As an HR professional, your primary role can often seem like it revolves around positions. Hiring for open positions, conducting exit interviews for people who are leaving their positions, organizing staff when someone takes on a new position within the company, the list goes on and on. But how often do you consider what HR could do beyond those more stereotypical functions? We’ve put together 4 ideas that HR can use to make their organizations even more amazing places to work – and some tips on how to do it.
Develop Your Company’s Corporate Culture
Corporate culture is all about the unique way you do things in your organization, and is based on values and beliefs. Every organization has a culture, no matter if it’s acknowledged or not. So why not give it some real focus and intent, and create a positive experience for all staff?
How: Create a questionnaire to help assess your corporate culture, with questions that encourage employees to articulate their understanding of corporate values. By taking input and crafting a definition that employees agree upon, it becomes easier to communicate your culture to candidates and future employees. Not only is culture a great thing employees can experience together, it also allows key decision-makers to discover where things can be improved. Over time, this makes the organization a better place to work – and it’s all thanks to your questionnaire!
Give Reasons for Talent to Love Your Organization
There are many reasons why staff love your organization, and sometimes you’ll come across opportunities to emphasize certain ones. Plus, a lot of these perks are terrific selling features when you’re trying to woo a new hire.
How:
- Balance the needs and desires of the employees with the business through assessments, questionnaires, brainstorming meetings and coaching.
- Maintain positive relationships between management and staff by encouraging positive, constructive communication techniques.
- Provide training, coaching and development through the establishment of webinars, on-site or off-site training dates, or support for education.
- Implement positive ideas from outside of the business by bringing in outside speakers/trainers or simply creating a suggestion box for organizational improvements.
- Allow freedom for creativity and host lunchtime workshops where employees can try new things, either related or unrelated to the business. Better yet – if you’ve got talented employees, encourage them to host their own workshops!
Pro Tip: Here are some quick, easy, budget-friendly ways to make your employees even happier this summer!
Trust Through Transparency
Building a foundation of trust is critical for all aspects of the organization – leadership, operations, and certainly the staff. Most companies see the value in a health benefits plan, a retirement savings plan, maternity/paternity leave, and other health and wellness initiatives as methods of communicating to staff that the company wants to invest in their wellbeing. But there other ways to instill trust in the team as well, and it can be as easy as working on clearer communication.
How: Develop open lines of communication for staff. Set them up for success by sharing details about the organization that will help them. What do they need to know to do well? This is a great opportunity to reiterate the company culture. If you use personality assessments for coaching and development, it can be a real help to encourage staff to share their personality profiles. How do people in the office prefer to communicate? This can go a long way in helping everyone in the company build trust with each other and raise the level of understanding between employees. Make sure your staff feel appreciated, heard, safe, and valued.
Inspire Staff
There are many different ways you can inspire your staff. Mentoring, coaching, leadership, training and promotions can all have a positive impact on the people in your organization.
How: Provide individual attention – make sure individuals don’t feel isolated or unrecognized for their contributions. Offer personal one-on-one coaching and/or mentoring with compassion to those who may benefit from it. In addition, growth and advancement opportunities can help ensure that employees aren’t stifled or stagnant in their roles. And promoting from within can have a profound impact on a company’s overall morale.
The stronger your company culture is, the better performance you’ll get from your staff – and the stronger your team’s overall performance will be. As an HR professional, consider these ideas and see the impact on your company’s culture and success. An environment that everyone loves can have ripple effects across the organization – it might be time for your company to experience the benefits.