All over LinkedIn and HR publications people are talking about employee culture or workplace culture and no one really explains what it is or how to create one!
Workplace culture is the combination of company principles and ideologies of a business to create an environment for employees. A healthy or positive workplace culture will align the company policies and employee behaviours with the company’s goals while maintaining focus on the well-being of individuals.
How Do I Make a Healthy Workplace Culture?
Job searching site Indeed lays out the characteristics of a healthy workplace culture as:
- Equity
- Recognition
- Freedom of expression
- Friendly policies
- Communication
Equity
Equity means everyone in the workplace is treated with the same level of respect, regardless of their position. Picking favourites as a leadership team will demoralise subordinates and impact on their quality of work. Every employee regardless of religion, race, disability etc should be judged solely on the work produced.
Equity also means paying employees in similar roles a fair wage, with no gender pay gaps or other discriminatory factors at play. Employees in the UK are free to talk about their salaries under the 2010 Equality Act, employers can ask staff not to talk about it but there is nothing legally stopping the conversation.
Some employees may require additional support to help them work as effectively as other team members, this could be adaptions for a disabled employee, additional training, or software. These accommodations allow employees to be on a level playing field with their colleagues and allowing them to succeed within their role.
Recognition
Happy employees mean happy clients and that means happy managers, so how can you recognise your standout employees in a fair and equal way without demoralising those who aren’t performing as well?
Platforms like Niftiee allow you to reward your employees equally and fairly while congratulating those who are outstanding and giving lower performers something to strive towards. All employees get access to all our exclusive discounts, money off gym memberships and access to an Employee Assistance Program. Niftiee also can allow employers or HR professionals to reward employees on a case-by-case situation, simply apply credit to the employee’s Niftiee account and let them choose how they want to use their reward.
Don’t forget little treats in the office never go a miss either, whether that’s a lunchtime treat on the boss, free coffee, and birthday celebrations. It’s nice to reward people just because!
Freedom of Expression
Being able to talk openly and without judgement is something we all strive for in our lives, and in the workplace, this is equally important. Being heard is part of feeling valued, with 74% of people say they perform better in their jobs they were being heard.
If your management team can listen to their staff and help them with work or even personal matters, the employee will feel valued and want to keep turning up and giving it their all. Open meetings up to alternative teams to ask for ideas, allowing for a private email with suggestions or simply asking how you can help individuals in one-to-one meetings are all ways of making sure that your employees feel like they can speak their mind and feel heard.
Friendly Policies
Friendly policies mean more than just allowing dogs to be brought into the office, it’s about flexibility of rules and being approachable enough for employees to ask for that flexibility. Allowing flexible working such as hybrid working or remote working for people when they need to go to the dentist or look after a poorly child can go a long way in retaining employees and making them happy. Ensure regular check-ins with employees who need extra support while ensuring employees who don’t reach out are coping as well.
Other examples of friendly policies are casual dress codes, use of mobile phones for personal calls, assigned parking spaces and the favourite bring your dog to the office policy.
With friendly, more flexible policies, you have to sometimes lay down the law and be strict about how much your employees can push those policies. Ensure employees know what limitations there may be, what consequences there are for not following policy and a strong HR team to help keep everyone singing from the same hymn sheet.
Communication
Communication is something that links all of the above, if employees can’t express an opinion, problem, or solution they won’t feel like they’re being treated equally, feel heard or able to express their thoughts and feelings.
As hybrid & remote work has stuck around after the pandemic, having group channels like WhatsApp, Slack or Google Hangouts for employees to share ideas and chat, no matter where they’re based are crucial! Some things don’t need to be a meeting or an email, they’re just a quick question you’d ask if that person were sat next to you! With instant messaging confusion can be cleared up quickly, problems can be solved by people they may not have thought of, and work can continue.
You could set up meetings or forums for employees to speak openly about concerns in projects, allowing employees to shout out their colleagues or asking for anonymous employee satisfaction surveys to be filled can all help employees feel noticed and boost morale. Positive and collaborative communication leads to a happier and more fulfilled workforce.
Creating a positive workplace culture where everyone feels valued, capable to succeed and able to speak their mind will set your company up for success. Be sure to listen to your employee’s feedback and lean on them to help cultivate a great work experience.
Sign up to Niftiee Employee Benefits Platform with no minimum membership requirements from £7.99 (+VAT) per employee per month and start rewarding your staff. Build the perfect employee benefits platform by getting in touch with our friendly team and see how Niftiee can work for your business.