Employee-Centered Work Culture Strategies

An employee-centered culture boosts productivity, retention, and innovation by prioritizing worker well-being and fostering open communication. Companies benefit from reduced turnover, empowered employees, and enhanced customer satisfaction.

By Douglas Wade, Attorney

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Table of Contents

1. What is an employee centered work culture?

2. Advantages of a culture that prioritizes employees

3. Strategies for promoting an employee-centered culture

4. Making the health and happiness of your employees a top priority

5. In summary

What is an employee centered work culture?

From increased productivity and employee retention to better customer service, there are numerous ways in which companies can reap the benefits of an employee-centric culture. Let’s take a closer look at what an employee-centric culture is, why it’s beneficial, and how your company can foster one.

Open communication, feedback, psychological safety, and innovation are hallmarks of an employee-centric culture. The workers become the most important thing.

Workers are more invested, content, and productive when they believe their employer cares about them as individuals and their well-being. Nobody is afraid to speak out or offer comments in this workplace; doing so will not get you in trouble.

A company’s members are its essence. In order to expand your business, it is essential to foster an environment that encourages creativity and innovation.

Advantages of a culture that prioritizes employees

There are several advantages for the company when it builds an employee-centric organization:

1. Motivated and effective staff

When workers feel valued and have good rapport with their immediate superiors, they are more invested in their work and their employer’s success. Key components of an employee-centric organization include fostering positive relationships between managers and staff, providing adequate resources for work, and granting employees discretion and autonomy in their work.

When it comes down to it, what matters most is that workers feel appreciated, respected, and acknowledged for their efforts. A more empowered and motivated workforce is a result of an environment where workers are welcome and supported in their work. At work, they are free to be themselves.

When workers are enthusiastic about what they do for a living, they give their all to their jobs and the companies they work for. Furthermore, involvement results in output, which benefits financial results.

Salesforce found that when workers feel valued, respected, and supported at work, they are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs and put their best effort in.

2. Decreased staff turnover

A positive employee experience is the result of a pleasant workplace that prioritizes its people. Engaged and content workers tend to remain with their companies for longer periods of time.

In fact, a bad experience could cause a person to quit the company suddenly, even if they don’t have any other job offers. These responses happen because of bad situations, like not having enough freedom or thinking they are not getting paid enough.

In this era of “The Great Resignation” and rising skill gaps around the world, companies need to focus on their employees to keep great employees who can carry out their business strategies and lower the cost of hiring new ones.

3. Consumers who are more satisfied

Virgin Group founder Richard Branson once said, “Take care of your employees, and they will take care of your business.”

With a strong corporate culture, equitable compensation, and a work-life balance that encourages people to give their all, HR and leadership teams can foster an environment where workers thrive.

Their optimistic attitude extends to their customer relationships, leading to contented and happy customers.

Customers that are satisfied are more likely to buy from you again, tell their friends about your business, and offer suggestions on how you may make your products and services better. In the end, increased sales are a direct outcome of happy, loyal customers who buy from you again and again.

4. Maximized profits and return on investment

According to research from Willis Towers Watson, there is a strong correlation between a positive work environment and increased profits.

According to the research, successful businesses place a premium on their workers’ emotional well-being, namely their level of trust in upper management, their ability to advance professionally, and their enthusiasm for the company’s mission and purpose.

Aside from these, other characteristics of a high-performing company’s employee experience include:

Workers have a fundamental grasp of the organization’s objectives
Local managers back their employees
Tasks are structured and organized through the use of efficient procedures, workplace flexibility, and internal scheduling.

Strategies for promoting an employee-centered culture

Now that you know why employee-centricity is a good thing, here are some ways your company can implement its principles:

Think of workers as customers

Leaders in human resources should treat their staff like customers. They have demands and requirements that must be satisfied, such as the demands for respect, fair pay, and opportunities for advancement in their careers.

To meet these demands, we need to shift our focus from procedures to the design of the processes and workspaces themselves.

Therefore, in order to implement a human-centered strategy that centers on providing meaningful employee experiences, we must apply design thinking. To begin with:

Helping workers by putting themselves in their shoes and learning about their struggles
Proceeding to identify the issue
Coming up with a list of potential HR solutions and ideas
Constructing working models to determine what does and does not work

Some businesses that have integrated design thinking into their work environment include:

IBM: In order to make the company’s training and education programs better, CHRO Diane Gherson applied design thinking. She mentioned that they had adopted a Netflix-style strategy. With the help of intelligent recommendations that are regularly updated, individuals build their own customized learning platform with various channels tailored to their specific function. A chat advisor helps them choose courses based on their interests and the reviews of other learners. In addition, they implemented Net Promoter Scores to measure how well the training was received.

Zappos: The business aimed to provide new recruits with an exciting and memorable experience. During their first month on the job, new hires participate in team building exercises, games, and presentations on the company’s beliefs and history. They also learn how to provide customers WOW service and create lasting relationships with their coworkers. Building relationships and making sure the new hires are comfortable in their roles are the goals, according to corporate trainer Stepanie Hudec.

Improve your (online) staff’s overall experience

People now have more flexibility to choose the work arrangements that suit them best, thanks to the rise of hybrid and remote work. The upper echelons of management need to put money into digital resources that enable distant and hybrid work.

