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    Revitalizing Workplace Morale: Innovative Tactics for Boosting Employee Engagement in 2024

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    This year it has become increasingly evident that the success of any organization hinges upon its most valuable asset: its people. As the modern workforce continues to evolve, it’s imperative that employers acknowledge the pivotal role employees play, particularly when it comes to the success of their companies. One pressing issue that demands attention and has the power to threaten profitability right now is employee satisfaction.
    Recent studies show that job satisfaction ratings are shockingly low, with nearly 22% of professionals describing their job satisfaction as excellent. This distressing figure dwindles further to 13% among non-supervisory employees. This stark contrast underscores the pressing need for employers to address the growing dissatisfaction among their workforce.
    To reinvigorate workplace morale and supercharge employee engagement, organizations must take a people-centric approach to achieving their desired results, and prioritize employee well-being and satisfaction as a strategic contribution to long term success.
    Well-Being Over Salary
    In recent years, it has become clear that people are placing a heavy importance on work-life balance. Surprisingly, well-being has taken precedence over salary as the top contributor to job satisfaction with more employees seeking balance between their professional and personal lives.
    Outdated views of traditional success, solely measured by financial compensation, are evolving and organizations that recognize the significance of fostering environments where employees can flourish both inside and outside the office are better equipped to attract and retain talent. By developing innovative policies – such as flexible work hours, remote work options, enhanced leave policies, and upskilling, reskilling programs – organizations can create more inclusive and adaptable workplace culture. These types of initiatives not only benefit individual employees but also promote a diverse and engaged workforce.
    Embracing the concept of success as a multifaceted endeavor that includes personal growth, work-life balance and skill development aligns with the changing dynamics of the workforce. As a result, forward thinking companies are not only investing in their employees’ professional development but also in their overall well-being, leading to increased loyalty, productivity and revenue.
    Redefining Performance Reviews
    Standard performance reviews aren’t cutting it as new data strongly supports creating new standards to evaluate employee performance as annual or semi-annual reviews no longer align with the pace of most workplaces. Instead, to cultivate a sense of engagement and transparency, more frequent and goal-oriented performance reviews prove more effective for both employees and managers alike. Instead of waiting months to provide feedback, organizations are shifting toward continuous performance assessments, allowing for real-time adjustments, growth, and development.
    It is crucial to create awareness of an individual’s impact on company goals and their peers. By shifting away from merely evaluating an individual’s performance to assessing an employee’s impact, you can help connect their work to strategic priorities and those around them. People who discuss their effects on overall objectives and peers are 2x more likely to rate the performance of the organizations as excellent and to feel recognized by leaders.
    Fostering Inclusivity and Cultural Harmony
    Despite being at the forefront of the larger corporate agenda for some time now, many diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives still miss the mark when it comes to creating truly inclusive environments. A glaring issue is the notable lack of focus on empathy, which can have a detrimental impact on an organization’s culture and morale.
    To have an inclusive workplace, one that emphasizes belonging, business leaders need to break down the walls that stereotypes have built. Successful DEI programs excel in cultivating a culture that fosters open, sincere, and introspective conversations. These are the types of dialogues that can amplify eagerness and motivation to collaborate—enhancing overall engagement, retention, and success. But oftentimes, it can be difficult to have these conversations. To combat this, organizations need to ensure their workplace is that of an outward mindset, one where individuals can develop a genuine appreciation for diversity and actively seek ways to dismantle systemic barriers.
    To truly change an organizational culture, leaders need to address the harmful beliefs and behaviors that hold people back. By shifting mindsets, organizations can pave the way for real change to create inclusive workplaces that embrace diverse perspectives and make everyone feel valued and included.
    Embracing Collaborative Technology
    With remote and hybrid work arrangements becoming the new norm, these changes present a need for effective collaboration in a dispersed workforce. Organizations must embrace collaborative technology that empowers employees to work seamlessly whether they are in office, working fully remote or somewhere in between.
    Tools, including video conferencing platforms, project management software, and virtual whiteboards, are essential for fostering productive teamwork across physical boundaries. As well, encouraging a culture of digital collaboration through providing training and resources is essential to maximize the potential of these technologies. Effective collaboration not only enhances productivity but can reinforce a sense of unity and engagement among employees, regardless of their physical location.
    Cultivating a Positive Culture
    More than a buzzword, crafting a positive company culture can be a catalyst for employee engagement and productivity. United by shared values, a sense of belonging, and a greater focus on well-being, employees are more likely to feel motivated and committed to their work and the organization’s goals. A sense of purpose can significantly diminish feelings of isolation, or alienation and can make the workplace a more fulfilling environment.
    Revitalizing workplace morale in the year ahead will require outside the box thinking and tactics like prioritizing of work-life balance, fostering empathy-centric DEI initiatives, redefining performance reviews, embracing collaborative technology and the cultivation of positive cultures to propel companies toward a brighter future of increased employee engagement and satisfaction. By embracing people-centric approaches, organizations can create workplace environments where employees are not only productive but also genuinely fulfilled.
    The Arbinger Institute is the innovator of leadership and professional development that empowers leaders to transform their organization’s culture to achieve lasting business results. 
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      Netflix: An Employer Brand Built on Freedom and Responsibility

