Culture - PerkSpot

Constructing Hybrid Communication Streams that Work

Max Goldenberg January 12, 2023

Hybrid workplaces have come with a host of benefits, but these new methods of organization have also led to new challenges. One of the most prevalent issues faced by evolving hybrid companies is the opening of new avenues of communication. When a hybrid worker has to sort through videoconferencing, email, slack, and in-person meetings, it can easily become overwhelming. Doubly so if different information streams are delivering inconsistent information!

In-person meetings are a great way to deliver important information and boost social cohesion in the workplace. Conversely, if teams that collaborate are in the office on different days, videoconferencing meetings might occur despite being physically available.

This opens up additional unnecessary communication streams that can contribute to overwhelming an employee. Additionally, if flexibility is a key aspect of your hybrid model, you may develop a culture of workplace proximity bias. Employees who frequently come in and hold face-to-face conversations can be prioritized in the flow of information and favor. These problems should not be taken lightly, poor communication and preferential bias can easily cause inefficiency within the organization.

Hybrid Communication Solutions

So how can communication be effectively managed in a hybrid environment? The absolute most important thing to do in the evolving hybrid workplace is to act with intentionality. Pay attention to not just what employees are communicating, but also how they are communicating; especially if teams or individuals are closely collaborating, it’s vital to take the initiative and organize scheduling efforts so that closely affiliated co-workers are in the office at the same time, cutting down on the number of open communication channels.

This is also an area where Human Resources can really step in and be a big help. HR check-ins are important for taking the pulse of employees in general. In the hybrid era they can be extra important. Some effective simple solutions include organized collaboration and clear channels of communication. If one employee prefers acting on emails and another prefers in-person discussion, HR might serve both to remind others to communicate over e-mail when sending information digitally while encouraging relevant teams to come into the office for in-person collaboration on one specific day.

Flexibility Vs. Communicative Efficiency

One of, if not the most serious problem facing hybrid communication structures is the seemingly direct conflict of allowing employees flexible work-from-home schedules against the need to have employees in the office on the same days to cut down the number of open streams of communication. While it can be a challenge to get employees to come in when they have control, it’s possible.

To encourage employees to come in on certain dates, consider hosting in-person events that coincide. These can be anything from a simple happy hour at the end of the work day to a yoga class. What matters is that these events are clearly communicated to employees as an incentive to come into the office. Plus, unique events like these are a fantastic and often inexpensive way of boosting morale! It’s easy to give workers a fun incentive to build their schedule around. You’ll be able to retain a high level of employee flexibility while making sure collaborators are in the office at the same time.

While communication management has certainly become more challenging in the hybrid era, the new difficulties it poses are far from insurmountable. And even the challenges it does provide are significantly outweighed by the benefits, in flexibility and work-life balance among others. Through intentional action and providing incentives that direct employees into the office intelligently, you can cut down on the ballooning amount of communication channels available to employees and, in doing so, curb sensations of being overwhelmed before they even start. An easier way to provide employee stress solutions is through helping their financial security – an ask that PerkSpot can help with, if you’re interested in scheduling a demo to hear how we can save employees money and help promote positive internal culture.

Employee Priorities You Don’t Want To Miss In 2023

Max Goldenberg December 29, 2022

Employee priorities have never been shifting faster than today, in the age of the Great Resignation and “quiet quitting”. Millennials and Gen-Z are starting to make their voices heard and failing to understand means losing out on essential talent! So, what trends characterize the changing workplace, and what are the main employee priorities shaping up to define 2023? Some requests are as simple as a shift in focus, such as…

1. A Renewed Focus on Mental Wellness

It’s no secret that Gen Z workers face greater mental health challenges than ever seen before, with the two year pandemic lockdowns having taken a disproportionate effect on their mental health. Younger workers in general are looking for workplaces that take mental health seriously. Employees want to have the hard conversations necessary to provide adequate support for anxiety, imposter syndrome, and other struggles.

2. Growing Enthusiasm for the Four-Day Workweek

Studies around the four-day workweek have ramped up in the wake of Covid-19, and the results to date have been overwhelmingly positive. Not only have many studies shown greater productivity, the four-day workweek is also a desired perk especially among younger workers. The concept of the four-day workweek is a rapidly growing employee priority that you’ll definitely want to keep an eye on in 2023.

