Creating Great Workplaces Requisite HR September Newsletter 2017
Great Workplaces When considering both the impact of a poor workplace and results produced by a great workplace, creating a great workplace should be top priority for businesses, and be included in their business strategy. If you aren’t convenience by this statement, let us examine this in more detail. One of the biggest consequence of a poor workplace is high turnover. When turnover occurs operating costs increase, decreasing profitability. The research shows that the average cost incurred by replacing top management is around $109,909 per year, and $9,591 for an operational employee. However, that is just the tangible costs such as recruitment and training, on top of these there are intangible costs such as loss of leadership direction, lost productivity, diminished morale, loss of company and client knowledge and more. Research conducted by Price Waterhouse Coopers in Australia puts the costs of lost productivity as a result of employees leaving within 12 months, at $3.8 billion and the avoidable recruitment costs at $385 million. Some of the other effects of a poor workplace are increased workplace conflict, increased safety incidents, demoralisation, increased sick leave, increased stress, decreased loyalty and commitment to the Company, neglectful attitudes, decreased self-confidence, decreased profit and company growth. On the other hand, when we consider the Great Work Place Institute’s cumulative research findings of over 20 years, creating a great workplace increases the commitment of employees to their roles, increase employee’s productivity, attracts more qualified applicants to the organisation and lowers employees’ voluntary turnover, which increases the company’s chances to perform better financially.
Another benefit of a great workplace is appreciative team members and an enhanced trust between an employer and their team, which can be very beneficial during difficult times. Also, when team members are happy at work they can become “Brand Ambassadors” speaking well about the company and what the company does. When you have a great workplace, you get people waiting in line to join the team, turnover is low, people come together to work as a team encouraging and supporting each other to succeed, people are excited about coming to work and are energised by the Company mission, team members enjoy the people that they work with and are willing to go the extra mile to help them out, communication is strong and change is welcomed, because they know that the leadership has their best interests at heart. With all this in mind, any business that has team members, should spend some of their focus on creating a great workplace, especially when you have gone to all the effort and cost of finding, attracting and deploying a great team member into the business. If you can’t retain them for a reasonable time period, then that time and effort goes to waste. So, what are some of the things a business can do to create a great workplace? Well before you can consider this you need to know your team, I mean really know your team and what makes them tick. For example, companies with team members who have young families often see a great workplace as one that has accommodating working hours, ensuring that they are there for important family occasions or events. Whether it be for a school carnival to watch a child run their first running race or an assemble where their child is getting an award. Whereas a younger team member without children may see a great workplace as one that creates opportunities for personal and career growth. Only once you understand what your team members desire, can you can go about creating a workplace culture and environment that meets their needs. One research study found over 50 characteristics of a great workplace, but since I don’t have unlimited time and space to go into each and every one, let’s just look at a couple: Corporate Citizenship – When your business is a good corporate citizenship, people feel proud to be associated with a Company that is making the world a better place. Physical and Mental Well-being – People want to be seen as a person and not a number or as tool that produces output. This can be achieved when a Company considers and implements actions or workplace policies that values the whole of a person, including their physical and mental well-being.
Transparency – When the team are regularly informed about crucial issues and any changes in the workplace, a harmonious relationship between all stakeholders can be achieved. And what team member doesn’t value harmony? Comfortable Work Environment – Everyone has difference preference as to what makes a comfortable work environment for them. For example, some may need a space that is quiet to help them focus their thoughts on difficult or challenging work, others work best with a musical stimulus when completing repetitive mundane work. When designing workplaces, we can get focused on the “look” of the office, and in the process individual preferences and needs get left behind. Is arranging a different more expensive chair for a team member with a bad back, more expensive that having to replace a great team member, who quit because they were forced to work in pain? Job Security – When the market is going through challenging times, job security can move up the list of what people are looking for in a Company. People want to know that the company will look after them when times are tough and value them as much as when times were booming. Great Managers – We all know the saying “People leave Managers, not Companies” and it is true (I speak from experience here!), so a great workplace is one that finds and support exceptional managers. Don’t put someone in charge of others because they have outstanding technical skills, when the main focus of a team leader role is sharing information, coordinating activities, inspiring and motivating people.
What type of Team Member do you want?