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      When it comes to company culture, Netflix is a force to be reckoned with. Its famous “Freedom & Responsibility Culture” presentation has made waves and introduced ideas that are now commonplace, like unlimited paid time off and a radical approach to employee empowerment.
      But what’s really behind Netflix’s unique approach to company culture? And how do they attract and recruit top talent in both tech and entertainment?
      We sat down with Sergio Ezama, Chief Human Resources Officer at Netflix, to find out.
      Simplicity is Key
      At Netflix, everything is based on five simple principles:

      Encourage decision-making by employees
      Share information openly, broadly, and deliberately
      Communicate candidly and directly
      Keep only your highly effective people
      Avoid rules

      These guidelines inform all sorts of management policies at Netflix, from their unlimited vacation policy to their five-word expense policy: “Act in Netflix’s best interest.”
      This management structure, which Netflix sums up as “highly aligned and loosely coupled,” enables them to grow while still retaining the ability to make big pivots quickly. In short, it’s how they were able to transition from mailing DVDs directly to customers into becoming a video streaming platform, and then make the jump into producing their own high-quality content.
      Working with the Best
      Ezama quickly points out that the Netflix culture memo is an external document, not an internal one. They want it to be the first thing a candidate reads about the company and the first document you receive if you’re applying for a job.
      “We want to strike a balance between being a bit different, being credible, and being aspirational,” Ezama says. That means putting what they stand for front and center and being OK with the fact that it’s not going to appeal to everyone. The work is challenging, and excellence is expected because that’s what it takes to be the best at what you do.
      For Ezama and the candidates he’s looking for, the chance to be on a dream team that comes together to solve very challenging problems makes working at Netflix so rewarding. It’s the central Employer Value Proposition that drives all of their employer branding work.
      “Industries will change over time, and cultures will change over time,” he says, “but working with the best people is something that will remain constant.”
      Measuring Success
      As the CHRO of a large organization, Ezama is passionate about measuring the success of employer branding efforts. When someone comes to him with an idea, the first thing he’s looking for is conviction. Are you passionate about this? Are you really, truly behind this? And secondly, what is the evidence? What output can we measure?
      At Netflix, they rely on the Employer Brand Index to give them the data they need to measure their employer branding efforts. “The work that we do with Link Humans helps us understand if we’re being competitive or not, not only with Netflix but also relative to those we compete against,” Ezama says.
      So, what’s the takeaway?
      Netflix is a company that is committed to simplicity, excellence, and working with the best people. If you’re looking for a challenging and rewarding work environment where you can be part of a dream team that solves big problems, then Netflix might be the place for you.
      But be warned: Netflix is not for everyone. The work is challenging and excellence is expected. If a candidate is not up for the challenge, then it’s probably best to look elsewhere.
      But if they are ready to join a team of the best and brightest minds in the world, then Netflix is the place to be.

      To follow Sergio Ezama’s work, connect with him on LinkedIn. For help gathering data and insights you can act on to improve your own company, get in touch.
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      9 Do’s and Don’ts of Asking Questions in Job Interviews

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      The path from unemployment to employment has several steps, and for most, the first step after application is the job interview. The primary function of the interview is to allow the hiring manager to interact with candidates in order to determine if their qualifications and experience are a fit for the job’s requirements, as well as how they might fit into or add to the company’s culture and values.
      However, the job interview has a secondary function, but equally important for job seekers – the chance to interview the interviewer. The questions job seekers choose to ask in the interview are of paramount importance for two reasons:

      They demonstrate candidates’ preparation for the interview and interest in the job and company.
      They balance the scales in candidates’ favor, allowing them to determine if the job and company are truly a good fit for them.

