Category: Company Culture

As we begin making plans to resume some of our ‘normal’ behaviors, it’s time to think more seriously about whether what we knew to be normal was really a good way of doing things in the first place. For many of us, a lot of our habits may have simply been picked up subconsciously, or perhaps we were forced to do things a certain way when we joined an organization. Now that everything has been turned upside-down, we have the chance to not just go back to business as usual, but to make thoughtful decisions about what processes and systems are best suited for the workplace and work day of the future.

One of the most significant opportunities we have before us is the chance to reframe the way we structure our organizations. Historically, the units of a company have been single employees, or rolling up to a higher level, departments focused on one specific function (e.g. sales, marketing, HR). As many industries continue to see increased complexity year-over-year though, and as technology fundamentally changes the mechanics of many jobs, we have to change our approach. In order to succeed in the world of tomorrow, including rebounding effectively from this crisis, we should begin thinking of our companies in terms of shifting, cross-functional teams.

At least since the time of the Industrial Revolution, the ideal worker was the one who would put in the most hours at the highest productivity level for the lowest pay. Without commenting on the workers’ rights concerns related to this model, this generally made sense for roles like manufacturing and some service jobs. With more than half of U.S. employees now qualifying as knowledge workers however, it’s time to reevaluate towards a team mindset. When your employee’s role requires mental alertness and creative thinking, evaluating them based on number of hours worked doesn’t really make sense. Similarly, given the risk and expense of turnover in this sector of the economy, trying to minimize salaries isn’t logical either. When 43% of workers would switch jobs for just a 10% salary increase, companies must provide more incentive to stay.

Instead, adaptability, collaboration, innovation, and a team mindset should be among the key traits of the new ideal worker, at least in knowledge-based industries. Business demands can shift extremely rapidly, and unless the team is ready to change formations and work across departments with new colleagues and requirements at a moment’s notice, it will be difficult to stay ahead of the competition. Companies should now aim to become ecosystems of dynamic, cross-functional teams, with employees building up collective knowledge and developing new skills as they recombine into new groupings. By empowering staff to work across departments and deliverables, communication will improve, productivity will increase, and employees will feel happier and more engaged in their jobs.

In order to achieve this however, it’s not just a mindset shift that is needed; toolsets must change as well. We can’t continue to rely on the same old programs and structures that were designed decades ago to maximize individual employee productivity. We have to begin thinking of our workforces as a series of circuits that we can connect together to generate light, and our physical and digital spaces must reflect this as well. Such a transformation and the shift to a team mindset won’t happen overnight, but it is essential to ensure the continued growth of our organizations and to restructure our work environments to align with the new world of work.

Workrowd is designed to enable you to quickly set up and break down digital teamwork spaces for shifting groups of employees. While we have a strong focus on culture and engagement, krowds can be put in place for project teams as well, giving everyone a place to centralize documents, chat, plan meetings and events, connect with other members, and more, all in one place. If you’d like to learn more about how our lightweight software can help you transition to a more flexible, team-based structure, don’t hesitate to get in touch at hello@workrowd.com.

While the pandemic’s impacts are undeniably negative across the board, it may be possible to salvage a couple sips of lemonade from these deeply sour lemons. For those companies able to retain their staff and transition to remote working, there is a clear opportunity to transform the way we work to better align with people’s lives, including whatever new accommodations may be necessary as we emerge from this crisis. From remote and flexible work options, to allowing people to bring more of themselves to their roles, we essentially have the chance to build a new employee experience from scratch.

As of 2019, 80% of employees reported wanting to work from home at least some of the time. Similarly, 78% of workers believe that flexible schedules and telecommuting are the most effective nonmonetary incentives a company can provide to retain employees. This is an 11% increase from just the year prior. While the pandemic has obviously forced a number of compromises outside of normal operations, having seen that remote work is possible will make it difficult to convince employees to resume business as usual.