3. Increased Flexibility around Hiring and Work Expectations

This trend is especially relevant for ‘front-line’ workers who have been denied much of the post-pandemic flexibility that’s been afforded to office workers, but increasing flexibility both for employees and as an organization will continue to be a major trend, and a factor that many workers are specifically pining for. Modern workers have made it clear that they’re interested in having control over their own schedules. This should extend to organizations seeking the agility to function at maximum efficiency while allowing employees the ability to maintain work/life balance through managing their own schedules.

4. Investing in Personal Relationships and Addressing Employee Burnout

Burnout continues to rise, and combined with mental wellness struggles in the digital era, managing it effectively will likely prove to be a key employee consideration going into 2023. More than anything, it’s become clear that burnout management requires a personal touch. Employees are looking for co-workers and managers that they can be comfortable and honest with, and trust that their emotional difficulties won’t result in citations or scoldings for reduced performance. Learning to approach stress and burnout with a gentle hand will become a key differentiator between high-turnover organizations and those that retain talent for years to come.

5. The Growing Power of AI and Automation

Automation and Artificial Intelligence continue to rise in relevance and practical use, with industrial robots seeing deployment from the factory line to the self-checkout aisle. Machine learning models and other innovative AI technology has recently proved its potential to disrupt even skilled labor fields such as coding and graphic design. While these tools are powerful, it’s up to organizations to deploy them in responsible ways, and that responsible deployment is likely to be an increasingly prominent employee priority moving into 2023; workers will be paying attention to irresponsible rollouts of automation that eliminate positions without recompense, and be expecting their employers to use these new technologies in ways that streamline their work instead of making it more difficult.

While priorities will vary from employee to employee, these key points will rank among the top concerns of global workers as we move into 2023. From mental wellness to robotic takeover, 2023 promises to be both an interesting and surprisingly optimistic year – presuming that organizations can tackle the chaotic landscape of the modern hiring market, assuage an exhausted workforce, and deploy new tools and technologies responsibly!

Check out PerkSpot’s Blog for more modern workplace trends, or schedule a demo if you’d like to hear more about how PerkSpot can help save your employees money and drive positive culture in your organization!

How to Handle Workplace Bullying

Max Goldenberg November 17, 2022

Today’s modern, dynamic, rapidly-moving workplace comes with many advantages. We benefit from agile organizational structures with an atmosphere where anyone can shine. Or, at least, that’s what we like to say. And while these benefits make a big difference in employee’s lives, the changing modern workplace has also changed what bullying looks like, transforming it from open abuse of power into something that tends to be quieter, manipulative, and more insidious.

With open-faced bullying seen as totally unacceptable, workplace bullying often instead takes the form of competitive employees defaming others, attempting to manufacture situations where they’ll look like the hero. For example, a common tactic employed by this kind of toxic personality is to claim credit for co-worker’s key deliverables. Then, they’ll use those same deliverables as evidence of why they’re a better performer than their ‘target’. When conflicts invariably spring up from these lies, if management isn’t careful, workplace bullies will tend to have the edge in the ‘he-said, she-said’ conflict due to focusing more on telling executives about the work ‘they’ did rather than actually doing the work.

Handling Office Conflict Responsibly

Needless to say, workplace bullies can destroy a team’s cohesion and productivity, and it’s essential for leadership to detect and remove these kinds of people ASAP before they can gain power in the office. That being said, rushing to fire someone who exhibits bullying behavior is not always the correct move! There are a range of reasons why an employee might engage in bullying; including personal insecurities or even mental illness.

While stopping bullying is critical, it’s also important to understand motivation for an effective response. That might include sensitivity training sessions, a recommendation to see a therapist, or simply termination from the company. As a leader, it will ultimately fall on you to decide which approach is right for your situation.