      As a job seeker, choosing the right interview questions should be part of your interview preparation. Though there are many articles and blogs listing questions that candidates should ask in interviews, choosing the right ones and tailoring them to the role, the employer and your individual needs will help set you apart from the competition. Let’s look at nine best practices for asking questions in job interviews.
      1. Ask About Job Duties and Expectations
      Hiring managers love inquisitive minds. They want to know you’re interested in the role beyond what you’ve been told and that you’re anxious to learn more. Prepare questions on what the role will involve and what will be expected of you.
      2. Ask About Learning and Growth Opportunities
      Employers don’t want to hire people who are satisfied working the same job for the rest of their careers. They want to hire employees who are interested in constantly learning, growing, and evolving. Show the interviewer that this is a priority by asking about training, continuing education, and mentoring opportunities.
      3. Ask About Company Culture and Values
      Asking a generic question about a company’s culture is predictable, but tailoring the question based on elements of the culture that the company is known for or that interest you shows you’re familiar with the employer brand. Every company has values that are ingrained in their culture and essential to their employees. By showing interest in them and how they align with your values, you show that you’re interested in more than just a paycheck.
      4. Ask About Success
      Finding out how the interviewer defines success, what makes others successful at the company, and what will define success in the role for which you’re interviewing demonstrates your interest in achieving the same.
      5. Ask Follow-Up Questions
      While preparing questions in advance is essential to a successful job interview, it’s also a good idea to ask questions based on topics that you just discussed with the hiring manager. By following up on these topics later in the interview, it shows you were astute enough to take note of specific details in the conversation, and inquisitive enough to want to know more.
      6. Don’t Ask Anything That’s Easy to Research
      By asking overly simplistic questions about the company that can be answered with a quick Google search, it shows you weren’t willing to do any advance research or put any thought into preparing your questions. The same goes for questions about the role that can be answered by reading the job description.
      7. Don’t Ask About Salary or Time Off
      It’s never a good idea to convey a “what can YOU do for ME” attitude in a job interview, and calling attention to salary, benefits, or time off does just that. Though you will make the ultimate decision as to whether or not to accept an offer, keep the focus on the job, the company, and how you can contribute to both until the interviewer broaches these subjects or after an offer is made.
      8. Don’t Ask Anything Predictable
      If a question is general enough to be asked by any candidate at any job interview for any company, it’s probably not a good question. Spend time preparing your questions to ensure they are unique to your situation; they make the interviewer think and show you did your homework.
      9. Don’t Ask Anything Controversial or Negative
      If the company or one of its leaders has been in the news recently for the wrong reasons, don’t call attention to it in the job interview. Though this may be a valid reason for rejecting a job offer, posing questions to the interviewer about scandalous news or controversial topics won’t work in your favor.
      How you respond to a hiring manager’s inevitable closing interview question, “Do you have any questions for me?” can make or break your chances of landing a job offer. In addition, it’s an often-underutilized opportunity to demonstrate knowledge of and interest in the job and company, gain an advantage over your competition, and determine whether or not it’s where you want to spend the next several years of your career. By preparing questions in advance tailored around subjects that employers use as determining hiring factors, you can control the direction of the interview and, as a result, the direction of your career.
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      How Startups Can Create an Unbeatable Culture