Instead, once we’ve weathered this crisis, People teams can engage employees around what the way forward might look like. Perhaps employees are allowed to work from home as they choose a couple of times per month, or once per week. Maybe managers can move more towards truly performance-based evaluations, rather than counting people in seats as a measure of productivity. Possibly, some companies will see the value in becoming completely remote, slashing their overhead and forging an entirely new path forward.

The potential here is not limited to just remote work, but can expand to include other benefits as well.  Many of us have learned more about our colleagues’ lives than ever before as we see them in their home environments with all of the distractions and disruptions that accompany it. This presents an opportunity to improve company culture by building stronger bonds and tailor employee policies to foster more work-life integration. From increased flexibility and support for those with caregiving responsibilities, to perks for pet parents and more, these glimpses of employees’ lives can be used to inform People teams’ work. Throwing away this critical data would be adding insult to the deep injury this pandemic has caused to all of us.

Similarly, if your company has successfully cultivated more openness between team members as a result of these new working circumstances, this is your chance to capitalize on it to drive inclusion and belonging. As the lines blur even further between home and work, employers can move towards the ideal of enabling employees to bring more of themselves to meetings and projects, and thereby increase engagement. Consider this an opportunity to improve company culture by really tailoring it and the employee experience to your employees. HR can emerge from this panic with a focus on employee needs and innovative responses, rather than trying to claw back all of the privileges allowed during the pandemic and destroying employee trust in the process.

The impacts of this crisis will doubtless be felt for a very long time, but we can take steps to ensure that at least the progress made on workplace flexibility is not lost along with so much else. Companies will need to assemble a new toolkit to ensure their success in the post-office workplace, from communication tools to engagement platforms. If we can be of any help at this challenging time, don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re now offering free trials of our streamlined communication and employee empowerment software, and we’re happy to serve as a resource to those struggling to find the way forward. You can get in touch with us at hello@workrowd.com. Take care, everyone.

With the current talent market skewed in favor of jobseekers, company culture and employer brand are growing increasingly important to success across both recruitment and retention. Great company cultures don’t simply crop up out of nowhere though; without buy-in from the grass roots to the grass tops, efforts to boost culture can go unacknowledged, or worse, backfire. Many organizations are looking for a silver bullet, but the truth is that culture change is a slow and often difficult process, as many negative aspects become entrenched over a number of years and can take similarly long to roll back.

A company struggling with a sub-optimal culture frequently experiences its effects across the entirety of the employee lifecycle. Recruitment becomes more difficult as word spreads about the undesirable environment. Retention drops as employees leave for healthier workplaces. Engagement and productivity suffer as staff feel unappreciated and grow increasingly disengaged. Even customers may lose interest in working with the company as they learn more about the corporate climate. These are gambles that few businesses can afford to take in such competitive times.

Fortunately, one proven change that companies can make is to give employees a seat at the table. From increasing transparency around business decisions to asking for feedback (and actually acting on it!), making your employees feel included and appreciated is a solid first step. We’ve all seen examples of personal relationships where one person values the other, but it’s not reciprocated; it never ends well. The same dynamics occur in companies. If the organization doesn’t invest in their people, how can they expect their people to invest significant time and energy in the organization?

The next step beyond simply giving employees a voice is giving them the ability to actually make some of the changes they would like to see. By empowering team members to truly influence outcomes, companies can begin to transform themselves from the inside out. Employee empowerment is one of the true drivers of employee engagement. It creates an ‘all hands on deck’ environment in which every employee is working towards the goal of a healthier company culture together.

Unsurprisingly, empowered employees are more engaged and productive, contributing to the company’s bottom line. Highly engaged workforces see 67% lower turnover, 21% higher profitability, and 10% higher customer ratings. Happier employees are stronger brand ambassadors, championing the cause of recruitment and amplifying the culture strides at every turn. Staff who are truly invested in their companies even take fewer sick days. In fact, businesses with weak engagement saw employees take three times as many sick days as their more engaged peers. Investing in employees pays significant dividends; companies are leaving money on the table by not seizing this opportunity.

