Culture: The ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society. What is your work culture like – do you even know?!
As a small business owner, the support of staff is paramount. We don’t have employees coming out of our ears and so we need to look after the good ones we have. But how do you do that? They get paid every week and they get their holidays… what more do they want?!
Well, it’s simple. They want you to say ‘good morning’, ‘have a good night’, and ‘thank you’ at the end of the week, and so on. Basic human interaction you may think, but so many bosses, managers and supervisors do not do it.
I am proud to say that in our company, we have excellent staff morale, and we make sure we look after our employees and treat them with respect.
Do your staff socialise outside work? This is something we actively encourage. They go out, have the craic with each other, and develop friendships. There is nothing worse than bad blood or rivalry within a team, as it creates atmospheres that are very hard to overlook.
This has been brought to the forefront following a recent contract award whereby we needed 30 more staff. Recruitment commenced and 90% of the employees from other local operators who walked through the door all told the same tale: “We have had enough of being a number, managed by people who do not care about us, and treated like animals.”
Staff are human at the end of the day, and they should be treated like humans. Humans need interaction and they need praise as well as discipline. Too few firms recognise achievement, but are quick to dish out discipline.
Those candidates could not understand how, following their successful interviews, they were invited to an informal evening at our depot where they could meet their new colleagues, rather than just be thrown into the mix when the contract began.
This is something we do each year, and it is a roaring success, not just for staff morale but also because it develops and enforces the team spirit. We clear out our workshops, a local food truck arrives, the mobile bar supplier sets up in the corner, and we put some music on. The most simple, basic evening, but everyone enjoys it. Heck, even the ice cream man called in for half an hour!
You will, however, never please everyone. You will always get the militant driver, the office staff member who does not do social events, or the mechanic who is not allowed out without permission. But that is their loss.
We all spend a fortune at Christmas on party nights, vouchers and so on that ultimately nobody remembers – trust me. However, that something informal and relaxed does seem to go a long way in creating a positive team culture.
If you are sad like me and listen to podcasts, be sure to check out The Culture Guy. He speaks a lot of sense, albeit for larger multinational businesses usually, but his teachings do apply to our organisations by and large in that we are all employing staff.
