Employees are and always will be your company’s most single biggest competitive advantage.
They are not, and never will be, “an asset” as some managers might refer to them as, because you don’t own them, and you and they are free to leave when they choose.
It is your interest to be treating them as well as you can, especially the ones you really want to keep, and especially now as businesses start to grow again post Covid, and as talent attraction will be important.
When treated with consistent genuine appreciation and recognition for good work and living the company values, together with a supportive and positive leadership and corporate culture, your employees will soon evolve to become your biggest and most active brand promoters and advocates.
I’m not suggesting everyone receives employee awards ever day, but fostering and embedding a recognition culture is definitely what we strongly advise.
There are two main aspects which encourage and cement the importance of growing and ascertaining a recognition culture within any organisation.
Firstly, the employee’s overall wellbeing, and secondly the culture and level of trust the organisation has created and how it is lived and demonstrated every day through the company values, behaviours and actions of all employees and particularly the leadership.
Doing either of these badly has an untold negative impact on your employer brand, in particular to attracting talent and key candidates as well as keeping new recruits. Doing it well, has a proven and measurable positive impact to the bottom line.
Traditionally, health and safety protocols have predominantly focused on protecting and ensuring that employees are physically safe in their working environments.
However, with rising awareness in general mental and emotional heath, and especially today with the stress of Covid, there is a growing appreciation in recognising the value of an employee’s state of mind, physical and emotional wellbeing and the effect it can have on the overall company’s productivity.
By having a more motivated and sustainable work force, it is proven to have a positive impact on the working environment, creating links between having a strong team ethos, great colleague relationships and a value based culture with a positive mental capacity.
Motivated, engaged and happy employees have lower incidences of chronic health problems such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, diagnosed depression, and heart attacks. They also eat healthier, exercise more frequently, and consume more fruits and vegetables than their not so engaged or actively disengaged, counterparts.
Further, engaged employees are more likely to be involved in employer-sponsored wellness programs.
By creating a company culture which encourages positive working relationships and environments not only reduces the expenditure resulting from absenteeism, and the additional resource, time and management that issues bring, but encourages a workforce that is sustainable, maintainable and expandable.
As a result, a company becomes attractive both to new recruits as well as becoming a more attractive career choice for current employees to remain and develop their roles, careers and grow within the company, making you an employer of choice.
Recognition (and reward) of employees not only boosts engagement but sustains a positive and productive state of mind both to the recipient and those who are providing the recognition in the first place.
To praise and generate constructive and positive feedback on an ongoing basis could also have a positive impact on their overall performance in their role.
There are many ways to create an employee awards programme so don’t let fear of cost be the reason for not implementing one at your business.
Having a fully engaged workforce, who feel supported and encouraged to go beyond their job description shows new recruits and customers that your company cares and recognises the value of staff.
A recognition culture cannot be a quick fix to a disengaged workforce. It is about ascertaining what the company represents, the visions and ethos of the company and consistently integrating them into the working environment, generating a more positive, inclusive, and interactive atmosphere and culture.
By encouraging staff (and managers) to communicate openly and regularly, as well as supporting the wellbeing of their state of mind mentally and physically, gives your company a lustrous status quo, and having leaders who can demonstrate humility, even philanthropic and altruistic characteristics helps generate a more engaged team and subsequently, an increase overall productivity and customer experience.
A positive culture which recognises employee’s performance levels, credits employees for ideas, completed projects or even recognises their overall value, results in tangible benefits which can contribute towards a company’s growth, the customers’ experience, generate positive engagement feedback scores and can lower absenteeism, regrettable staff attrition and improve retention rates.
Successful recognition platforms and appreciation led cultures to encourage positive working behaviours are not about rewarding staff on a whim and just because. Instead, it should be the backbone of your credible employee engagement strategy– creating a sustainable methodology which strengthens relationships between your company and your workforce – management with employees, employees with managers and all employees with each other and their customers.
Instead of just creating an impression, or making a promise, define, implement and nurture a positive working lifestyle, with purpose and deliver a healthy supportive culture that everyone wants to be a part of.
Now is an ideal time to do so.
To learn more call Brownie Points on +61 (0)3 9909 7411 or email us at info@browniepoints.com.au for a no obligation discussion.
