Ben Peterson, CEO and co-founder of BambooHR, said, “If you create a great place to work, great work takes place.”
Culture is on the top of every executive’s mind right now. It feels a bit like herding cats and chasing Jello. The false starts have been challenging, yet these “Best Places to Work” CEOs are up to the test. I get a crawl up my back every year when our public relations person says, “It’s time for the Best Places to Work assessment.” It feels like a 360 review. We know how that feels, despite how important it is to see how we are performing. Of course, in recent times we’ve had multiple opportunities to learn to succeed in new ways of doing business, including experiencing our teams working remotely. Our communications and management have had to become more creative through trial and error for many of us.
Paychex has shared that two thirds of employees said team morale was high before COVID 19, but has dropped to less than half in 2021. Today it is more important than ever to focus on employee engagement to gain back a sense of team and commitment to the company. With the warnings of a “workplace turnover tsunami,” the pressure is rising more than ever to ensure we remain a best place to work. Internal branding must be in the forefront of our minds allowing communications to include extended services from offering wellness, hiking and mental health apps as well as new training methods for our employees.
Life has been hard on employees from the sandwich generation, having teens missing out on proms and younger children distracted as they listen to teachers via Zoom. Homes have been busier than ever all day long as employees are working from kitchen tables trying to get their work done, shushing the children as they run gleefully through the room. According to many employees, they are managing it all well; however, medical carrier statistics may show ugly truths that are impacting many others.
Communication is essential in the success of any workplace, yet even more so with those who are isolated from managers and teammates. Face-to-face meetings are difficult to have, even in large conference rooms with social distancing and face masks. However, face-to-face meetings are an important way to ensure open communication and walking down the hall to check in with employees. Those working from home are missing out on everyday check-ins. Some managers are taking the time to call their staff to help the one-on-one connection. While video platforms have truly gotten everyone through this COVID 19, we are seeing signs of burnout and disinterest as employees easily hide behind their name or photo. Employee engagement is difficult to monitor except through setting clear expectations and work output.
“MBA Inventory, Motivating by Appreciation” is a proactive way to measure how employees feel appreciated and cared for. This assessment measures the way an employee receives appreciation through offerings of tangible gifts, words of affirmation, acts of service or quality time. Engaging employees who seem to be drifting, through mentoring and listening to how they excel and rewarding performance results can mean a lot to someone who enjoys tangible gifts. Teaming up those who feel appreciated through ‘acts of service’ and are feeling overwhelmed with a teammate to help work on projects together or offer assistance works. Quality time in a phone call may impact a person tremendously if this is their method of receiving appreciation or with words of affirmation.
A LinkedIn Learning survey found 74 percent of global respondents believe building new skills is critical in rebuilding organizations in the post-COVID-19 world. Experts are suggesting break up learning content for virtual online training that needs to be different than in-person trainings, using a mix of synchronous and asynchronous delivery approaches. Some people need immediate feedback while others prefer learning at their own pace. TED talks, podcasts, articles or Power Point presentations need to be shorter for virtual learning. Bulletin boards, newsletters with a variety of work, work life balance topics and discussion groups gain respect from employees, holding culture together as employees get to know each other in breakout rooms virtually or in person. No matter what methods we use to stay connected, culture counts and is the glue that holds us together in the office or from home.
Danone Simpson is CEO of Montage Insurance Solutions.
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