Better Working Conditions Contribute To Reduced Staff Attrition
When staff is happy, they’re more productive. Greater productivity propounds profit, more profit leads to greater security in operations, such security dovetails onto expansion, expansion means more employees. The thing is, as you expand, it’s important to maintain a very “human” working environment, and not lose workers in the shuffle.
Too often corporations become so large that they utterly forget who their employees are, and what they mean to the company overall. By many accounts, employees are one of your most important resources and investments. Accordingly, you’ve got to take care of them. If you put them in conditions that are inhuman, sterile, or depressing, that will be bad for everyone.
Imagine the difference between working in an artificial, synthetic environment that feels entirely lifeless, and working in one that feels lovely and comfortable. Certainly, you don’t want to make things so “comfortable” your staff is over-relaxed, but going too “clinical” with it is just as bad an idea. There’s a balance, we’ll explore three tips to achieve that balance here.
- Decor, Lighting, And Free Snacks—Lots Of Free Snacks
You need some sort of décor; even if it’s minimal. One painting on a back wall makes an entire room have a different “feel” to it. Four blank walls are oppressive, dull, boring, drab, and contribute to a lack of overall productive capacity. How much décor you bring to the equation of your workplace in terms of balance will depend on you and your brand’s values.
Lighting is similar. Lighting that’s too soft will make people sleepy. Lighting that’s too harsh will give them headaches. You’re looking for a happy medium. One thing that’s always a good idea is free snacks; just train newbies not to be gluttons and if you find somebody who takes too much advantage, find a way of “fixing” them; maybe they buy donuts for everyone or something.
But if everyone knows they can go to the break room and get a sweet, or a bit of beef jerky, or some other snack, that’s a win-win all around. It makes work less of a grind and gives even “low-level” employees something to look forward to.
- Ironically, Digital Systems Can Be More Humanly Friendly
Consolidating payment and employee management through digital solutions using the latest software, such as options available through groups like HR Payroll Systems, can simultaneously save time and money while giving staff reliability which allows them to trust in your company more fully.
You can reduce your need for staff in HR, and you can make it so employees feel they’re not getting unfairly treated by staff who may have a chip on their shoulder. Good HR people are never this way, but not all HR people are good. Meanwhile, digital systems can’t have an opinion or a preference. So ironically, this can make actual humans more comfortable.
- Allowing Flexibility In Personal Space Design
If you’ve got cubicles where employees work, let them decorate and only limit them based on things that must be limited. For example, a poster full of squeamishly unprofessional gore could disturb other employees—but the name of the band without such imagery in a different poster may not.
What may be wisest here is taking things on a case-by-case basis, rather than establishing set guidelines. Let people be themselves, and only put limitations on their expression should that expression prove to be a problem. If it’s not, let it go. In the hypothetical situation at the start of this little section, there may not be an issue—it’s likely, but there may not.
It all depends on your workplace, your corporate culture, and the sort of employees you hire. If you’re running a studio like Blizzard entertainment, or Rockstar Games, then there may be all manner of funky lighting and décor defining the varying workspaces of game designers. So be flexible, and only limit things when you must.
Making Your Business As Human As Possible For Workers
Allowing for flexibility in workplace design, neutrality in payroll management, décor that’s conducive, lighting that encourages productivity without being too “sterile”, and snacks represent a few notable ways you can make your workplace more human.
When there’s true humanity on-site, it’ll make your employees more profitable overall. So explore methods like these to see which ones match your particular corporate environment.
