Misunderstandings between employees and employers remains robust as neither side refuses to relinquish power.
While the new year typically ushers in a whole slew of changes, the workforce has been stuck in the battle of remote and in-office work since March 2020.
Leaders have made it abundantly clear that they prefer some form of in-person work, while workers argue that they have never been more productive than in a remote setting. So who’s right?
From the perspective of professionals, many factors of in-person work can impact their overall productivity, including lengthy commutes, strict dress codes and poor office design. On the other hand, leaders don’t view these as hindrances to productivity — many just care about meeting quotas and overseeing daily tasks.
The answer of who is right is complicated and lies somewhere in the middle.
Remote work has been linked to increased productivity based on numerous case studies, but it has also highlighted some of the downsides of working in an isolated space.
The difference in opinion over remote work has made little progress in recent years, suggesting that employees and employers must come together to outline specific policies that can accommodate the needs of all parties involved. Without it, tensions are likely to continue growing in the new year.
“…A new generation is on the rise, and the first step to communicating with them is understanding they aren’t just another Millennial.” ― Pamela La Gioia, American business author.
The post-Millennial generation of workers, born from about 1995 -2010, has now entered the American workplace in earnest. Some 74 million strong, this diverse cohort comprises about one-quarter of our population, and almost 40% of the workforce. They’re more plugged into the digital world than any generation before them and have never known any other lifestyle.
Although Generation Z’s oldest members have worked steadily for a decade, some business pundits still don’t know what to think of them or how to handle them. And as with Millennials, many of the experts’ expectations regarding Gen Z have proven mostly wrong.
The Entitlement Refrain
It’s amusing, sometimes, to look at early opinions of changing business paradigms. As Millennials were still getting firmly established, older business generations often misconstrued their independence and lackluster corporate loyalty — fueled by the ways businesses treated their parents during the dotcom bust and Great Recession — as lack of focus and laziness. Some observers initially assumed the newest generation of workers would wind up acting even more entitled, self-indulgent, and self-centered than they thought the Millennials were.
Fast forward ten years or so, and there’s still little consensus about what to expect of Gen Z overall. However, there are a few things that most observers agree on. It turns out Generation Z is more conservative than Millennials, moving back toward the Baby Boomer/Generation X idea of business, though they still have an entrepreneurial mindset. Some experts are disturbed by the perception that Gen Z’s devices seem grafted to their hands and think this will certainly diminish productivity, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Here’s what you can expect of Generation Z workers in terms of productivity:
They’re not just a bunch of geeky kids. They’re just more tech-savvy than older generations, since they grew up with the technology. Some view their reliance on social media as distracting and isolating, though Gen Z members themselves see it as a way to connect with people all over the world. To them, it’s a form of global networking — which can become productive indeed as they make connections with potential business partners, the worldwide audience, and the global workforce. They often see their devices as extensions of themselves. All they need to do is harness and channel these interconnective tendencies to leverage them productively. Furthermore, they’re comfortable with digital data and analytics and tend to be creative and design oriented. In most ways, their digital competence serves as a strength; and smart managers, no matter their generation, will take this into account.
They’re motivated to make contributions to the world, and by extension, to their organizations. If they get the feedback they crave, they’ll give freely of their time and energy. They enjoy volunteering and participating in community work the company gets behind.
They’re more conservative than Millennials. Gen Z workers are more likely to follow older generation’s’ ideals of structured work and hierarchies than Millennials. Despite their digital orientation, they value the human connection with their teams and prefer facetime with their leaders, with frequent feedback. As a group, they’re less prone to expect validation, and view failure as a chance to learn — the old “fail forward” concept older work generations will find familiar. They’re also very competitive and driven by financial and career goals.
They prefer personalized work experiences. In this, Gen Z workers do resemble Millennials. More than a third of them (fewer so far than Millennials) see work/life balance as a priority and take this into account when choosing jobs. While more are loyal to their employers, they still want to have things their way — and in many cases they can get that, with remote working and by leveraging the gig economy. They’re also quite entrepreneurial and like their “side hustles,” though perhaps less so than Millennials. They value independence, though prefer job security more than Millennials.