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      It’s undeniable that there are many benefits of great work culture, although they can be difficult to pin down as each organization has its own unique mission, history, and personality. Albeit extensive, it’s almost impossible to create a ‘one size fits all’ list.
      A strong team is the driving force of success. In the early days, attracting talented individuals and aligning them all with your company’s ideals is crucial. But just as important as finding a great team is holding onto that talent. There is no point in onboarding a team of great people to just lose them around the corner.
      Almost 40% of job hunters say that a “positive working culture” matters to them, so nurture one, and shout about it.
      According to PwC’s 2021 Global Culture Survey, 72% of business leaders say that culture helps successful business initiatives, and 67% argue that culture is more important than strategy and operations.
      Providing a great working culture and an environment, whether it’s remote, hybrid, or in-person, that staff genuinely want to be part of will make them think twice about looking elsewhere. Being a great place to work is a powerful tool for plucky young companies competing with more established businesses with the capital to offer bigger salaries. It boosts morale, productivity and, perhaps most importantly, builds trust. All of this naturally leads to longer, more fruitful tenures.
      Become unbeatable
      Today’s startups come in all shapes and sizes. Businesses born in the pandemic may have continued with remote working, transitioned to hybrid, or maybe back in office right now. Almost 40% of people now work from home at least once a week, and as the demand grows, startups will have to adapt.
      For remote startups, providing time for people to get together is a great way to break free of work-related Zoom and Teams calls and kick-start real interactions.
      In-person get-togethers naturally build relationships in ways that aren’t always possible virtually. Even though there are costs involved with getting these events together, the bonds forged are priceless, and it still costs much less than having a permanent office space.
      Re-imagining work perks
      Everyone enjoys a work perk, but it’s time to provide benefits that are meaningful. We organized a study asking for the most desirable bonuses people think about when looking for a job or deciding whether to stay in their current role. The results showed that fewer people valued typical new-age perks, such as games rooms and pool tables, beer on tap, and sleeping pods.
      We found that:

      70% of people valued the option to work remote/hybrid
      33% said free lunches reigned supreme
      33% also wanted to be involved in employee share schemes

      Share schemes are a great way to get people literally invested in the success of the company beyond just their day-to-day job. By offering bespoke schemes that have different vesting schedules, the required time or performance can be adapted for specific conditions.
      Employee share schemes have been around for a while, yet their benefits are only just being noticed. In fact, the number of companies with an employee share scheme has gone up by 80% in the last decade.
      For startups, having a large cash pool to dole out flashy rewards, hefty bonuses, or invest in pay rises is not realistic. So it’s important to instead be creative. And while everyone may love a day in lieu of heading out for lunch, these don’t foster an unforgettable culture.
      Instead, startups can capitalize on what they do have and give employees skin in the game. Not only does this give a deeper sense of commitment from the company but can also be a great, and often very tax-efficient way to give congratulations to the whole body of a business, creating a sense of unity. Providing a gift which, with their continued hard work, and granted the company is successful, could amount to a life-changing sum.
      Adobe’s recent acquisition of Figma for £20bn means that those employees with a 0.1% share could be banking more than $20,000,000. Although those numbers are rare for such a young company, Figma was only founded in 2016, demonstrating a high-level example of the potential returns from success.
      What we did
      I truly believe that retention begins at the recruitment stage. In competitive sectors, the reality is that applicants will have interviews with multiple businesses simultaneously. For cash-strapped startups, a great culture can be their secret weapon.
      Interview stages are just as much about the candidate liking you as you liking them, so, we prioritize honesty and transparency over expectations. I also ensure I personally meet all final-stage applicants to ensure that they are a good fit culturally for the team. And that the people we onboard are aligned with the ethos and mission at Vestd.
      Establishing this trust leads to more fruitful relationships between colleagues at all levels. Startups benefit from less obvious hierarchies, but the fact that ideas from lower down have fewer hoops to jump through doesn’t always mean that they will filter up. By providing safe spaces, through catch-ups and one-to-ones, startups can quickly nurture an open culture where people feel free to contribute.
      At Vestd we also have invested in twice-yearly in-person meetups. As a remote business, our company retreats are a time for team building and connecting with one another on a human level. On top of this, it shows our staff that we are willing to invest in experiences and their self-development, as well as performance.
      And, of course, we give equity to all our employees.
      For startups, tight on cash and time, getting the most from building a good culture can make all the difference. Implementing an equity scheme is a great way to not only supplement liquid cash for incentives but also incentivize staff to make the most of longer tenures, resulting in unbeatable work culture.
      By Ifty Nasir, founder and CEO of Vestd.
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      Making a Difference: Mental Health in Professional Services