We know it’s not easy to deliver on the myriad employee culture needs and requests that the average company fields on a daily basis. We also know that for compliance and legal reasons, it can feel scary to share the reins with employees. Ultimately though, the combination of higher engagement, happier employees, and increased transparency will help create a self-regulating community. If employees are happy, they won’t be inclined to launch programs or initiatives that may reflect poorly upon the organization. If you build transparency around your programming, you’ll have full insight into what employees are doing, and therefore oversight with the ability to step in before anything gets off-track. With the appropriate checks and balances in place, empowering employees can successfully reduce the time burden on HR as employees not only self-serve for programming, but organize their own events taking some of the onus off of taxed People teams.

It can be difficult to empower employees, but luckily, Workrowd makes it easy! With our straightforward community management tools and activity roadmaps for employee leaders, it’s a breeze for your team to drive a healthier, more inclusive company culture. If you’re interested in leveraging these tools to achieve better business outcomes at your company, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at hello@workrowd.com.

HR professionals have a lot on their plates. We know this isn’t breaking news, but as the People function continues to evolve, it seems that more responsibilities get piled on without displacing any of the existing ones. We’ve reached out to hundreds of People professionals over the past year, and we’ve truly been astounded by what we’ve learned. Just to name a few:

1. HR professionals are awesome. The fact itself is not what surprised us, but the extent to which it’s true. This isn’t an attempt to pander; we are honestly stunned and so impressed by the number of you who have been willing to take time out of your extremely busy schedules to chat with us. Not only that, but even the most capacity-constrained HR/People leaders are constantly striving to do more for their employees. You amaze us.
2. The People function is changing in many ways all at once. From compliance to employer branding, HR is evolving quickly with no hint of slowing down any time soon. The list of responsibilities we compiled based on our conversations with People leaders grew unwieldy within our first ten calls. For better or worse, an expansive field of tools has arisen to help cater to these new needs and expectations, but they’ve popped up in silos, and often require extensive maneuvering to get them to speak to one another.
3. Company culture is a top issue for many HR departments, but it’s difficult to make progress without organization-wide buy-in. People leaders across the country are being tasked with improving all aspects of the employee experience from before a potential employee applies to after they’ve left the company and everything in between. This is a deeply unreasonable expectation to place on a department that is already juggling an excess of competing priorities. No HR department can effectively cater to the needs of a diverse workforce without direct help from that very workforce. Culture and employer brand need to be everyone’s responsibility in order to effect real change.

In short, HR is doing amazing work on an incredible number of workstreams, but additional organizational support could really supercharge their efforts. Accordingly, we set about thinking how we could mobilize entire companies behind the charge of building and bolstering culture. Workrowd is what we came up with, enabling employees to personalize their own experience, and create fun and useful experiences for their colleagues at the same time.

Another thing we heard repeatedly in our conversations with People teams is that they’re constantly being bombarded by vendors. Obviously, we can see both sides of the coin here. As professionals ourselves, we know how irritating it is to get spammed by random solicitations when your inbox is already overflowing. On the other hand, we really do want to get Workrowd into the hands of those who could benefit from it. What we’ve ultimately realized through our conversations with People leaders combined with our own desire to be both thoughtful and respectful, is that we shouldn’t be approaching this not as a vendor but instead as a partner. We should be building partnerships, rather than traditional sales relationships.

We truly don’t consider ourselves a vendor rather a true partner, to our users, who are so much more than just ‘clients’, or ‘customers’. HR tech has a long way to go before the industry is optimally serving those who need and have to use the tools every day. Accordingly, we know we have to work collaboratively, not as a vendor but as a partner to our users to anticipate shifts and respond with new technology when it’s needed, not after a 3-5 year lag. Just as Workrowd companies tap into the collective power of their employees to build better workplaces, we tap into the collective power of our users to build better HR tech. We’d love to have you as part of the krowd.