Engage, Engage, Engage!
For the foreseeable future, Generation Z will comprise a significant portion of the workforce, and within a decade, may well dominate it. If you can engage their drive to achieve and contribute, you’ll enjoy fantastic productivity from them… but isn’t this true for every generation? Business insiders suggest mentoring and managing them with Millennials, letting them try and fail if necessary, and encouraging them to think on their feet. Let them use their devices for research and connection and take advantage of their familiarity with technology in any other way than benefits your business.
Putting new policies and programs together can be excruciating. Trying to figure out how to put together a wellness program for employees is now one of the highest priorities for employers. Even 75% of Human Resources employees report that employee wellness programs are now high on their lists.
It can seem daunting, confusing, and unclear what needs to happen in order for a wellness program to be put into place. With 2023 in full swing, here at WellSteps, we have crafted the easiest wellness programs for employees that you can implement right away.
WellSteps Launch: Off the Shelf Easiest Wellness Program for Employees
WellSteps Launch is a turn-key system that is all ready to go for your organization. After helping hundreds of companies for over a decade design and grow successful wellness programs, we’ve put together the best starting point for you.
Will all of the same benefits as starting from the ground up, you’ll be able to get things rolling without any wasted time or wondering what will work well. All of your employees will have increased health and wellness benefits while you don’t have to add any extra stress on your team.
It doesn’t matter how small or large your organization is. The Launch program can be adapted to any company size and still maintains essential pieces to get your people the best wellness results in the same amount of time.
All of your employees will have increased health and wellness benefits while you don’t have to add any extra stress on your team.
How WellSteps Launch Works For You
The Launch wellness program for employees has already been built for you and can be joined at the beginning of every quarter throughout the year. We have taken the most common and popular pieces of our best performing wellness programs and put them into Launch.
With all of the systems, tracking, challenges, and campaigns already in place, all you have to do is provide your company directory and choose prizes and rewards you want to give your people. That’s it! We create accounts for all of your employees and just plug them into the system.
You’ll have a well-rounded program that runs every quarter of the year with evidence based campaigns and systems. We take care of maintaining and tracking all of your data with full confidentiality and security. It truly is the easiest wellness program for employees.
Highlights of the WellSteps Launch Wellness Program for Employees
Fully comprehensive annual program that is completed in quarterly cycles.
An online dashboard and program center, with a digital app for every employee.
Tracking tools that reward activity and provide incentives for participants.
Four behavior change campaigns for maximum impact.
Enjoyable game based challenges for teams or departments and individuals.
Specialized My Tracker that can sync up to wearable devices to track healthy behaviors and goals.
Community engagement areas for social interactions and leader-boards.
How to Get Started
If this sounds like something you’d like to Launch into your company’s new year, just take the next step and contact us. We can get all of your questions answered.
It doesn’t matter if you’re new to company wellness programs, or well experienced and want to make a change. Contact us today on getting your best wellness program for employees setup quickly and easily. We’re here for you!
Layoffs are both painful and essential. Corporate reorganization has negative effects on organizations and their employees, from muddled emotions to decreased productivity. Victims of downsizing may experience troubles with their mental health as well as their finances. Additionally, it may have a negative impact on a survivor’s emotions and future work prospects.
But how severe are the impacts of employee layoffs on a business, the affected people, and the survivors? This was the driving question behind BizReport 2022 Layoff Aftermath Survey.
BizReport surveyed 2162 people in the United States to gain insights into this topic. 48% of the participants were layoff victims, 36% were layoff survivors, and 16% were layoff decision-makers. The participants were divided into groups and asked to answer approximately 30 questions about the effects of layoffs, attitudes toward future employment, and feelings after layoffs. To ensure that participants weren’t just answering questions mindlessly, attention-checker questions were included. Unqualified responses were not included in our analysis. In the survey, open-ended questions are employed, and the responses are afterwards standardized.
These impacts have been classified into five major groups in this survey, including:
Changes in employee behaviors and emotions – Layoff survivors change their working attitude and opinion on their company.
Financial impact of downsizing – How layoffs affect layoff victims and how businesses are helping them.
