Pleasant and supportive company culture is imperative for the overall health of your employees as well as your business. The average person will spend 1/3 of his or her life working; that’s 90,000 hours over the course of one lifetime. When working is such a large part of our lives, it makes sense to be in an environment where we feel appreciated and appropriately compensated from paychecks to health benefits. Most people will go through seven or eight jobs by the age of 30. We can surmise that company culture plays a huge role in a person’s motivation and longevity in any given position or company. No matter how much money a person makes or how high they’re able to climb the ladder, if the overall work culture isn’t satisfying, they’re not satisfied, their work will suffer, and it will take a toll on your business. You can cultivate an encouraging and supportive company culture by implementing the following recommendations:
Hire your company’s demographic
Hire people who genuinely believe in your business and your mission. When you interview candidates, ask thoughtful questions that will provoke more thoughtful answers such as, “How would you describe your working style?” “Describe your ideal work environment,” and “Tell me what you liked and didn’t like about previous employers’ company culture.” Questions like these encourage personal answers that will give you a better idea of whether they’re the type of person that would complement your team. When your employees are on board with the mission, they’re engaged in the job and want to help the company thrive.
Make employee wellness a priority
Healthy employees mean a more positive workplace. Ensure that your employees have the tools and resources needed to live their healthiest lives by providing on-site healthcare opportunities like a meditation room, a fitness center, or even giving employees more paid personal days per year.
Give employees ownership
Stock options, company performance bonuses, and retirement plans are often reduced when a company is looking to cut costs. Time and time again, though, companies that invest in these perks have happier and more productive employees, thus higher rates of productivity and profits. If your employees feel that they have some ownership in their place of work and that what they do directly affects the bottom line, they’ll be more invested in it overall.
Hire a coaching team
Hire business coaches to work with employees at all levels in your company to encourage job growth, teach leadership skills, help them execute more significant ideas, and achieve bigger goals both personally and at work. Overall, the support to grow and take on new opportunities or responsibilities within the company ensures happy employees who feel appreciated and secure in their position. By investing in their constant education and training, you’re showing them you value them, their work, want them to stick around, and want them to keep doing their best for themselves, just as much as they are motivated to do their best for the company.
Be a coach
Employees respect leaders who lead by example, aren’t afraid to admit their mistakes and get their hands dirty like everyone else. They appreciate leaders who have done the work they do and are inspired by leaders who have succeeded in the goals they set for themselves. Being a boss tends to instill feelings of dread or fear amongst most workers. However, being a coach, offering guidance, and empowering your teams help to create a comfortable workplace where employees feel safe to communicate needs, questions, and ideas. Take the time to speak to and coach each employee individually as well. The interest in their wellbeing and job development will give them a priceless self-esteem boost.
Give feedback
Give employees feedback as soon as it’s relevant so any hiccups can be addressed right away. Talk to employees one-on-one, so they don’t feel called out or put on the spot if there are areas of improvement needed. Your advice is more likely to be received and followed if you keep the mood light and frame your words kindly.
Accept feedback
Be an excellent listener. Encourage employees to give you and your business feedback as well. For starters, you might offer anonymous employee surveys which allow you to tackle issues employees might not feel comfortable bringing up directly and make changes that improve the way their needs are met at work.
Ask Great Questions
Ask your employees what they think will work on a new project, how they came to that conclusion, and if they have other ideas in case they need a second plan of attack. Give your employees a chance to invest more of themselves and their ideas into their work. Encourage them to be creative and troubleshoot in their own ways. Empowering your employees in this way means you’ll have people bringing you more solutions rather than problems. Eventually, this autonomy will let you focus your energy on more challenging issues because you’ll know your company is in capable hands. The best way to create a positive and supportive company culture is to show your employees you value them by investing in them. Provide amenities, services, coaching, and care that inspires personal and workplace development and nourishes the mental and emotional health of your staff. If you’re passionate about creating a top-notch company culture for your employees, you can learn more by joining CoachDiversity Institute for a special event on Oct. 3rd, 2019. CoachDiversity Institute is hosting the industry’s premier event for coaching and diversity, the theme of which is “Culture At Work.” The event highlights coaching as a tool for diversity and inclusion and promotes and celebrates diversity. This symposium is a spectacular forum that gathers the best minds in coaching, diversity, and inclusion to share knowledge, resources, and tools. We hope to see you there! Learn more about the event here. To purchase tickets, click here. Contact us today to learn more about our management training, executive coaching, and coach training programs.