With the current economic climate being bullish and plenty of jobs on the market, firms are really having to go above and beyond to attract the best talent, and sometimes the finest of lines can be the difference between landing your first choice candidate and your fifth. The younger generation (millennials) are known to be less concerned with monetary income, but now place more value on job satisfaction. For example, some would be more content with a lower pay as long as they felt that what they were doing was having a tangible impact. As a business, you want your employees to be happy, and providing good working conditions is key to this. Below are some ways you as business can create a working environment that your employees will enjoy and appreciate.
Design your workspace as according to your employees needs
Many older businesses have the idea that all an employee requires to work is simply a workstation, but nowadays this couldn’t be further from the truth. We have seen a growing trend of stylish but sometimes gimmicky workplaces, that at first may seem fun and exciting, but in actual fact does little to benefit worker productivity. While offices may at first seem attractive thanks to open workspaces with beanbags scattered around, depending on the job at hand this could actually be more of a hinderance. Be sure to design your spaces around your employee needs, rather than expecting your employees to adapt to them, which in actual fact may never happen. Certain work may be suited to being completed in cubicles, whilst others may be suited to open, and creative environments. Design your workplaces accordingly to enable you to start off on the right foot.
Plan for the future
If your long-term strategy is expansion, then you may want to ensure that your workplace has the space to do so. Expansion is usually a sign that you are doing something right, but being unprepared for it can have a very detrimental effect on worker morale and productivity. One of the best ways to prepare for this in particular is to find a space you can grow into, not outgrow. As with any business, you will want to make the best use of your resources, and that can mean making sure you are using all your capacity efficiently. Devise strategies to make sure you are maximizing your office space, be it through installing a booking room system, to even broadening job roles so employees are trained in more than one area of work. Planning for the future doesn’t just mean improving what is tangible such as equipment, but it also means taking care of the intangible such as employee skills and morale.
Give opportunities for development and progression
One major things many companies get wrong is the process of recruiting externally, leaving their current employees feeling as though they have been overlooked for promotions. It is actually more expensive to hire externally and train new staff than it is to promote current employees who will already be familiar with the company and its culture. Sure, new blood can be refreshing and may look good on paper at first, but overlooking those from the current crop can be enough to send morale tumbling, and can spread quickly. Where possible, look to recruit and promote internally so that your current employees will know that their hard work and dedication is not going unnoticed and can be rewarded!