Common Patterns of Workplace Bullies

It’s also important not to misconstrue or hastily judge the situation. Behaviors that appear to be rooted in bullying may in fact stem from deeper, institutional issues within the organization, such as cruel or over-competitive traditions. To help distinguish, here are some common patterns of legitimate bullies in the workplace:

Consistently redirecting conversations about team efforts to focus exclusively on their personal contribution
Displaying a lack of empathy or care for the feelings or workload of others
Highly judgemental, and willing to delay or jeopardize projects over minor personal issues
Takes poorly to any kind of criticism, even constructive criticism, often viewing it as insulting

How To Document and Report Conflict

These traits all but guarantee someone is a bad fit for any workplace. If you start to notice them, there’s a real chance that you have a workplace bully on your hands! And if you’re an employee stuck in a situation with a bullying co-worker or even boss, make sure to document a pattern of behavior before presenting to Human Resources. Not only will it help you construct a case, but also allow you to examine your relationship with your co-worker. A detached perspective will help you understand if it’s actually a case of workplace bullying or something else entirely. No matter the case, your office will feel the positive impact of removing toxic influences. And you might be surprised how fast things change when you take action!

Check out PerkSpot’s Five Focus Areas for Building a Better Workplace for more advice on building healthy, sustainable long-term culture at your organization.

Turning Your Objectives into Real Results

Max Goldenberg November 3, 2022

Anyone who’s ever been part of a strategy meeting knows that coming up with objectives is always the easiest part. Managers and entrepreneurs especially can relate to that nagging feeling of “too many ideas, too little time’. Coming up with amazing ideas might not be easy, but turning a great concept into positive metrics is the real challenge.

In many ways, bridging the gap from idea to result is the core responsibility of any team leader, as nearly every team – no matter how talented and happy to be in the organization – depends on you to ‘steer the ship’ and productively direct their efforts.

That being said, you’ll have a much easier time acting on your ideas with a supportive, engaged, and satisfied team to carry out action plans. But even the best team needs direction and guidance to turn those concepts into something tangible. So, without further ado, here’s three concrete tips to keep in mind as you build your next big campaign!

Set Deadlines and Keep To Them

Remember when you’re setting up your deadlines that unexpected roadblocks can always cause delays. Building a reasonable deadline means accounting for the possibility of delays – so take the time to think about them beforehand! Keeping to your deadlines encourages employees to closely follow your campaign plans and fosters a culture of not only trust but also mutual accountability – making it far easier to transform those objectives into tangible results!

Don’t Delay Moving on your Action Items

It’s rare that any project will have total smooth sailing without any unexpected hurdles along the way. The best way to prepare for delays is to get started on your project plan immediately! The power of getting started promptly is often underestimated, but hitting the ground running sets the tone and pace. If a lethargic start can lead to an underwhelming project, an enthusiastic one can set the stage for greatness. Demonstrate that you’re serious about turning your ideas into action by tackling execution enthusiastically right off the bat!

Lead by Example – Show, Don’t Tell

Most important of all is to be directly involved in the process. You can help through personal, visible contribution on key items, or by providing a clear and reasonable roadmap to the team that breaks down the wider objective into bite-size elements matching individual talents. Translating your ideas to results is often a matter of initiative. Big ideas are never easy! And sometimes, they can look harder when you get to documenting every step you’ll need. But by providing clear direction and quick, steady movement on each point, you can get the results of your dreams! For many top-level objectives in Human Resources, PerkSpot can be a part of the solution, providing actionable benefits that impact your organization’s turnover and retention rate. Reach out now, or learn more about how PerkSpot can help you reach your goals!

6 Ways to Foster a Sense of Belonging in Your Workplace

Max Goldenberg October 20, 2022

Workplace studies in recent years consistently show that employees are increasingly seeking more than just competitive salaries and benefits in their employment; they’re also looking for a sense of belonging and purpose. Even if you pay competitive rates, modern employees need to also feel like their work is meaningful, and that they’re a valued member of not only your company – but also its community.

In the wake of the ‘Great Resignation’, some have begun to call this increasing trend towards employees seeking belonging in the workplace as the ‘Great Reflection’, with work-from-home and rapidly changing economic conditions leading many to think big-picture about their lives, their work, and what it all really means.

So what can you do to help bring your employees a sense of purpose in their work? Start with these six tips for building a constructive and meaningful environment!

1. Collectively Define Company Culture

Promote the value of diverse opinions and employees participating in defining company culture; remember, the purpose of your organization isn’t simply a by-line decided by the executive team, it should be a set of values held and agreed upon across the entire org!