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      Pre-Covid, the professional services industry was already focusing on ways to better foster employee mental health. However, the pandemic has greatly amplified the need for wellbeing support across the sector, with the impact of working from home and the broader health impacts of the virus taking a growing toll.
      This should come as a warning shot to professional services businesses – well-known to often be fast-paced and high-intensity workplaces even before the pandemic. Indeed, poor mental health has a very significant economic cost to employers, with recent research from Deloitte putting the cost to UK employers at up to £45 billion each year (a rise of 16% since 2016).
      Put simply, employee wellbeing is no longer something that businesses can afford to overlook. From embracing more flexible post-pandemic working to tackling ‘always on’ culture, forward-looking firms are already starting to benefit from investing in the long-term mental health of their staff. What’s more, recruiters and hiring managers are going to need to highlight their firms’ mental health policies during hiring processes earlier and with more prominence than ever before.
      The impact of the pandemic
      One of the most significant and lasting impacts of the pandemic has been the mass exodus of workers from offices to home working environments – this shift has had a significant impact on people’s mental health. In fact, according to recent research by ‘Divided Together’, 49% of UK professional services employees experienced a drop in the quality of their mental wellbeing during the first lockdown in 2020, with 44% saying they ‘were making an effort to seem upbeat when they didn’t feel it’.
      This overwhelming decline in worker mental health can partly be attributed to the solitary nature of working from home, but it is also a result of reduced concentration levels. Professional services respondents attributed this mental health deterioration to missing their usual routine (46%), finding it hard to concentrate (44%), being worried about the health of others (43%), or spending more time alone (36%).
      With restrictions easing, long-term remote working policies have been the topic de jure. However, it is how people will return to their offices that have the greatest significance for mental health. In a recent Totum Partners survey, more than 70% of firms said they are considering implementing some form of hybrid working policy in the future (some days spent in the office each week, others working from home). Done well, hybrid working can offer huge benefits to employees, providing everyone with long-term flexibility, all-important face-to-face contact, and critically, better balance for worker mental health.
      Therefore, companies looking to hire new talent will need to show that their firm is willing to adopt hybrid working policies while also being able to balance the mental health needs of their current employees. With a larger proportion of new recruits asking about mental health policy and hybrid working in interviews than ever before, hiring managers and recruiters need to highlight this company attributes at a much earlier stage.
      The ‘always on’ work culture
      A further wellbeing consideration that has come to light as a result of the pandemic is the risk of the ‘always-on’ culture. Presenteeism and the inability to switch off was a growing concern already prevalent before the pandemic, but taking the workplace home has only intensified the pressure for employees to be constantly available, with people finding it more difficult to separate home and work life. This has been especially challenging for workers that have not had the benefit of a home office and have found themselves working from the kitchen table or at makeshift desks.
      Addressing ‘always on culture’ and encouraging employees to set boundaries between work and home life must be a top priority for businesses in the post-pandemic era. In fact, those businesses that equate more hours with greater productivity, stand to lose not only the best talent and the best their employees can offer, but they also stand to bear the financial cost of workers’ mental ill-health.
      When recruiting new talent, it is equally important to show prospective employees that the business they are interviewing for respects the need for a good work-life balance, especially in a world where the ‘always-on’ culture has become second nature.
      A perfect time to find an effective solution
      There’s little doubt that the pandemic has created a significant challenge for worker mental health – a shadow epidemic in its own right. However, the pandemic also serves as a watershed moment to address the issues that have faced workers even prior to Covid. Now is the perfect opportunity to address the deep-seated issues concerning mental health within some parts of the professional services sector. Those that fail to seize this opportunity, will not only pay the price in lost talent, but they will also see the impact on their bottom lines.
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      How Remote Work Can Foster Inclusion and Psychological Safety

