By Thandie M
We spend a third of our day, over forty hours of the week at work, so why not make it worthwhile?
At Neslo we believe in a positive workplace culture. We believe in an environment that is created for employees, which encourages staff to work constructively together, to care for each other’s wellbeing. This encourages good relationships, increases productivity, progression, teamwork and retention of staff.
Why is it important?
Exceptional customer service:
Positive workplace culture creates better customer service and customer retention when managers and employees’ positive methods satisfy the customers. It is about going above and beyond expectation that creates loyalty beyond reason.
Brings out the best and makes a leader in everyone:
When employees are motivated, they are inspired to take on additional tasks and responsibilities. This enables workers to view their duties more clearly and this in turn instills enhanced leadership skills. A positive work culture makes each person take accountability and not shy away from responsibilities and help solve problems. They are inspired to become part of the solution.
This gives employees a family feel rather than just a number and gives employees a reason to stay longer at a company.
It drives engagement and retention:
Culture is a foundation of a company, it impacts how employees interact within work. A good workplace culture is proven to keep employees engaged while exceeding expectations. It allows employees to better understand what is expected of them and how they can achieve their professional goals. This gives a sense of belonging and loyalty.
It creates healthy personal development:
A good workplace culture provides everyone with the opportunity to initiate change while growing on a professional and personal aspect. It promotes openness and encourages your employees to voice their opinions while chasing after the values they believe in.
It creates satisfied employees and increases productivity:
A healthy workplace culture creates collaboration within employees, it energises productivity and all employees take pride in their individual success while contributing to the company success.
It drives financial performance:
Successful leaders believe that workplace culture and financial performance are interrelated. Workplace culture directly impact the way your employees perform, which subsequently has a direct coalition on the health of business’ financial bottom-line. It is important to hire people who believe and are cheerleaders of company culture to help continuation of the company foundation.
Creating a positive workplace culture
There is no shortcut to creating the best culture. Each workplace is unique to the individuals’ needs and business structure. To get you started we have five proven methods on how to improve your workplace culture, regardless of your industry.
1) Cultivate employee relationships:
Strong relationships in the workplace can lead to an increase in effective communication. Capitalise on this by hosting group bonding activities such as team dinners or happy hour so that your employees can get to know each other better.
2) Build universal traits employees seek from employers:
‘Support and respect are the universal traits employees look for from their employers. You can support the development of these traits by ensuring that you are incorporating them into your day-to-day work tasks. This can include teamwork, open forum feedback, and mentoring programs.
3) A comfortable workplace:
The office must feel like a ‘home away from home.’ It must be inviting for all employees and be as simple as possible.
4) Career development training:
Learning never stops. It’s important to provide your team with developmental training so that they can up-skill and grow into better leaders. This will make them feel appreciated for their contributions, which helps to enhance productivity, performance, and engagement.
5) Be mindful of burnout:
Rest is an important contributor to performance. If staff members are overworked and stressed, this can be a key indicator that workplace culture is unhealthy. A culture that rewards hours over results can lead to an atmosphere of competitiveness and one where employees favour long-hours over the rest and downtime they need to perform.
By simply encouraging employees to leave on-time where possible, you can dramatically improve cultural outcomes.
