Although they certainly care about benefits and pay, people are increasingly concerned about whether they’re joining a company with healthy or unhealthy company culture. Do coworkers help or sabotage each other? Is excellent customer service truly something the company strives for or merely the latest buzzword? Can new employees expect to have a decent chance to advance if they work hard and improve their skills?
These are just some of the many questions that prospective employees grapple with when deciding whether to accept a job offer from a new company. People also want to work for a company where they feel engaged and that their opinion and experience matters. If your company culture isn’t quite what you would like or you sense that too many employees have become disengaged, it’s critical to determine the cause of the issues and commit to improving them. Below are just a few ideas for how you can do that.
Emphasize Employee Well-Being
When a company notices a decline in morale, going right to the source to find out why is the best way to improve it. However, this takes a thick skin from the person asking the questions as well as the willingness to do so in an authentic way without inserting any personal biases. It shouldn’t take long for the company to determine common concerns or patterns, such as employees caring for young children or aging parents feeling stressed about their lack of flexibility with work hours.
Encouraging employees to achieve greater physical and mental health is good but offering the resources to help them reach these goals is even better. If the company has a cafeteria, one idea might be to include healthier lunch options. Other ways businesses can promote health include subsidizing gym memberships or smoking cessation classes, offering an employee assistance program that provides free or low-cost counseling and looking at internal actions that could be contributing to poor health or higher stress levels in employees.
Additionally, most people enjoy participating in a cause that’s bigger than themselves. A healthy company promotes volunteerism and offers the resources to make it a reality for employees such as group participation or paid time off work to allow individual employees to participate in the causes that matter most to them.
Offer a Robust Onboarding and Training Program
Employees can’t feel engaged when they don’t have a good handle on their jobs. They will become frustrated, confused, and always feel like they must catch up instead. Fortunately, it’s easy to avoid such an outcome.
According to a 2015 survey printed in Forbes Magazine, as many as 30 percent of all new hires leave jobs within six months due to the employer rushing through onboarding and training. While it can be a fine balance not to drag out the processes too long, the same study shows this is the time when new employees form friendships that help them feel more engaged and loyal to their employer.
Could your accounting firm or your clients use additional guidance about company culture and employee engagement? Join the Professional Accounting Small Business Association today to benefit from the experience of your fellow members.
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