow employees to have their say, otherwise, they may not feel heard or seen.
One positive change you can make today is by holding interactive meetings. This enables everyone in the meeting to have their say and share their thoughts and opinions. For example, why not host a live word cloud? This is essentially putting the words your employees are saying onto the big screen in a cloud format which is excellent for brainstorming exercises. You can head to vevox.com to learn more. They also have word cloud polls and quizzes you can incorporate into meetings.
Ask for Feedback
Even if you’ve been in the business game for many years, that doesn’t mean you’re an expert in your field. After all, there’s always something new to learn and improve upon. Now is the perfect opportunity to reach out to employees and ask for feedback. If a member of staff isn’t happy with the way things are run, they’re going to naturally be reluctant to tell you this directly. Therefore, roll out anonymous feedback forms. That way, employees can let you know how they truly feel without their names attached.
It can be difficult to receive feedback, especially if it’s negative. But, how you handle it is what matters. All reputable managers and business heads need to learn how to handle constructive feedback and criticism. If you find there’s a resounding problem within the workplace, it’s your duty to take notice and take action.
Offer Opportunities for Progression
When you hire talent for your business, you’ll find many have aspirations and goals to work their way up the career ladder. While some people are more than happy in their current roles, others strive for bigger and better things. For those who want to go into managerial or leadership roles, it’s important you have opportunities for progression within the business. If you don’t, your best talent will start looking elsewhere for employment.
Also, make sure to hold regular training programs for your team. There is always something new to learn in the business world, regardless of what sector you’re in. Regular training will ensure your staff are up to speed with the latest software and code of conduct. There are team building activities you can organise too, which can be a great way to get to know your team better and, more importantly, help them build strong connections.
Provide Incentives
From time to time, it’s a good idea to show how much you appreciate and value how hard your staff work. If some of your employees have gone above and beyond on a project or task, offering out incentives can be a great way to say thank you. When you reward your team, this is key to employee loyalty. They will feel a sense of purpose and continue performing at their best which will benefit your company enormously.
There are numerous incentives and rewards you can hand out to employees. This could be in the form of an additional day’s leave, a bonus, or a gift. The choice is up to you! Recognising your employees’ hard efforts is what will keep them sticking around and staying loyal to your brand.
Check In Individually
For those who run a big business, we appreciate it can be difficult getting to know your staff on a one-to-one level. However, making the effort to check in with employees individually can really go a long way. You don’t want to be seen as out of reach, as staff may not feel valued and respected at work.
You can hold regular one-on-one meetings, which serves as the perfect opportunity to check how each member of the team are performing. Use these meetings as a way to identify each employee’s strengths and weaknesses too. When you build professional and personal relationships with employees, this can be a brilliant way to boost employee morale and productivity.
Give Flexibility
It’s only been in recent years that remote working has become more common. While the pandemic played a huge part in this, many businesses found in the aftermath, employees work just as well in the comfort of their own homes as they do in the office. One great way to create a positive company culture is by providing flexibility in regard to where employees work and when.
Rather than having everyone work the typical Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 role, giving a bit of leeway can boost productivity levels significantly. This is because some people thrive more in the mornings, whereas others are more on the ball once the sun goes down. As long as your team are getting their work done and to a high standard, there shouldn’t be any issue in letting employees pick their own working hours. Also, if you allow your team to work remotely, this gives them more freedom and flexibility in their personal lives.
It’s simple – if your team feels respected and appreciated, they’re far more likely to stick around. You’ll naturally want to hold onto your best talent. For them to stay by your side and avoid the temptation of going to a competitor, you need to develop and retain a positive and healthy company culture.
The good news is it isn’t hard work! If you’re a caring individual, all the above should be second nature to you. Implementing these ideas into your operation will drive your business forward and help you stay ahead of rivals.
