Grow Your Staff Alongside Your Business
A business succeeds or fails based on its employees. A successful business has its employees to thank, as it is through their belief and by their efforts that a business grows and prospers. Equally, a business whose employees lack belief in it will not have the motivation required to drive it forward into success. One way to inspire this motivation is through working with your employees, helping them develop, and allowing them to enjoy their work, rather than see it as a chore that must be endured for their salary.
Of course, although happy, motivated employees are something all businesses want, exactly how to achieve this goal isn’t always so obvious. This is especially true today, where the current pandemic has up-ended how businesses functioned beforehand, changing how employees worked and the emphasis on wellbeing. Regardless of when the consequences of the pandemic subside, these new approaches will be etched into the minds of businesses and employees alike. Therefore, businesses must adapt, transform their organisations accordingly, or be left behind.
Increase employee freedoms
Freedom is one of the best and easiest methods to increase employee satisfaction. A satisfied workforce is significantly more efficient and motivated than a disgruntled workforce, so the benefits are plain to see.
As a result of the pandemic, many workers across the globe, and industries, were required to work from home. Although this may have posed challenges, as divergences from the norm often do, this increase in employee freedom boosted employee satisfaction. They were able to cut out a tedious commute, equip themselves with all the necessary tools, and simply work from the comfort of their own home. Despite it being outside of anyone’s control, this newfound freedom has empowered employees to work in a fashion that suits them best, while still performing their tasks as they should. This satisfaction translates into an increase in productivity and decisiveness, now that so much of the drudgery has been taken away from work.
For businesses reluctant to extend more freedoms to their employees, there are other points to consider. Workers that have experienced this new method of working will be reluctant to return to the old ways. With roughly 86% of executives believing more freedom will be extended to employees, it is likely that the future workplace is much less oriented around office blocks, but instead around independent workers and teams. Why should the average employee work for a restrictive company, when there will be so many more that offer an alternative to the stifling ways of old?
Provide the tools and strategies for your employees to thrive
Allowing your employees more freedom to work in a way that suits them best is important, but establishing the new tools and practices to facilitate this is just as necessary. With how we work changing, we must also look to tweaking the tools we use to carry out our tasks.
Exactly what changes is dependent on your business. For example, a business with a vast amount of office space would need to reconsider its use. With more independence granted to employees, fewer will make the commute to the office, making a swathe of physical space a waste. While simply getting rid of workspace you don’t need is one solution, other methods see the space repurposed. Some businesses have repurposed a section of their office space into collaboration areas, places that encourage the creation of ideas that are better equipped than the water cooler. Other businesses have repurposed unused space into training areas, ones that have more breathing room and can be better furnished to improve the training of new employees.
This only addresses the remnants of the old workplace, however. With many employees working outside the office, businesses will need to solve the issue of connection and communication. One method of connecting a dispersed workforce is video conference software. Almost half of all businesses intend to install software of this stripe, such as Microsoft Teams or Zoom, with many businesses having already used them throughout the course of the pandemic. Video conference software allows people to communicate regardless of location, allowing both remote employees and those at the office to come together. This makes much of what needed to be done in person, such as meetings, a thing of the past.
Empower your employees through training
If the future workplace is to transition from being an office block into independent individuals, skill and motivation will be key. As employees will be somewhat separated from leaders and colleagues,they must know their role and are competent at fulfilling it. Remote workers must be well-educated in their role, proficient with their tools, and motivated to do their job.
To this end, a business must clearly communicate the benefits of using new tools, be that the aforementioned video conference software, or innovative software that makes tasks easier. Analytics can lend themselves well here, providing data on what’s used, what isn’t, what works, and what doesn’t. This can show employees that their lives will be made easier, and provide businesses with actionable information to implement other changes. Both will improve employee satisfaction.
Create the workplace of the future
Empowering your employees, building a staff of skilled people that will grow alongside your business, is synonymous with creating the workplace of the future. As the world continues to grapple with the pandemic, and in time, as countries begin to come out of it, businesses must implement the lessons learned throughout this time. This means more than merely offering flexible hours or a modern communication network. It’s about deepening the relationship between the employee and the employer.
Extending more freedoms to your employees is good, of course, as it improves satisfaction and efficiency as a result. But it is more than that. Building your employees up, developing their skills, and allowing for more independence shows trust, and makes your employees truly involved in your business, rather than just another replaceable part. By doing so, businesses will be breaking free of the monotony of the old workplace, and instead, grow alongside their employees, while providing a crucible in which new ideas can be discovered. Needless to say, this stands to be an immense opportunity for the businesses willing to be trailblazers, all the while creating skillful, motivated colleagues along the way.