Psychological impact of layoffs on victims and survivors – Negative feelings come after layoff for both the victims and survivors.
The influence of terminations on attitudes and the future of employment – Negative changes in layoff victim’s attitudes and fewer chances for a new job.
The state of layoffs in the U.S. over the next 12 months – Current situation of the US. economy and layoff decision-maker’s opinion on job cutting.
Layoffs are unavoidable, particularly in a struggling economy. Making the event as comfortable as possible for everyone involved is therefore the best course of action in this situation. When making cutback decisions, layoff decision-makers must keep their employees’ best interests in mind, and employees must make every effort to adapt to the new system as best they can.
Let’s dig deep into the results obtained from our survey to discover how layoffs affect businesses and their employees.
We’ve heard it before: the remote and hybrid work models are the “new normal.” Since many companies have found that they can operate just as well (or in some cases, even better) from home, HR teams, senior leadership, and managers have been diligently crafting new policies to create a better experience for all employees regardless of where they’re logging in from.
While many parts of the workday have stayed relatively the same, one thing has definitely changed: the way we hold meetings. For large-scale discussions or town halls, the switch to virtual meetings has made things easier by simply booking a time slot and sending a meeting link instead of scrambling to find a room that can fit dozens of employees. Though some elements may have been streamlined in the shift to remote working, keeping your employees engaged during a virtual meeting poses its own set of unique challenges.
Try some of the following best practices to start hosting successful, more engaging remote meetings and hold your team’s attention every time.
Learn our best practices for successful remote team meetings
What are the challenges of leading a remote team?
The time your team has together, whether in-person or virtually, is crucial to keeping everyone connected, engaged, and productive. Because meetings (both one-on-ones and team meetings) play such a vital role in a team’s healthy functioning, they’re a great place to focus your attention.
Getting a grasp of some of the challenges your remote team is facing helps you make adjustments to your meeting calendar that will have the greatest impact.
Common remote team challenges
Maintaining regular communication within the team and across departments
Staying connected on a personal level and maintaining workplace friendships
Connect with your remote team
Want to better understand your distributed team’s reality? Try sending them an engagement survey. You can use a tool like Officevibe’s Pulse Surveys to track overall team sentiment and send a custom survey to ask questions on remote work or any other topic.
17 remote meeting best practices for team leaders and managers
Team meetings are a core part of the workday in nearly every industry. They provide employees with a shared space to bounce around ideas and form stronger team bonds. So let’s dive right into how you can run successful and engaging remote meetings by trying out these best practices, sequentially.
Before your remote meeting
It goes without saying that you need to prepare ahead of any meeting you’re leading, and remote meetings are no different. Before logging on to your discussions, prep yourself with some (or all!) of these best practices.
Ask yourself: could this meeting have been an email? It might seem obvious, but taking a step back to pose this question could save you and your team members a lot of time to work on other tasks. Maybe the topic of your meeting could be covered in a quick email exchange, through a Slack channel, or over a good old-fashioned phone call. If that’s the case, save the meeting for a more appropriate time.
Choose the right tools and platforms. From Zoom and Teams to WebEx, there is no shortage of remote meeting tools and platforms. Explore which platform works best for your team and which will help you facilitate communication.
Send a meeting agenda. Make time to organize your thoughts and send invitees the agenda for the meeting so they can prepare themselves as well. Giving your employees an idea of what’s coming up can help them jot down any questions they might like to raise in your team meetings, general town halls, and even one-on-one sessions.
Cover the right topics. The time managers and employees have individually in one-on-one meetings is important for covering topics that aren’t meant for a group setting, like performance, career goals, or anything personal.
Schedule meetings logically. Not only is it important to plan out what you will be discussing in your remote meetings, but it’s equally as important to factor in when you’re holding said meetings. Unless absolutely necessary, avoid scheduling meetings outside of regular operating hours and late on Friday afternoons as your employees will likely be tapped out from the day or week and less likely to participate. If you have team members working in multiple time zones, schedule the virtual meeting within a time frame that is respectful for all.