2. Focus on Sustainable Performance

Focus on sustainable long-term performance rather than driving for overly ambitious performance. In the long run, a sustainable performer is 17% more productive than an average employee. They’re also 1.7x more likely to stay with their current organization! Ultra-high performers can lead to a quick burst, but are ultimately unsustainable.

3. Keep Employee Wellness & Belonging in Mind

Pay attention to individual employee needs and mental well-being. There’s a fine line between being considerate and prying. Even so, make sure employees feel safe in confiding and addressing wellness concerns by providing a considerate and honest atmosphere.

4. Get Rid of Micromanagement

Throw out micro-managerial behavior and give employees the freedom to approach their work in the ways they’re most comfortable. Trusting employees to be responsible for their own work not only tends to improve quality, it also empowers them with a sense of value towards their position in the wider organization!

5. Refine your Processes to Cut Busywork

Always be looking for ways to axe busywork in favor of refining business-critical processes. The more unnecessary red tape you can cut out and the more trust placed in individual employees to carry out important aspects of your business model, the more they’ll feel like a direct part of what makes the business run. Trapping rockstar employees in mundane day-in day-out work is sure to kill their sense of purpose in the organization!

6. Make your Workplace Human-Centric

While productivity is the ultimate goal of any organization, companies are always made up of diverse individuals. Feeling like cogs in a machine is absolute anathema to building any sense of purpose. The most important objective of human resources has to be making employees feel like they’re part of something more. ‘Human-centric’ is a broad term that can include company-wide pride events all the way down to individual check-ins and honest, open conversations. But whatever approach you take, it all comes down to the same core principle. Show your employees that they’re seen and valued as people, not just productivity numbers on a spreadsheet.

At the end of the day, building belonging is really about recognizing your employees as unique individuals and treating them, their skills, and their time with respect. And that’s good advice in general, not just for imparting a sense of purpose within your organization! Whether it’s in work or life, when you treat people with respect and purpose, they notice – and the whole business benefits.

Interested in learning more ways to improve your organizational culture? Check out PerkSpot’s five focus areas for a better workplace!

Why You Need Voluntary Benefits

Max Goldenberg October 6, 2022

Employee benefits are, by their very nature, a highly personal thing. Few things are more important than having reliable health and vision benefits, for instance, across a huge range of varied personal situations. That’s why it’s critical that any competitive benefits package allows for meaningful customization for the things that matter, so employees can opt-in towards retirement, time-off, or whatever else is important to them. In other words – you need a benefits structure that works around the unique needs of your unique employees!

Ideally, your voluntary benefits should be more than just “skin deep”. The kind of benefits program that attracts top talent is the kind that offers meaningful solutions to major hurdles experienced by your employees – like, for instance, providing financial well-being tools such as financial education resources or 401k guidance as part of an employee benefits package. It makes a huge difference to the growing number of employees concerned about their financial health. But even something as simple as separate voluntary benefits for commuters and motorists getting to the office can make a big difference in the positive cultural impact of your program.

Productivity, Loyalty, and Voluntary Benefits

Studies show consistently that incentive programs have a strong positive impact on productivity and loyalty. For example, a recent Incentive Research Foundation study indicated that a well-run incentive program can improve loyalty by up to 44%, showing that employees want to be recognized as individuals for their work. Providing voluntary benefits functions just the same; when employees feel like their efforts are being recognized and rewarded on an individual basis, it acts as a strong productivity driver. That’s because personalizing your benefits demonstrates that you care about your employees – and there’s nothing that ensures employee loyalty more strongly than showing you’re loyal to them right back.

From parking vouchers to cutting-edge telehealth benefits, giving employees a comprehensive and customizable benefits suite is among the top ways to stand out from competitors and attract fiercely competitive best-in-class talent. That’s how PerkSpot helps you build loyalty and reduce turnover; providing your employees with discounts tailored around their interests. Through the hundreds of national brands who work with us, PerkSpot is able to selectively highlight the programs and discounts most applicable to individual employees; whether it’s a frequent traveler in need of cheaper car rentals or an amateur gardener looking for new tools, we’ve got the deals to help your employees save on the things that matter to them. That’s why PerkSpot is such a powerful employee productivity driver.