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      People success platform leader Glint, part of LinkedIn, has published results on workplace culture that show that remote work is creating more inclusive and psychologically safe workplace experiences. The company’s Head of EMEA People Science tells us more.
      Our global pandemic-initiated shift to remote work has had many consequences, but one that isn’t called out as much as it should be is equality. In many ways, remote work has equalized opportunities for employees to be heard and seen. In a virtual work environment, every meeting looks the same, and each person takes up the same space on the screen, from the CEO to the intern.
      Virtual work bolsters inclusivity
      Glint has tracked a range of metrics about our changing workplace over the past year. Their latest trends report notes that employers that have committed to supporting remote work appear to be creating more inclusive and psychologically safe work experiences as a result. In companies that support remote working, workers feel freer to speak their minds and see their companies as valuing diversity.
      The analysis used a number of measures to derive its conclusions, including how many remote work-permitted job postings an employer puts on LinkedIn (over 275,000 adverts were surveyed from 375 organizations). Millions of Glint survey responses from over 600 organizations were also fed into the model. The analysis shows that employees at remote work-friendly firms were 14% more likely to feel safe speaking their minds. 9% are more likely to report that their leaders value different perspectives, compared to their peers in less remote work-friendly brands.
      The study shows that virtual work creates many features that can bolster employees’ feelings of inclusivity. Virtual work can provide flexibility to people with caregiving responsibilities, bypass location bias, and reduce the amount of time and energy required to conform to potentially unhelpful ‘professionalism’ standards, for instance.
      As organizations re-examine how to foster diversity, inclusion, and belonging in the new world of work, early signs indicate they’d do well to build on virtual work and expand habits, programs, and tools that help people bring their authentic selves to work.
      Culture in the new world of work
      This matters, as the survey also highlights the fact that what team members see as defining a great work culture has changed dramatically over the first year of the Covid pandemic—50% of the top 10 drivers in 2020 were not in the top 10 in 2019. Opportunities to learn and grow have emerged as the strongest drivers of work culture, shooting up eight positions.
      In the first half of 2020, employees’ sense of belonging also started to impact employee happiness, increasing by 12% to become the second most important characteristic people look for to describe a great work culture. That’s one of the ways in which work culture has changed drastically in 2020. Work culture was once shaped heavily by in-person interactions—coffee breaks, shared meals, team retreats, and the like. But when the pandemic not only stripped away physical interaction but also threatened our safety, the less tangible drivers of work culture—growth opportunities, belonging, and values—became more important to employees.
      There’s also a positive uplift here for recruitment and retention, as the research shows that employees at organizations with highly rated cultures are 31% more likely to recommend working there to peers and contacts, and 15% more likely to report being happy working there.
      Employees want more from their employers now than just a pay packet. They want to be challenged, and they want to work in a space where they can bring their whole selves.
      By Steven Buck, Head of EMEA People Science at Glint.
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      How to Smash Lockdown Recruiting and Retention