Set collaborative agendas, cover important points, and keep track of your notes in one place, with Officevibe’s one-on-one software.
During virtual meetings
You’ve booked the time. You’ve invited the right people. You’ve gathered your thoughts. Now, let’s discuss how to effectively manage things during your virtual meeting.
Set general housekeeping rules. It’s best to get technical details out of the way at the very beginning of your online meeting. If there is a presentation, remind team members to keep themselves on mute and jot their questions down in the chat box or save them until the end. Sometimes a lengthy meeting is unavoidable, so scheduling breaks and giving your people a breather will make for a more successful remote meeting.
Introduce new hires. As the meeting leader, take a moment at the beginning of the conversation to introduce new employees to the rest of the team. Starting a new job can be intimidating enough as it is, so prioritizing a great onboarding process can go a long way in making your new hires feel welcome in this digital space.
Encourage people to turn their cameras on… but don’t make it mandatory. While video conferencing can be a great way to connect with your teammates, everybody has different comfort levels when it comes to being on camera. And as a people leader, you have to put the well-being of your employees first and respect individual boundaries.
Make time for small talk. If most team members are working remotely or under a hybrid model and have fewer opportunities to chat, make time for personal and informal conversations at the beginning or end of the session. This will help your team build the same meaningful connections that would burgeon naturally during in-person meetings.
Remember to take notes. This one may seem like a given, but it’s easy to miss an important talking point if you’re experiencing technical issues or not recording the meeting. Ask someone in the session to help track meeting minutes and meeting notes if you need a hand.
Let people know ahead if you’re recording. On that note (pun intended), let meeting attendees know if you’re recording the session. Not only is it a courteous gesture, but if you have people working in different time zones, it can help them know what they have to attend live and what they can catch up on later.
Give everyone the opportunity to speak. Divide your time equally so everyone has the opportunity to share what they’re working on and raise any blockers they’re facing. Your virtual meeting can be a great opportunity to share ideas and gain insight from your colleagues.
Recognize effort and achievements. Virtual meetings are a great opportunity to shout out recent wins and highlight team efforts. You can give kudos during one-on-ones or in a larger team setting if your employees are comfortable with it, or take a beat to encourage peer-to-peer recognition.
Keep it engaging. Successful virtual meetings are engaging meetings. If you’re holding a day-long brainstorming session or workshop, keeping your employees engaged for the entire meeting can be challenging, but it shouldn’t stop you from trying! Take a few minutes for icebreaker activities, and if the platform you’re using allows for it, test out the poll, quiz, and breakout room features.
💡Whether you’re managing a remote team or a hybrid workforce, it’s of the utmost importance that you connect with your people on a genuine level. Check out these fun employee engagement ideas to keep building relationships with your team!
After your online meetings
What you do after holding your remote meetings is just as important as the session itself. Make sure everyone is on the same page with the following tips.
Schedule follow-ups. Even if you share the agenda ahead of time, it’s easy to get sidetracked from the main topic in your remote meetings. If there are things that still need to be addressed, schedule a one-on-one or another team meeting within a realistic timeframe to keep new ideas fresh in your mind.
Share a recap. This is where your stellar note-taking abilities will come in handy. If you’re managing remote teams, not all of your employees will be in the same time zone and able to attend the session. Make your workplace more accessible by sending a recap with the meeting’s main points and if you recorded the session, send that along, too!
Set action items and track goals. After your remote meeting, it’s important to share, in writing, the next steps with your team. Setting goals and clear expectations help your team stay on track and is crucial for bolstering employee engagement.
Pro tip: Send out a custom survey after your meeting to get feedback from your team. Ask how they felt about the agenda, talking points, and output. They might have suggestions for how you can keep participants engaged and improve things for future meetings.
How to lead better online meetings for better remote teamwork
When you really understand the challenges your remote or distributed team is facing in their day-to-day, you can use that to improve your remote meetings and make them more engaging. Improved communications make a world of difference for the better functioning of virtual teams, and meetings are a key part of those communication practices.
Keeping your team engaged is at the heart of a productive and happy workplace. Whether you’re managing a fully remote or hybrid team, you can start applying some best practices to your team meetings and make the most out of your time together.
