The culture of your business has nothing to do with museums or world travel. It’s all about how you treat your employees and how they feel about working for you.
By Katie Navarra
Have you ever thought about how former or current employees talk about what it’s like to work at your barn? Do they say they’re fulfilled or is each day a grueling grin-and-bear-it existence until another opportunity comes along?
Whether it’s positive or negative, how your employees feel at work impacts their ability to perform. Nurturing a positive workplace culture improves morale and productivity and ultimately helps your barn achieve the next level of success.
Nearly 60% of employees have left a job or are thinking about leaving because of a bad boss, according to a survey by Randstad US. While inadequate pay and benefits were among top-ranked reasons for leaving a job, many workers reported leaving because of negative experiences and a poor workplace culture—factors you can improve with better leadership.
Turnover is costly. Every time you hire a new employee, you invest time and resources into teaching them the ropes. Being short-staffed can make it difficult to accomplish the daily chores until someone new can be hired and trained. The unexpected loss because of a poor working environment is something that can be avoided. And if word gets on the street that the status of working at your barn isn’t worth the discomfort, it’ll became harder and harder to find good staff.
Culture is everything; it’s not something you add, according to Chuck Blakeman, CEO of Crankset Group. Blakeman has consulted with Google, Apple, Microsoft, and other widely recognized companies teaching leaders the importance of culture.
We’ll cover six aspects of workplace culture in this article.
Part 1: What Is Workplace Culture?
Part 3: Communicate What’s Happening
Part 4: Empower Employees to Make Decisions
Live What You Believe
So, when the pay is equal, what is it that will attract the top talent to your barn? An overwhelming majority of workers (85%) responded to the Ranstad US survey that they wouldn’t apply for or continue to work for a company that has a bad reputation with former employees or the general public. It’s about what you believe in and more importantly what you do that keeps employees happy and engaged.
Remember Enron? The energy, commodities, and services company has become one of the most well-known examples of willful corporate fraud. Blakeman said that not long before the company’s collapse in 2001, executives spent thousands creating a 64-page booklet highlighting the company culture.
“The No. 1 item highlighted in the booklet was integrity,” he said. “The company’s actions clearly showed that their integrity was not a part of their culture.”
Spend time thinking about what values are most important to you and the success of your barn. Write them down and share them with staff. When making decisions, do so based on that mission statement rather than other motivating factors.
Read the rest of this article at the links above.
