You might have the best business idea in the world, but if you don’t develop a top class working culture at your business you can end up falling into one of the many pitfalls open to new and established businesses alike. Remember, around 50% of businesses fail in their first five years. Don’t let it be because your workforce wasn’t properly engaged. If the people who work for you are happy because of a brilliant work culture, they’ll be far more productive and actually want to be there and work for you. But how do you do it? Different businesses will swear by separate tactics, even within the same industries. You have to use a bit of trial and error. What works for one employee might not for the next.
Make sure their environment is secure
Ensuring people work in a secure and safe environment is pretty important. This isn’t just from a physical point of view, but virtual too. You need to make sure that if people are working from home on their own laptop that your systems and data are well protected and free from viruses. You should try to Find out more around your own personal systems and controls to ensure interaction over a network is safe. In a physical sense, you need to make sure their workplace is safe. Some are far more hazardous than others, and even small offices can have their own little risk areas. Make sure you train people up to the fullest extent on tools and machinery, give them the right ppe if necessary and make sure everyone is on the same page. You can’t instil a brilliant work culture if people are worried about their environment.
Give them something to aim for
It’s important to ensure there’s something to aim for, which can be pretty tough in a smaller business. There needs to be a direct promotion opportunity, or a way to earn more money. You can tie this to targets or length of service. People need to feel like they’re working towards a tangible result. If they aren’t, they’re not going to want to go above and beyond for you and your business. You can create a level structure for promotion, or a bonus scheme to give people a monetary reward for hitting certain targets.
Try to have fun
Yep. You can’t just spend each and every day with your nose in work. You need to be able to have some fun with your employees and learn to relax a little. This is all part of having a good work culture. Sure, you can’t do this to the detriment of work and there’s a skill in weighing up the right amount of fun to have. It might be something silly like playing a few funny pranks on each other, or taking some time out every now and then for a quiz or an impromptu meal out for lunch. You can do things out of work too, like a night out or some team building exercises. Just don’t expect too much from them out of work because this is their time. Allow some fun, don’t be so uptight. It’s as simple as this: if people are happy, they’ll work a lot better for you.
Help them learn
Give them the tools they need to excel. If you set them work to do or a target to hit, they need to have the means and the knowledge to do this. Each business is different in this regard. Maybe you want them to design some top level product pages but they haven’t done it before. You need to help them by subscribing to design software, using a good photographer, etc. Maybe they’re struggling making sales to a certain type of client or they’re struggling to keep on top of the supply chain. Enable them to succeed. Train them, invest in them as best as you can and they’ll do their best for you.
Beat your competitor
So long as you treat your employees better than your competitors, then you’re going to have a good reputation. The people in your sphere will have a few sorts of choices in terms of where to work: for you, or for any number of your competitors in the same area. You want to attract the best candidates and you can do this by offering flexibility. Can they work from home? Are you allowing their start and finish times to be as flexible as possible? Try to find competitors in your local area and beat what they offer in terms of flexibility. People will love you and the future forward culture you’re trying to implement.
