An industry with a thriving company culture is one that people want to work for. It’s also one that supports employees so that they can work better. It’s a positive feedback loop that all businesses should adopt because, unless your company cares for its employees and gives them a future, your top talent is going to leave you for better opportunities. Similarly, a hardworking employee who joins you and doesn’t see any recognition for their hard work is going to become unmotivated, because they’re getting the same pay and treatment as the employee putting in minimum effort. That is the reality of what a poor working environment can do.
To encourage top talent and great thinkers, you need your business to have a thriving company culture. Once you have this environment, you can then bring in better and more talented employees that you have vetted through innovative pre-employment testing methods and not just a standard interview. You will have the ability to build a dream team and have the environment to bolster their loyalty and retention.
You can have it all, but first, you need to work on yourself.
1. Tackle Your Physical Environment First
You need your office to be bright, spacious and comfortable. Working in a stylish, comfortable environment can make people proud to be there and happy to spend their days in your building. Try to think in terms of interior design instead of office psychology. Desks and chairs need to be at the right height and comfortable, yes, but you can also add decorative elements that promote a calm, peaceful environment that helps encourage a healthy mindset.
2. Encourage Healthy Eating and Living
To encourage healthy eating and living, you need to start in the break room. Include all the bells and whistles of basic meal preparation. Plates, cutlery, mugs and glasses are a good place to start, but also have simple cooking tools like a baking try and toaster oven so that people can reheat healthy meals from home easily.
The second step will be to offer healthy living initiatives. A bike to work scheme, for example, or, if your team is small, you can encourage a once-weekly team lunch where someone brings in food for everyone, so you can all try out different home-cooked meals and swap recipes.
3. Allow for Training Development
You need to know what training opportunities are available in your city and offer to sponsor or at least part-pay for employees who are interested. This way, you can further their development and benefit from their new talents and skills.
4. Offer Benefits That Matter
Offer benefits that matter and allow employees to pick and choose which benefits they want. You could, for example, offer a range of ten different benefits and allow employees to choose four for themselves. This way, they can customize which benefits they use based on their personal needs. A parent could choose Flextime as their benefit, whereas a single employee could opt for a gym membership discount.
5. Always Seek to Improve
Have internal reviews for your own management and business so that your employees can anonymously make complaints or suggestions. This will help you to improve and become a better employer who, in turn, can attract incredible talent.