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      For all of us involved in scaling a business, having the right team is an essential ingredient.  The second half of that is to retain them.  When lockdown first hit businesses, many people looked with horror at both those challenges.  Some are still struggling.  I set out to find the expert secrets of the people who are triumphing.
      Finding people to recruit
      Jimmy Williams is the CEO of the Urban Jungle, which provides insurance to generation rent and millennials.  They doubled their team in 2020 and anticipate doing the same this year. Jimmy finds they are swamped with applications, but not necessarily people with the right qualifications, so they plan to improve their filtering.  They find Zoom works for interviewing, but they like to do practical tests, so they also plan to develop these in exploding formats to prevent sharing between applicants.
      Jimmy says that it is “harder is getting to someone’s personality, so we often ask more direct questions about that. It’s not like anyone has any out of work interests at the moment, so we have to get it out of them!”
      Donald Lindsay is People Operations Director at the hugely successful FreeAgent, which makes award-winning cloud accounting software for small businesses and their accountants. While FreeAgent has had low turnover, when Donald has needed to recruit, he too found a great pool of motivated talent in the market last year and expects to see much the same this.
      Natalie Lewis of Dynamic HR Services also feels that with so many good people who will be made redundant, the talent pool will be large in 2021, but the key will be in the selection.  The choice is even more comprehensive than before. Entrepreneurs worldwide are no longer restricted to employing people locally or even nationally.  A global company in San Francisco might be hiring someone who lives in a remote Cornish cottage.  But pulling precisely the right fish out of a worldwide ocean will challenge everyone in the business of recruitment in 2021.
      Integration post recruiting:
      Both Jimmy and Natalie agree, the biggest challenge is often not the recruitment but integrating them remotely.  “It’s not like it can happen by osmosis or down the pub,” Jimmy points out.  Urban Jungle encourages everyone in their team to bring their personality to work, but Jimmy admits it is hard to do.
      Companies have to create that crucial buy-in to vision, mission, and culture, and this has the crux of the lockdown challenge, which Natalie describes as behavior onboarding.  “Previously, with people in an office together, it was much easier for newbies to pick it the culture and internalize it from the people around them, what they hear and see, embodied in the physical room.”  Without it happening naturally, leaders have to create it.
      Natalie believes it is the companies that have been open to change and adapting that are thriving and cites Gitlab as a perfect example.  They have a flat structure, high accountability, and responsibility.  Natalie believes that even post-pandemic, companies like this will retain hybrid working.
      FreeAgent moved the whole company to remote work in March last year and quickly adapted to virtual recruitment.  Donald says this meant both updating their range of interview guides and processes so they cover online settings and upskilling their staff so they could properly manage and lead this work.
      “Even before the pandemic,” Donald adds, “we were looking at how we could strengthen the employee experience at FreeAgent. 2021 will see us building on these strong foundations.”
      Creating culture and retention from day one
      I asked all three of my experts for their top tips, practices that they find work best to build and retain great teams in new times:
      Jimmy’s top tips:
      Jimmy says that they work “very hard to keep the team both productive and happy.  “We’re trying to maintain our usual levels of transparency, despite being in a physically different space, which makes that difficult.”  One thing they do to maintain transparency is that some of their senior team members now have ‘open 1-2-1s’ with their direct reports so that more junior team members can eavesdrop on what is going on like they would in the office.”
      The second Wednesday in the month is “Workmate Wednesday,” which is just to have non-work chats with colleagues.
      They also use their social budget to send people little treats in the post and include some remote socials. “Remote cocktail making for the Christmas party was brilliant,” Jimmy adds.  In addition, having found that around 20% of their team were suffering from their mental health after lockdowns started in 2020, they replaced their social budget for a mental health fund, offering counseling and yoga session in place of after-work drinks. This does seem to have helped and the team is coping better with this lockdown.”
      Donald’s top tips are:
      Donald believes that “flexible working arrangements will become the new normal going forward when it comes to future recruitment with fewer roles requiring to be based full-time in our HQ.   There will be more of a hybrid split between office-based and remote working from home.”  He believes this kind of flexibility is likely to be an important factor for many applicants in the future, so it’s vital to adapt and meet these expectations as quickly as possible.
      Donald also plans to strengthen FreeAgent’s progression and personal development.  They will offer people the chance to upskill and also to explore other careers within FreeAgent.
      They will also aim to improve things like salary bands, inter-departmental movement, flexible working arrangements, and succession planning “so that employees feel properly valued and nurtured.”
      FreeAgent is also continually reviewing staff benefits packages to ensure they are as strong as possible.  Donald believes that “if our people don’t feel they have a voice or are valued, we simply won’t be able to retain the amazing talent we have here.”
      Natalie’s top tips are:
      For Natalie, it is all about building culture.  One tip is that everyone on a remote team to have google hangouts open all day.  People being able to see each other makes a crucial difference to isolation.  They can always mute for an important call.
      She recommends enforcing virtual coffee meetings a couple of times a day.  Her experience is that people embrace it at first and then lose interest, so you need to really encourage it until they see the benefits – which are huge.
      Natalie says that to retain teams, a culture of compassion and flexibility will be the absolute key in the future.   Many people have to juggle work and family responsibilities in these lockdowns, and they need understanding and flexibility to remain committed and happy.
      Guided by the experts, I conclude that selecting the right talent will be the challenge for 2021 from a vast global pool.  Integration is critical for culture.  And when it comes to retention, the keywords are flexibility, transparency, compassion, and showing you value your team in every way possible.  Just as they have always been, but much more so.
      Jan Cavelle has several decades of founding micro and SME’s behind her and is now a freelance writer and author. Throughout her career, she has worked on various campaigns to support and encourage other entrepreneurs.   Her first book is Scale for Success: Expert Insights into Growing Your Business, Bloomsbury Business, 2021.

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      Adapt or Fail: Why Employers Need to Redesign their Workplace Culture