Conflict between coworkers is inevitable. Mastering how to resolve conflict in the workplace is where power lies for you to make a difference with your people, your teams, and ultimately your customers. You cannot have a successful workforce that is productive and uplifted when they are constantly dealing with disagreements that negatively affect their work.
Here are five ways to approach and incorporate skills with helping coworkers dissolve conflict to better solutions. When they see your willingness to respect their perspectives and feelings on any matter, you support a healthier workforce and environment where your people want to stay.
see the conflict as an opportunity
focus on the behavior or event
help each individual involved feel seen and heard
find points of agreement instead of differences
do a 5 why’s analysis to dig deeper
Your employees can’t trust you if the workplace conflict just becomes elementary tattle-tale situations that are one-sided and biased. Unfortunately, that’s what still resides in many workplaces. This must change.
Seeing Conflict as an Opportunity is the First Step in How to Resolve Conflict in the Workplace
When people are in the heat of the moment, it’s very difficult to zoom out and see the bigger picture with things. Emotions running hot can lead to destructive behaviors at work, and even in front of customers. No one wants that at all. Even suggesting that the conflict is an opportunity at the right time may trigger certain people even further.
Your management and HR teams should be trained and cautioned to approach this idea delicately with people who may be “set off” very easily. That said, when people have cooled off a bit, approaching the situation as a way to move past something once and for all just may be the way to step into calm waters.
Discuss key awareness ideas such as:
within every conflict there is a seed of solution meant to move past everything negative
discussing the dispute as soon as it’s recognized treats the problem at the source instead of brushing it under the rug
finding the root of the problem is how to create a happier, more stable workforce and coworker relationships
negative feelings can be released and relationships grow in a more positive direction
if everyone is willing to respect perspectives, everyone can end up in a better place
Time and energy will no longer be wasted on certain areas of conflict when you take the time to actually address it. Unfortunately, too many organizations discount the common quarrels between team members as just clashing personalities or “they’re having a bad day” and write things off. But the problems remain.
You will only be able to resolve conflict in the workplace and ultimately keep your employees when you approach these often delicate circumstances from a higher plane. Choose to see the bigger perspective of how this can be used for good, instead of just being something everyone needs to learn to deal with.
You will only be able to resolve conflict in the workplace and ultimately keep your employees when you approach these often delicate circumstances from a higher plane.
If you are approaching conflict resolution as only determining who is in the wrong or who made the mistake, you’re ultimately going to lose. Your efforts will not be productive and there will be no progress.
Judgment or pointing fingers is not how to resolve conflict in the workplace. Yes, there may be mistakes made that need to be remedied. But it’s more about behaviors that can change in order to prevent further negative events from happening again.
During discussions with your people, focus on the behaviors that may be unacceptable, or the circumstances that led to the conflict that could have been avoided. Maybe policies and procedures were not followed properly. Maybe nothing could have been done to prevent the issue so now it’s an opportunity to develop a new plan of action if it happens again.
Recognize that people may have acted out in bad ways because they’re stressed, overworked, or have key things happening in their personal lives that are weighing heavily on their mind. No matter what though, approaching the situation by looking at what happened rather than why it happened is primary.
How to Resolve Conflict in the Workplace With Ensuring Employees Feel Heard
Often during meetings or discussions involving a few employees in conflict, one or more parties feel like they are not understood or have been mistreated. Then they stay silent or do not engage because they feel like their perspective doesn’t matter, the manager leading the conversation is biased, and no matter what they do they have already been judged as being wrong.
One WellSteps employee shares a story where she felt entirely disregarded and there was no equal treatment or attempt for understanding in a simple situation.
One time as a teenager I worked at a grocery store. One of the managers was constantly calling me back to the front end of the store when she couldn't directly see me bagging customer's groceries. She felt that I was disappearing to ditch out on working. But what actually happened was that during slow times with no customers coming through checkout lanes, I was bringing in shopping carts, bagging ice, assisting the other store employees stock goods in their sections, etc. I told the manager this, and even had the support of other employees to corroborate my story, but I wasn't believed at all. I found myself being written up for apparently being subordinate by the head manager because he believed the lower manager over me. I certainly didn't feel heard or validated. After that I didn't go out of my way to provide extra value as an employee when that manager was on duty.
