Employees are the heart and soul of everything a business does. By investing in them, managers can create a culture that fosters transformational thinking and promotes growth. It all starts with an understanding of culture and of human connections. Employees who feel understood and appreciated become more productive and will go the extra mile on behalf of clients and consumers.
Developing initiatives that advance an organization’s mission fosters a collaborative spirit. By investing in people, you produce a smarter workforce, a team that can produce amazing results and increase your bottom line. So, let’s explore how to develop a healthy working environment.
Five Tips to a Healthy Work Culture:
Support Staff
Let your team(s) know that they are the heart of your organization. It will ensure that your employees feel connected to your goals and appreciated for the work they do. Recognize that your staff members spend more than one-third of their day in the office, and develop programs aimed toward making this time a positive experience. Perk it up, stock up on snacks, upgrade your coffee machine, offer fitness classes, stage appreciation days, and celebrate together with happy hours or teambuilding games. Showing your team members that you care about their welfare will increase job satisfaction and productivity. Remember, an investment in people ultimately translates into happier clients and consumers.
Nurture the Environment
Ask your employees to contribute to protecting our planet’s resources. Create policies that promote energy efficiency, reduce waste, and conserve water. Recycle plastics, aluminum, and e-waste, and consider composting leftover lunches. Find places to donate old office furniture, add dimmable occupancy sensors in conference rooms, use programmable controls for lights and thermostats. Simply asking employees to turn off all the lights before leaving can make a huge difference in energy conservation and how they feel about the environment.
Helping Others
Support meaningful causes, and create a culture of giving. Find ways that can make a difference in the community by donating labor, time, materials, or charitable donations. Set up mentorship programs; share knowledge or resources that can improve the welfare of others. Give aid to relief efforts or shelters, or assist with animal adoptions; there are many ways to make a different. By challenging your team members to get involved, they become more engaged not only with the company but also with their coworkers united to make a difference in the world.
Discovery + Innovation
Innovation comes from knowing where you’ve been and where you want to go. Reaching goals requires an in-depth understanding of your challenges. Circulate surveys and collect honest feedback. You may be surprised by what you learn. Listening goes a long way. Share ideas and brainstorm, a team that communicates freely becomes a powerful tool to implement change. The road to innovations starts with the freedom to experiment, to make mistakes in order to get it right. A team that is given permission to fail will feel more confident in delivering the right solution.
Investing in Education + Training
Invest in educating your people. The more your team members know, the more they can offer clients and customers. Provide staff opportunities to advance careers through certification programs and learning opportunities. Offer workshops and webinars that tackle challenges faced by your teams. Support the thirst for knowledge by encouraging employees to attend conferences and networking events. Begin a lunch + learn program to elevate skill sets, and build a reference library to help elevate their game.
Ultimately, by investing in your people, you create a culture that ensures employee retention, while building a smarter, more flexible workforce—one that is better able to communicate and collaborate in pursuit of transformative goals.
Cofounder and Chief Innovative Officer at productionglue, Eric Tetuan has built his portfolio over 25 years in New York City production. As the company evolved, Tetuan’s focus turned to supporting growth, maintaining project performance, and overseeing office culture, including the management of all processes to ensure that productionglue delivers the best possible results. He worked with a team to establish an internal review process (the “g-brief”) that fosters communication about projects between the team, key leaders of productionglue, and trusted partners. These best practices have helped the productionglue team maintain a culture of excellence. Contact Eric: eric@productionglue.com