When it comes to staff turnover, there is often nothing more problematic than the culture within a business. Employees may leave for many reasons, but one of the biggest is down to workplace culture.
So why is organisational culture such an important aspect of your business? And how can you make your corporate culture more positive and inclusive for different people?
THRIVE IN THE DIGITAL WORKPLACE
Why diversity is at the heart of a positive work culture
When you run a large organisation, having a diverse workforce can offer a number of benefits to your business. People from different backgrounds, whether education, upbringing, faith, ability, or those with family commitments, bring different sets of skills to the table, have varied work ethics, and can introduce new ideas that refresh your business.
However, if you have employees leaving your organisation because you failed to accommodate their needs, then you can face significant issues. At the very least, it could damage your reputation amongst potential customers and employees.
This can make it harder for you to attract a diverse set of applicants in future when a job opening becomes available, reducing the quality of applicants in any employee search.
How poor corporate culture can harm employee happiness
When you’ve got a high turnover, then you can have significant problems with the remaining employees. Employees who stay are often burdened with higher levels of work to complete within less time, as well as juggling their work-life balance.
This can often mean that they become more stressed which can lower their productivity and the quality of their output. It’s a vicious cycle.
High staff turnover can have a negative impact on the staff who stay
What’s more, if your employees are suffering burnout or feel excluded, they aren’t going to be the best advocates for your business.
Of course, one solution is to change how you operate your company’s culture so that it prioritises worker wellbeing. In the 21st century, it’s a good idea for any company to introduce flexible working arrangements or incorporate wellness programmes. But at the heart of this is being open to a diverse workforce and accommodating their varied needs.
How to create a rich, diverse culture in the workplace – and keep your staff happy
Look at your recruitment process
There are lots of ways that you can create a diverse culture within your workplace. Firstly, you need to look at your recruitment and HR policies to see if you could improve your hiring approach. Consider where you search for candidates and assess the demographics of those coming through that funnel. To broaden out your search, consider placing adverts in new postcode areas, specific publications, or on targeted jobs boards.
Introduce flexible working patterns
Next, consider the way you are set up to accommodate a more diverse workforce, from offering different working patterns to assisted access or aids and training for using your workplace technology. For instance, many employees with care responsibilities may well be able to do a better job if you can offer them slightly different hours or patterns that work around their family lives.
Providing flexible and remote working opportunities will help people to work around their family commitments
Do you offer days off for religious holidays across all faiths? This shouldn’t just be considered when it comes to offering contracts, but on a day-to-day basis. Ensure your network calendars are set up to take into account various holidays, working hours, and faith days, and that you consider access-friendly or virtual meeting environments so that no one is put in a difficult situation when meetings or staff days are scheduled inconveniently.
Provide remote working opportunities
Of course, flexible working is another chief priority in the 21st century, not just for caregivers but for millennials and younger generations who are just entering the workplace. If you haven’t already, consider migrating your records onto the cloud and create BYOD policies so that you remove any obstacles to work.
With more remote workers, you need to consider communication too. Intranet software tools are key to this, providing networked messaging systems so that everyone can stay in touch in real-time, while forums serve as a social element, providing non-urgent updates, training opportunities, or encouraging the celebration of events from different cultures happening throughout the year so that everyone can feel involved.
Communication tools like internal social media will help employees keep in touch in real-time
Consider your external communications too
It’s also worth bearing in mind that communications are another form of marketing, and like any skill, if you don’t have the correct data and understanding of your staff, you may be overlooking your real audience and trying to target an assumed one in your head. Unless it regards specific policies or problems, then you should try to remain open and informal in the way you address your staff and ensure that your language is appropriate and respectful of the full breadth of your employees.
Creating a more positive, inclusive corporate culture can reap rewards
Diversity in the workforce has the potential to revolutionise the success of your workplace, but only if you match it with a consistent approach to maintaining a harmonious and respectful corporate culture. This won’t just help you attract the best new talent from the richest pools, it will also help to inspire a sense of loyalty and wellbeing and in turn reduce staff turnover.
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