Even in this case where there was a simple misunderstanding or lack of communication, there was no attempt to hear or show that employee that she had true value to the company. All that seemed to matter was an outranking manager’s opinion. This is seen too often in organizations day in and day out.
Over 80% of employees state they don’t feel heard during conflicts at work and it leads to negative situations all around for everyone involved. Being able to have conversations that produce positive results rather than perpetuating negative energy is an essential skill your management team and HR groups must attain.
Put yourself in the employees’ shoes. Would you want to be an effective and productive employee if you felt your perspective did not matter? Of course not. We can create a space where employees and leaders all feel valued and heard even during times of conflict and disagreement.
Being able to work through those challenges will forever create skills and go-to solutions for everyone involved that they can use not only at work but in every area of their lives.
Being able to work through those challenges will forever create skills and go-to solutions for everyone involved that they can use not only at work but in every area of their lives.
You know the saying “Agree to disagree?” Sometimes it’s the only way to work toward conflict resolution. Being able to find a common ground of what can be agreed upon may save co-working relationships. The clash of perspectives that incites negative emotions is always based on disagreements that trigger people.
But when there are details in the situation that can be agreed upon by all parties, it starts to neutralize the bad feelings. It levels the “playing field” and helps everyone to just take a breath and lower the intensity down a notch.
Now, this isn’t sarcastically getting one side to agree with the other out of spite or wishing the heated conversations would end. You must be careful that it doesn’t involve subtle animosity to get one side to give in and deceitfully agree in order to just get the interaction over with. How to resolve conflict in the workplace isn’t about getting to the end of the conflict faster.
Genuinely search for details that both sides can agree on and start from there. Utilize resources and training everyone can go through that teaches skills for finding agreements between parties. Not only will this help reduce conflict in the workplace, it will support your customer service and contract conversations depending on your organization’s business model.
Sometimes it’s necessary to dig a little deeper to even understand the source of the conflict or problem between employees. If you’re trying to make sense of the dispute and it’s unclear how the conflict even originated, you can utilize a simple tool called 5 Whys. This is often used by Quality Departments, therapists or counselors, and even Process Engineers in order to go to the source of issues that can be resolved.
Here’s how to resolve conflict in the workplace with this simple process. Start with what seems to be the dominant reason an employee feels there is a conflict at all. Identify that reason and follow these steps.
Ask why there is conflict.
Take the answer from step 1, and ask why that is a problem.
Take the answer from step 2, and ask again why that is a problem.
Take the answer from step 3, and ask again why that is a problem.
Take the answer from step 4, and ask again why that is a problem.
Usually after digging deep into a conflict, the root cause can be identified after 5 Whys. Sometimes it’s necessary to go to 7 layers down, but 5 should be sufficient in problems between coworkers. You’ll find that the actual cause of the problem is not what it appears to be at all.
This process allows everyone to uncover the truth of the matter in a non-confrontational way. Though this tool was originally used for developing lean production systems, it can be applied in almost any situation to understand the root cause of anything. Once that is known, then the opportunity for lasting solutions isn’t blocked by emotions or incorrect assumptions.
Next Steps For How to Resolve Conflict in the Workplace
The good news is that most unnecessary conflict can be avoided when employees have good levels of mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. When your organization has a thriving wellness program to support its employees in this way, conflict decreases.
No matter if you have a wellness program at your company, or you have nothing in place at all, no worries. You can book a free demo with one of our WellSteps guides and discover exactly how you can not only help resolve conflict in the workplace, but also support every other area of health for your people.
Over there years I have been asked, “What is company culture?” I’ve talked about company culture since I learned about it, and it’s become one of my favorite subjects because it impacts us so much.
So this morning I woke up to a newsletter article from one of my resume-writer friends, Martin Weitzman. Marty writes the Gilbert Gazette, which I’ve gotten for years. He included an article that was apparently on Glassdoor (I can’t find it) titled 12 Interview Questions You Should Ask to Uncover Company Culture. These questions really get to the heart of the “what is company culture” question.
