When people ask about your company, you may jump to share details on a big campaign you launched, media coverage secured, or an epic website redesign. But let’s not overlook who, made all of those big successes possible – the people behind the scenes. Employees are the backbone of any organization, not just for the work they produce, but also for the relationships and bonds they create that serve as the foundation of a company’s culture.
According to Gallup, the average person spends 81,396 hours at work —the equivalent of more than nine years. With so much of our time being spent at our jobs, those surrounding you (both digitally and in-person) can make a huge impact on your overall wellbeing. Needless to say, good people go a long way. A positive company culture is essential in keeping your employees happy and wanting to continue to do great work that helps you reach your business objectives. But if you don’t have buy-in from your employees on the collaboration and community spirit it takes to reach these goals, the path to success can be a rocky one.
Setting the Standard
Ensuring your company is building and maintaining a positive company culture doesn’t just happen overnight. It takes intentional effort and time to make sure your team has the opportunity to connect across all levels.
While productivity is important, it’s all about balance. At NST, one of our values is: Balance work, fun and the needs of each individual. Our team makes a point of setting dedicated time aside to get to know each other as individuals outside of work. We listen to our teams’ interests, pay attention to the things going on in each other’s lives and throw some darn good parties! Whether it be a 20th work anniversary, diving into the cultural backgrounds of our team, celebrating the beginning of summer, or letting our creative side show, we make sure to celebrate the small and big wins, getting the team out of their comfort zones and encouraging each other to explore what sparks joy with our colleagues by our sides.
Engagement = Productivity
As public relations professionals, we continuously help our clients build relationships with their target audiences, so we would be remise to not do the same internally. Gallup defines employee engagement as a psychological commitment to one’s work, team and organization … a mental state that fluctuates all the time, influenced by workplace relationships and events. Gallup found that employees who are not engaged or who are actively disengaged cost the world $7.8 trillion in lost productivity.
At the end of the day, a company needs to be profitable, but it is much more than a numbers game. Employee satisfaction and fulfillment play enormous roles in a company’s end game and are critical elements to long-term success and employee longevity — especially in today’s age of the great resignation.
Giving employees, no matter their position, a voice where they feel heard leads to further investment and loyalty to the organization. Acknowledging your employees as more than just “employees” will keep moral and motivation high when they can feel the organization cares about them as a human, not just their daily to-do lists. Whether it be an annual survey to collect input from the team, retreats to reflect on the company as a whole or simply one-on-one discussions, taking the time to listen can go a long way – especially if feedback and ideas are put into action. In turn, some pretty amazing work can be done with a team that wants to see each other succeed and get the job done right.
Are you looking to join a team of caring, hardworking, (self-proclaimed) comedians and PR rockstars? Give us a call!