The Value of Personalization

When you recognize your employees as individuals and format your programs around individual needs, it never goes unnoticed. In many cases, even if the monetary benefit is the same, giving employees the choice to opt-in to relevant programs instead of a “one-size-fits-all” approach improves productivity and loyalty metrics. As far as benefits go, it pays to realize that one size does not fit all; and the more you can provide employees with benefits that match their individual needs, the happier they’ll be. That’s what makes PerkSpot different; our wide range of discounts has something for everyone, no matter how unique. Catering to that uniqueness is our priority.

Interested in learning more about the benefits of a customized discount program? Request a demo for a free overview of how PerkSpot can help your organization!

4 Reasons Behind High Turnover Rates (And How to Solve Them)

Contributing Author September 21, 2022

What does a business need to be successful? Some would say producing best in class, appealing products; others would say top quality customer service. Both factors are undeniably necessary, but for bigger businesses, there’s one metric of success that’s even more important: your employees. And just anyone’s butt in the chair won’t cut it. At the top levels, you need hard-working, committed staff that will help you advance your goals. Feel like you’ve got a fantastic team? Great – but there is another challenge that you’ll need to overcome. If you’ve got the best staff, you want to ensure they stick around, which means keeping turnover down.

If your voluntary turnover is high, it shows that staff aren’t happy with their working situation. There are lots of reasons why you’d want to keep voluntary turnover on the decline – for one, the cost of replacing an employee ranges from one-half to two times the employee’s salary. But how can you keep turnover levels low? The following four steps will help you keep your workers happy and content.

Image sourced from Quantumworkplace.com

1. Poor Management

Looking for one of the top causes of workers leaving their jobs? You’d be hard pushed to beat poor management. The best team leaders can inspire their teams to work harder while utilizing the unique skills of different members. The worst leaders do the opposite.

You might want to consider new leadership if you’re encountering the following issues:

Unmotivated employees
Lack of cohesion between teams
Burnt out employees.
Leaders setting poor standards

These are just a few examples of bad management. These practices will only cause you harm and do little to help you retain employees. Don’t underestimate the importance of leadership in the workplace. If your current leaders aren’t up to scratch, find new ones.

2. Not Enough Opportunities for Progression

Most people don’t take on a job to stay in the same position forever. Employees want to advance and grow in their careers. If workers feel they aren’t getting enough opportunities to progress, they’ll turn over to go elsewhere. Instead, you’ll want staff to feel they have a clear path to climbing the career ladder. You could consider a talent management strategy.

It means creating a culture of development. In other words, the idea of development and progression should be an intrinsic part of your organization. Try to offer continuous education throughout every layer of your business. Even those at the top still have room to learn more. Those at the bottom will be keen to grow their skill sets and advance. So for their sakes, it’s best to make learning materials easy to access, mobile or otherwise!

3. Hiring Externally

Image sourced from Unsplash

One pitfall a lot of businesses fall into is only offering high-level roles externally. There’s a clear logic to hiring externally; you can choose from a larger pool of candidates. But reliance on external recruitment can have a major impact on employee morale, especially for critical mid-level managerial and executive positions; morale impacts that translate directly into higher turnover.

Put yourselves in the shoes of an employee for a moment. You’ve devoted long hours and shown commitment to your organization. But when the opportunity for a promotion crops up, you’re overlooked in favor of an external hire. In this instance, you probably won’t want to stick around much longer.

Ultimately, if employees are putting in the effort, they should have the opportunity for a promotion.

4. Recognize Your Employees

A little recognition goes a long way. A contributing factor to high turnover rates is a failure to show appreciation for the efforts of your workers. Obviously, you don’t want to be gushing praise constantly. But when teams or individual workers do well, you should let them know.

Recognition can take many forms. It could mean setting up an employee of the month scheme. Using a conference calling system, you can announce each month’s winner in front of the team. This is a great way of showing recognition while building a healthy sense of rivalry between teams.

If you want to go the extra step, you could set up a discount program for the highest performers. The more recognition and feedback you offer to your employees, the more valued they will feel.

Employee Satisfaction Is Key

Image sourced from Unsplash

There are some areas in business that are just common sense – like retaining good employees.

Some employee turnover is natural. People don’t stay in the same position forever; they eventually move on to new opportunities. But if voluntary turnover levels are high, you should be more worried. If your organization isn’t providing a positive environment for your workers, it reflects badly on you.