Because of this, the digital employee experience (DEX) is growing in importance as a component of your overall employee experience. DEX includes tools for project and workflow management (Trello, Asana, Zapier), team collaboration and communication (Zoom, Microsoft Meetings), and access to HR services (Officevibe, Fond, etc.) for things like providing feedback and employee rewards.

Think about how these tools, whether you’re using them for the first time or upgrading your present set, add to a great digital employee experience:

Efficacy in operation and setup
Improving output with less effort
Program uniformity (everyone should be able to access and use the same tools for collaborating with other groups)
Methods for gathering input both before and after software training in order to determine the efficacy of the tools and, alternatively, the existence of more suitable alternatives.
If you want to create a digital company that values its employees, you need to become proficient in digital tools. The ability to create efficient digital solutions and procedures for your company can be yours when you enroll in a Digital HR certificate program that includes a design thinking in HR course.

Additionally, employee-centric businesses should think about reimagining their physical workplaces by adding more conference and meeting spaces to encourage teamwork while employees are physically present.

Get feedback and use it

If you want to know what’s working and what isn’t at your company, you need to ask your staff for feedback.

The best approach to find out what your employees think is to do focus groups, exit interviews, and stay interviews. If you want to know how your company treats its employees, ask them specific questions like:

What is it like to work for this company, in your opinion?
Is there anything specific you would like our company to do to improve the employee experience?
Does your work make a difference to the company?
In your opinion, what would the company have to do differently to make working here more desirable?
How would you rank your experience as an employee with our organization on a scale from 1 (not good at all) to 5 (very good)?

You need a strategy for how you will fix things after you have reviewed the comments.

Promote a feel-good environment

In order to get useful input, it’s important that workers feel safe enough to speak up without fear of retaliation.

Your colleagues will feel more secure in their work environment if you encourage them to respect one another, set a good example through active listening, and promote DEIB.

Managers should reassure workers that their survey answers will remain private, for example. Because some people are uncomfortable with answering surveys in public, it may be helpful to have an impartial third party administer the poll.

Make sure your staff knows they may speak freely in this setting. Eliminate all mentions of real persons. Your employees need a way to anonymously provide and receive feedback.

You should work on your whole rewards approach

Create a comprehensive compensation plan that takes into account and meets the demands of your employees. Figure out what needs your attention.

When it comes to pay and bonuses, it’s important to let workers know how much they’re worth and let them compare your offer to industry standards or competitor offers.

Alternately, you might refocus your entire incentives approach on employee development and career advancement if you find that your employees are departing due to a lack of opportunities for learning and advancement.

People quitting their jobs to pursue a better work-life balance is another possible scenario. Give your workers more time to themselves by letting them work from home or choose their own schedules.

Give your workers the freedom to grow

According to a recent survey, a significant portion of the Millennial and Gen Z generations believe that continuous skill development is key to advancing in one’s job. Staff members of all ages who made learning a priority reported higher levels of happiness, success, and motivation.

Providing your staff with opportunity to develop and grow is crucial.

A range of learning and development (L&D) efforts, including micro- and peer-mentoring, focused training, and formal and informal training, can help achieve this goal.

You, the organization, also stand to gain from this. You will be able to hold on to your best employees and strengthen your company’s ability to handle crises like the global pandemic.

The hallmark of a robust firm with invested employees, says Peter Hirst, senior associate dean of executive education at MIT Sloan School of Management, is a culture of continual learning.

Making the health and happiness of your employees a top priority

There are many facets of employee wellbeing that must be considered while making plans to enhance it, including:

Physical health
Psychological health
Emotional health
Financial health

First things first: figure out what steps you can take to improve workers’ health and happiness. Again, it’s important to start by meeting your employees’ most pressing wants.

According to Jacob Morgan’s book, The Employee Experience Advantage, progressive companies know that caring for their people is a big part of their responsibility.

He went on to say that workers typically feel the effects of the company’s wellness programs both at work and at home. Caring for employees makes them feel more at ease and gives them more energy to spend time with their loved ones. In general, they will have a more positive self-image and have a longer, healthier life.

To ensure the health and happiness of your staff:

Make your workplace healthier and more conducive to wellness. They ought to have enough lighting, clean air, low noise levels, and furniture and appliances that are ergonomically sound. Make a set of rules to help your remote and hybrid workers set up a safe and productive home office. If you can, give them a budget for setting up a home office.

Verify that the safety regulations of your company are in line with what is considered standard in the industry.

The office cafeteria should provide options for nutritious food. Another option is to offer food vouchers to employees who work remotely or in a hybrid capacity.

Encourage physical activity and provide areas that are smoke-free.

Establish healthcare benefits and leave policies that cover various forms of leave to improve people’s health and wellbeing in the workplace.

Total compensation plans can also include health benefits, such as gym and fitness club subscriptions.

Lower turnover, higher morale, and less absenteeism and healthcare expenses will all benefit businesses.

In summary

When it comes to making decisions on business processes, goods, or services, an employee-centric culture prioritizes and supports employees while also asking for and listening to their thoughts.

It takes dedication to cultivate such a culture, but the payoff is a loyal staff and satisfied customers.

Have a quick question? We answered nearly 2000 FAQs.

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