In a business setting, staff works for the owner. However, in a positive work environment, business leaders should also help nurture their team.
So, what do we mean by helping nurture your team? It is about helping them be equipped with important knowledge to gain a better career and life outside the office. Years ago, employees tended to stay in the same company for up to ten years. It is the case for the Baby Boomers and Generation X. Since they were the generations that witnessed war-stricken life and economy, they all sought out white-collared jobs, and they did not really quit working until they needed to retire.
Imagine ten years of work and company loyalty. If your staff is working an eight-hour shift, that means they have already spent the majority of their life working for you. Your employees would all have other problems, personal ones even, that they need to remedy and deal with. Some may be struggling with mental health, others might be having financial management difficulties, and even marital problems.
As a leader, it is up to you to extend a helping hand to them, and you can do this by making sure they have the necessary knowledge to face and counter these challenges. You and your HR can organize projects that will help your employees not just with work but also with life.
Here are some people-centric HR initiatives that you can launch for your employees:
Regular Educational Seminars
For younger individuals, the thought of attending seminars can be quite uneventful. However, for professionals, it is a learning opportunity to take. Your employees are no different. If you provide them with seminars and informative events that can help them, they would never question the value of going.
If your staff is mostly compromised by millennials, you can invite speakers to conduct a seminar regarding mental health. How to handle their frustrations and worries in life. You can also invite experts to talk about refinancing and debt consolidation. Meanwhile, if there are older staff present, you can help organize a talk about retiring and what is next after work. Lastly, you can also push for regular seminar training for your manager leaders to help them improve their craft, leadership, and values.
Funding regular educational seminars are not a waste of time and resources. By helping your employees address their unspoken battles at home, you are allowing them to function and work at their best again. Now, that means better productivity and more efficient operations.
Flexible Incentive Programs
Incentive programs are designed to keep employees motivated and productive, but did you know that they can also help your staff with financial difficulties?
There is no secret about your employees having financial struggles too; perhaps everyone has been there. Living by the payroll dates, and struggling to keep up with every single bill payment. So, providing them with incentive programs that they can do already helps out big time. Even if it were only to be a few dollars, it is already a big help for your struggling employees
A business owner would tell his employees to extend and finish work, a business leader would recognize healthy boundaries between work and home. Should there be a need to do more extra tasks, a positive work environment would have positive reinforcements and incentives for the staff’s hard work.
A business leader and a wise manager would not force his or her employees to dedicate more hours in the office simply because they do. It doesn’t work like that, it shouldn’t work like that. Organizations with this kind of work ethic often find themselves dealing with unproductive employees and a higher turnover rate.
An Ergonomic Workplace
Did you know that there are countless physical injuries caused by poor office furniture design? Your employees are already spending eight to nine hours sitting down and working for you. The least you can do is to have ergonomic furniture pieces that would help assuage the physical strains and tensions your employees are struggling with.
Have you ever felt tired just from sitting down and working? Your back goes numb, your shoulders feel weak, and your neck just freeze. Those are only a few things that could happen to your staff without well-designed furniture that would support their spine curvature.
When this is ignored, you would be dealing with lethargic employees who do not have enough energy to even participate in your town hall meetings.
Being a business owner is one thing, being a business leader is another. Be a leader and start looking out for your staff as well. After all, your employees are the bloodline of your company. Without them, your business operations would cease to exist.