Start by asking yourself, ‘why are people leaving?’. Is there a problem with management, or perhaps you’re failing to provide a route for your employees to progress? You can’t just click your fingers and make your workers happy. As shown here, retaining workers takes commitment.

But if you look to the roots of the problem and work to find a solution, you’ll foster a much happier workforce. So, make sure you’ve on top of your turnover rate!

This contributor post was written by Jenna Bunnell – Senior Content Marketing Manager at Dialpad.

Dialpad is an AI-incorporated cloud-hosted call center platforms that provides valuable call details for business owners and sales representatives. Jenna is driven and passionate about communicating a brand’s design sensibility and visualizing how content can be presented in creative and comprehensive ways. Jenna Bunnell also published articles for domains such as SME News and Together Platform.

Two Major Signs of Micromanagement

Max Goldenberg September 8, 2022

The dreaded micromanager is the bane of any productive workspace. We’ve all been there – the manager who needs to be CC’d on every email. The boss who demands reports so often that you can’t get any real work done. Even the coworker who nit-picks everything you do. It’s no secret that micromanagement in all its forms is one of the biggest contributors to employee disengagement and ‘quiet quitting’; a 2014 survey from Accountemps reported that 59% of employees have worked for or with a micromanager, and the percent of workers who reported micromanagement hurting their morale – 68% – has only gone up in recent years, with a recent survey from Trinity Solutions reporting a whopping 85% of respondents citing micromanagement as a personal morale-killer.

Micromanagement is both one of the most common and most bothersome of workplace ills because it is difficult to identify, and even more difficult to adequately address. But the first step of handling micromanagement is to recognize what’s going on, and to differentiate micromanagement from attentive management! Below are some common traits of micromanagement that can help you identify it at your workplace.

Excessive Amounts of Reporting

Reporting is a crucial part of understanding and improving campaigns. Still, a manager who requests excessive reports on projects can serve as more of a detriment than an incentive. Daily check-ins on the same task, for instance, tend to increase stress and decrease productivity. If a manager is hanging over their shoulder, it’ll leave employees thinking more about their check-in meeting than the project itself. An organized routine for project check-ins on a weekly or biweekly basis can go a long way in cutting down micromanagement.

Hyper-Focus on Details at the Wider Project’s Expense

Detail-oriented management is a great trait, especially for managers who need to oversee complex projects with many moving parts. But sometimes, a focus on detail can slip into minutia, where workers start spending unproductive time addressing minor details at the manager’s request. It can be tricky to differentiate between detail-oriented style and genuine micromanagement, so to tell the difference try asking yourself: “Is this feedback rooted in industry best practice, or is it a personal preference?” When small details are being changed, backed up by data that shows it’ll improve the project, then you have an attentive manager; but if small details are being regularly changed for no clear reason other than personal preferences, you may have a micromanager on your hands.

The best way to deal with micromanagement is to help your manager realize that they don’t need to. Every worker is an individual who handles tasks in a unique way. Encourage them to be open to employees trying tasks in new ways, rather than always having to get their way. Personal solutions founded on good, mutual communication are the best solution to micromanagement, as they are for a great number of major HR stressors – take it from the personalized benefits experts! Discount programs like PerkSpot only work due to providing meaningful, individual solutions – the kind that you should be encouraging micromanagers to take, rather than zooming in on the little things.

What Does Hybrid Really Mean?

Courtney Shipshock August 2, 2022

In the past few years, the standard work environment has seen changes. Prior to the pandemic, the majority of companies had their roles in-person at their corporate offices. It wasn’t uncommon for employees to relocate to new towns, cities, and even states for their job. However, something changed. During the pandemic, companies were faced with the unique challenge of keeping their employees safe while remaining in business and successful. To do so, a lot of employers switched to a work from home model. Technology had to be updated, expectations were adjusted, and a new work environment was taking shape. After two years of little to no in-person collaboration, employees have started to show interest in returning to the office. That’s where the hybrid model comes in, a mix of both remote and in-person to balance the best of both worlds.

