According to a recent survey, people are much more likely to leave a bad manager than a bad company. Sure, there are some people in life that are simply unbearable, but at times this will not be the root of the problem. Sometimes, the managers will only enforce the company policy, which can be even worse. Luckily, with 10 simple steps, you can make your company easy to work for, without having to raise salaries or give out promotions.
Validate Individual Achievements
Just because someone did a good job doesn’t mean they deserve a significant raise or an instant promotion. However, it would be a really bad practice not to acknowledge such an achievement. Of course, you don’t want to rub it into everyone else’s faces- after all, it is not your goal to raise animosity within the company- but you could find a subtle way to validate your employee in front of their peers.
Show that You Care
Every serious manager would outright tell you that fraternizing with employees is bad. This is how accusations of bias, nepotism and favoritism are born. However, you shouldn’t treat your employees as numbers either. Something as simple as sending them a birthday card or even a gift (in the name of company, of course), can show that you care about them, but still maintain the aura of professionalism.
Make a Community
In larger companies, it is quite easy for two people working just few floors apart to never meet. In case where they are working in different departments, it is likely that they won’t have much chance to interact with each other. This is why making regular company meetups will help bring colleagues from across the company together, and therefore help your staff see the entirety of your company. In this way, you will only nurture their loyalty.
Organize Sports Events
Making a community is important and events are a great way of achieving this, but why not take this one step further? For example, you could organize a sport event and in this way also encourage teambuilding. You could either mix departments into randomized teams or set one department against another and strengthen your company’s internal structure through a bit of friendly competition.
Diversify
One of the best things about work is that you get to mingle with people you would otherwise most likely never meet. This has resulted in a great deal of office friendships, romances, and even animosities, but this is all part of life. By keeping your office as diverse as possible, you are not only making it ready to face any challenge (regardless of its nature), but also making it much more interesting to work in.
Think about Their Health
Another thing you need to worry about is the health of your employees. There are several reasons behind this. First, it is a humane thing to do. Second, if a productive employee takes a sick leave you are bound to start losing money. Finally, if the aforementioned productive employee decides to work while sick, at very best, they won’t be able to give their 100 percent, but in the worst case scenario they will cause an epidemic. Overall, investing in their health and wellbeing is the right way to go.
Support Self-Improvement Efforts
One is never too old to learn a new skill and this should be a motto of every sensible employer. In fact, you should even go one step further in this. Whenever you can, you should organize or finance courses for your employees and send them on seminars. Career coaching, mentoring, and professional networking are just some of the things you could do for your staff members. There are those who fear that this would only encourage the employees to look for a more lucrative employment, but in reality it is usually the other way around.
Promote Teamwork
Anyone can be good at a particular skill, but becoming great at teamwork is much more difficult. This is why it needs to become one of the traits you value the most. Encourage group efforts, joint results and selflessness. After all, employees who are happy with their job are bound to invest more effort in their work and people they work with are a major component in this.
Insist on Breaks
In every office, there are some people who are overachievers. These people sometimes avoid breaks, work from home, and even stay longer than intended. Even though this can be very valuable for the employer, it is not a healthy practice. Therefore, you should insist that they take breaks at a designated time. Whether or not they work from home is something you cannot affect, but what they do in the office should always be your concern.
Don’t Micromanage Everything
Finally, the last thing you want is to create a prison atmosphere in the office. Being a control freak in most cases only demonstrates your lack of trust in your team’s abilities, which often tends to backfire. Having you over their shoulder 24/7 is not helping people who are trying to focus on their work; you are not contributing as much as you would want to believe. You need to give your employees some autonomy in performing their tasks the way the see most fit.
Conclusion
As you can see, improving your company culture is far from difficult. All you need to do is become more understanding, focus on non-material aspects of your business and of course, trust that your employees will do the right thing when the crucial moment arrives.