      by

      The Coronavirus pandemic has dramatically changed the way people live and work — forcing British businesses to pivot to new, digital, and remote ways of working. But, while many of these continue to manage, how many will truly thrive in the months – and perhaps years – to come?
      Today, as many companies pass the eight-month mark of remote working, and with no clear end in sight, working from home is no longer the exception, it’s the rule. But despite the advantages remote working has to offer, our latest research revealed that ‘hidden fractures’ are emerging among workforces, which risk causing irreparable damage to cultures and productivity.
      To ensure their businesses remain resilient – and prevent them from being permanently held back – it’s clear that employers need to take a proactive approach to manage and, in some cases repair, their workplace culture. The time to take action and rethink the employee experience is now; and here are four things employers should focus on:
      Design for remote
      First and foremost, business leaders need to design for remote. Indeed, when it comes to creating a positive company culture – that’s vital for a stable workforce – the same old tactics that were used pre-pandemic won’t work. Employers need to redesign the employee experience to ensure that people feel supported and connected with other team members as well as part of the same experience, wherever they are.
      For instance, just because your workforce isn’t together in the office, it doesn’t mean you can’t create meaningful experiences at key moments in employee life-cycles – at a distance. That could involve providing a new hire with a starter pack and a virtual buddy during onboarding, sending a bottle of fizz to newly promoted staff, or bringing the team together virtually to give a heartfelt farewell to a colleague who’s leaving. If effectively supported, these key moments can positively shape sentiment towards employers, roles, and colleagues.
      Continuously build familiarity
      When people are working in the office, familiarity — that is, feeling part of a team and being able to talk to colleagues and be heard — helps breed successful teamwork and a trust-based culture. But with everyone working from home, it’s easy for relationships to become momentary and transactional — a short video call here or an instant-message there, followed by weeks of nothing. And yet, familiarity is a critical outcome of employee experience, so businesses need to find new ways to weave it into every touchpoint.
      In our research we found that things like recognition for work well-done (33%) and being able to access support and guidance when needed (31%) aren’t just ‘nice to haves’ — they are the most important elements for creating a next-level workplace culture. When these are absent, the workplace culture is viewed as negative – and trust levels nosedive.
      But it doesn’t have to be this way – employers can continue to build and nurture relationships and instill a sense of familiarity by other means. Digital culture platforms, for example, could offer the solution many are looking for. These allow employers to create a space – outside of work channels – dedicated to building culture and familiarity, that all employees can participate in, as and when they please. If they’re to re-create familiarity in their remote workforce, businesses need to think differently and innovatively about how they can keep workplace connections alive and drive meaningful conversations and interaction.
      Strengthen employee networks
      As much as relationship-building is important, it’s also vital to nurture and support the development of peer networks that employees are reliant on for support, guidance, and reassurance. In fact, the cracks in networks are already starting to show, with 51% of employees saying they feel it’s harder to reach out for help from teammates when working from home. This should be a key concern for employers because when employees feel unable to lean on their peers for support and guidance, they can become increasingly anxious and more reliant on their Line Managers as a result. This, in turn, can create pressure points within the organization, causing productivity to plummet.
      Pre-pandemic, peer networks that extended outside of work teams were commonplace – something that has been altered by home-working. At a time when many people feel less visible and connected, it’s clear that businesses need to re-examine their remote working models and create the right channels to ensure employees feel seen, heard, supported, and trusted – and to help them to connect and thrive.
      One way to do this is by celebrating and acknowledging employee wins and achievements in a way that is long-lasting and is seen and heard by everyone across the business. Whether it’s highlighting their achievements over a company-wide video call or updating the team on a digital newsfeed that can be read by the whole organization, employees will feel recognized and appreciated. It’s by adopting these types of creative culture initiatives that employers can help remote workers to feel more ingrained in their business and encourage a more positive and connected workplace culture, no matter where employees are working.
      Measure and track culture
      Finally, in order for employers to effectively keep their finger on the pulse of workplace culture, it’s critical that they measure employee experience and culture. But traditional employee surveys aren’t necessarily the best option, as they’re often slow to implement and can cause survey fatigue when overused. Instead, managers and business leaders should look for ways to harness real-time and consistent culture analytics. By implementing pulse surveys more intelligently (and less frequently) they can benchmark measurements and use findings to help build and maintain an effective and happy remote workforce.
      For many organizations, returning full-time to an office is unlikely to happen any time soon and we believe that in the longer-term many companies will embrace hybrid working practices, as employees look to get the best of both worlds during their working week. But whether businesses are planning for it or not, it’s important to realize that remote working is here to stay, and not just in the short term. In order to protect their workplace culture and their company, employers need to redesign their thinking and adapt their employee experience to this new reality. Those that fail to evolve risk being held back and those that embrace the change will stay one step ahead, now and in the future.
      By Marcus Thornley, CEO of Totem.

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