Hybrid Defined

A hybrid work environment can be different depending on the industry, role requirements, or your current technology capabilities. Some companies have a set number of in-person days built into their team’s schedule per week, others have quarterly onsite gatherings to get the team together and collaborate. In general, a hybrid work environment is one made up of both working from home and working in-office for a period of time. Each version has its set of pros and cons and it’s up to you to decide which model works best for your team.

How To Execute

It can be challenging going from a fully in-office model to employees scattered throughout the country. One of the most important pieces to switching over is communicating expectations company-wide. As important as it is that employees feel empowered, it’s just as important that everyone is on the same page. To keep up with the progress, send out a company poll and ask managers to discuss the change with their employees. It will only further the trust between employees and their managers.

The Benefits of a Hybrid Model

There is a reason 74% of companies in the United States are currently using or plan to implement a permanent hybrid work model. The best part about a hybrid model is that employees are able to experience both a remote and in-person environment. A remote environment brings more flexibility, fewer distractions, and even increased productivity. An in-person environment brings increased collaboration, an opportunity for team bonding, and access to office resources. Statistics show that 83% of companies say that collaboration has been as good or better after switching over from a full in-office model to a flexible environment. Additionally, employees are more willing to stay at their jobs when it’s less controlled. Plus they’re able to save money without a daily commute.

Today’s employees are seeking flexibility with where they work. With 44% of employees preferring a hybrid work model, it might be time to reconsider your current work environment. You might be surprised at the increase in productivity and retention you see when you make the change!

Interested in investing further in your employees? Check out our E-Book, “5 Focus Areas For Building a Better Workplace” to find out how you can create a better working environment for your team.

Scaling Your Culture While Keeping Employees Engaged

Max Goldenberg July 27, 2022

When your organization is growing fast, it’s an exciting thing! New clients, new opportunities, new employees – and often new culture brought with them as your organization adapts. But fast-paced growth also comes with its own set of unique challenges; as organizations become bigger and more difficult to manage, more apathetic employees can easily dilute an energetic company culture, tanking employee engagement – and morale with it. Keeping an increasingly large roster of unique employees actively engaged in company culture is a huge challenge. For a growing enterprise, strong, positive cultures are vital for productivity and retention; so you’ll have to tackle the daunting task of scaling culture.

Bring New Employees Into The Conversation

Organizations of any size, even those with codified values, are filled with unspoken norms. These small quirks and daily standards can’t be communicated in onboardings, but they form the most basic building-block of culture. It’s essential that new employees feel a part of these minor daily routines! An excellent way of achieving this is through a monthly meeting where newer employees can discuss the company’s culture. Alternatively, you can assign newer employees a veteran buddy to talk candidly about your ins and outs.

Use Benefits Levers To Provide A Universally Attractive Foundation

Certain traditions, such as monthly gatherings of all staff, may become logistically unfeasible as your organization grows. To replace them, you can leverage digital tools to instead offer benefits with universal appeal. While attractive benefits are no replacement for bottom-up culture, using levers like PerkSpot’s discount program can help engage growing cultures by giving new employees attractive reasons to approach the office with the same enthusiasm of their veteran colleagues.

Be Flexible to New Quirks

With any influx of new employees, or even just a growing scope of your enterprise, it’s important to remember that the organization is never going to be exactly the same as it was – and that’s okay. Scaling your culture is the perfect time to codify your organization’s core values. You’ve got the unique chance now to really identify what makes your culture strong and successful. These core values should be your guiding torch to handling company-wide decisions and day-to-day interactions alike. With confidence in your example-setting, you can help maintain your organization’s positive cultural traits while also allowing new employees to add a piece of their own to the tapestry of your workspace.

Find Ways For Leadership To Engage Organically

It’s true that it’s a bit more difficult to do water-cooler talk over Zoom. Still, whether remote or in-person, it’s important that your organization’s leadership is accessible and engaged. Encouraging lower-pressure get-togethers, lunches, or similar events for teams or individual offices creates an environment where teams and leadership can come closer together. It’s also the perfect setting to reinforce a positive organizational culture!

Growing any organization is an exciting and fast-paced time to be involved, but it’s also a high-pressure environment. While one side of ensuring employee engagement is to provide enjoyable interaction opportunities, the other is to prevent burnout and disengagement through proper support and resources. As long as you can supply both sides of that equation to your employees, old and new, you’ll find any sort of cultural transition a breeze.