How to make workplaces great. Ideas by Greatness in the workplace comes from staff enjoying their environment, which in turn leads to high morale and job satisfaction - improving productivity and better results for everyone. So where should you focus? Focus on your staff! Here are a few ideas on how to make workplaces great: Give staff freedom to grow and have a say. Staff are what makes everything function in a workplace. It only makes sense to allow them to grow and have an opinion, as this provides them a better sense of belonging. By introducing a growth aspect to the workplace such as training days, guest speakers or training on a particular skill, staff learn new skills and value-add to workplaces. Create a dedicated ‘Chill out Zone’. The mental wellbeing of staff is an area that should receive greater focus at workplaces. If a worker's mental wellbeing is in check, they can focus while at work. The workplace can be their escape from outside life and provide positive vibes! Chill out zones in the workplace such as a room with loungers to lay down, books, plants and meditation music is a simple way to boost staff wellbeing. Add rewards and laughter into the work culture. Introducing laughter does have positive workplace culture benefits. For example, making one day a month a ‘onesie’ day. This will bring a lot of laughter, create memories and build rapport between employees. Now not all workplaces are appropriate for wearing onesies, so other ideas such as a rewards program can also have great benefits. This will promote and encourage staff performance. Some reward ideas could be movie tickets, sporting tickets, concert tickets or day spa.
Create a healthy eating station. Workplaces that have a big focus on health and wellness often create healthy workplace environments. It is only natural for staff to get hungry while at work especially at the 3pm slump. Providing brain boosting healthy energy snacks will keep staff performing at optimal levels! Some great eating station ideas include healthy snacks, fruit and hot/cold beverages. Snackbox Co delivers healthy snacks to workplaces on a monthly basis and caters for small to large companies. They’re not the average boring snacks, but a wide variety of snacks that taste good, and also have no added nasties to help your staff fuel that mid-afternoon hunger! Make your workplace great with Snackbox Co.
Great Workplaces Embrace Technology Rather Than Resist It If you want to attract and retain the best new talent, your business needs to put the best technologies at their fingertips. There was a time when the PC on your desk was far more powerful than any personal technology you might have at home, but times have changed. These days it can be frustrating to come into work and be faced with cumbersome tech that hampers your productivity – especially if you’re a Millennial who has always had powerful devices and fast internet access at your fingertips. Digital natives who’ve grown up with the internet and powerful handheld devices are looking for flexibility in their work environment, along with the ability to remain productive anywhere, anytime as they strive to strike the best work/life balance. They’re keen to work, but want to work smarter and not just harder. If you’re not ready for a hardware overhaul, then part of your business technology strategy might involve embracing a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program, which allows staff to use their personal devices for work. Remember, it’s important to have strong BYOD policies in place and consider how you’ll manage those devices and the business data they hold. Look for platform-agnostic apps and services that don’t tie you to specific hardware or ecosystems.
Creating an attractive workplace for the tech-savvy younger generation isn’t just about putting shiny gadgets in their hands. It’s about your entire approach to technology – when the latest technology is second nature to them, they want to work for an organisation that views new technology as an opportunity to be embraced rather than a challenge to be resisted. Embracing cloud-based communication and collaboration tools can help your business become more agile and nimble, granting all staff more flexibility while offering a significant productivity boost. The idea is to make it easier for your people to work as a team. This might include the new generation of multi-channel business communication tools, which can reduce phone tag and painfully long email chains. Business-grade chat tools make it easier for your people to coordinate their efforts, whether they’re on opposite sides of the office or opposite sides of the globe. At the same time, voice and video conferencing tools can help reduce travel. Meanwhile, cloud office suites allow multiple staff to work on documents simultaneously rather than struggling with version control as files are emailed around the office and copied to USB sticks. Mobility is another key to empowering your staff to work effectively while breaking the desktop shackles – so they can get more done while they’re on the move rather than waiting until they get back to the office. With robust mobility and collaboration strategies in place it’s much easier to consider the merits of other flexible workplace options such as hot desking, telecommuting and job sharing. It’s not necessary to turn your business upside-down to please Millennials, but if you want to attract the best young talent and reduce turnover they want to see that you view technology as a competitive advantage rather than a millstone around your neck. TechBrain was founded in in 2003 and has been growing ever since. They have a loyal and active client base of businesses, government and not-for-profit organisations from over 30 industries including health, professional services, mining, engineering, insurance and finance. Based in Perth, Western Australia, they pride themselves on understanding client problems and proactively delivering solutions to improve productivity and efficiency.