The questions are:
How long have you been with the company?
What was the last big achievement that was celebrated?
What’s the dress code like here?
What activities do you offer for employees?
What was the department’s biggest challenge last year and what did you learn from it?
How much time do the owners/leaders/founders spend in the office?
What do people on the team that I’d be joining do for lunch every day?
How do you measure success and over what time frame? How are these metrics determined?
Would you be willing to show me around the office?
Does the company give back to the community? In what ways?
How many of the current team members have flexible schedules?
What continuing learning opportunities do you have for your employees?
I care more about some of these questions than I do others. And I’d word some of them differently than others. For example, I may not care as much about how an organization gives back to the community (depending on various factors) as I care about the flexible schedules (and remote work opportunities).
I’d ask how they handled remote work since the pandemic and listen for what policies they put in place (mandates to come back vs. optional stay-at-home options).
One of the important things to remember with lists like this is that they are neither the entire list nor are they necessarily the best questions for your situation, or the organization you are interviewing at. You need to come up with your own questions. And, I doubt you’ll ask each of these twelve questions… just ask the two or three that are most important to you. Then you can ask other questions addressing other topics you are interested in.
This morning I tweeted about company culture. I firmly believe this:
Thinking about company culture.
When people tell me company culture isn’t a real thing, I imagine they have never worked for a company with an awesome culture or a really bad culture. If they had, they would absolutely know culture is a real thing.
The first two companies I worked out, while finishing my degree and then shortly after graduating, had amazing cultures. I was an intern at the first one. They decided to move all of the jobs in that office a few hours west. It was all kinds of things: chaotic, heartbreaking, surprising, etc. People had to make serious decisions. I learned of many people who had kids from previous marriages that refused to go, lest they hardly saw their kids after moving. I saw people wonder how they would replace one of the best, and best paying, jobs in that tiny town with not a lot of opportunities.
Since I was an intern I was kind of detached from it all, not having thought I’d spend my future at that company. I was the proverbial fly on the wall, observing, watching, listening, absorbing, learning. I learned about culture, about change management, about communication, about career management.
The second company had a few hundred managers and thousands of mostly janitors. We did janitorial (and some other facility) work across the U.S, and I think into Canada (I can’t remember). There are two unfavorable characteristics in that industry: very low profit margins and very high turnover. Yet this company was, in my opinion, massive. They had recently entered into some new contracts with non-janitorial work that were much more profitable, and times were exciting.
The thing that stood out to me the most, though, was the loyalty and the all-in attitude I saw from leadership and management. Even in the harshest of circumstances (imagine trying to get a very low-paid janitorial crew to work in a storm, for example), with very few resources, I saw leaders who gave everything to the organization. I saw this because they believed in the top leadership. They were aligned with the vision and mission. They felt they were important, seen, and respected. And they were.
Contrast that to working at an organization that doesn’t care about you. You are barely just a number to them. They know they’ll be replacing you within a year.
Contrast the amazing culture to an organization that promotes incompetent, dangerous leaders. What kind of culture do you think that creates? I’ve see it. I’ve lived it. It’s amazing that top leaders don’t know the trust they have worked so hard on has been destroyed by having one exceptionally poor leader remain in leadership.
So, What is company culture?
It is not a popularity contest. Having a great company culture doesn’t mean you always and only promote people who get along with everyone else. Some of the greatest leaders at the greatest organizations were not good socially. But they were excellent in other ways, and people around them made up for social deficiencies.
What is company culture?
A great company culture is an exciting culture. Usually, it is a place that is growing or very stable, and people aren’t fidgeting, super worried about losing their jobs. At the same time, they know that performers get to keep their jobs while underperformers either get a plan to improve or they get invited to leave. In an organization with a great culture this doesn’t feel stressful, rather it feels like the work you do is appreciated, and leadership is trying to nurture, guard, and reward, great work.
What is company culture?
Company culture is a feeling. It is built on trust. It is nurtured by alignment of values and direction. It is reinforced by recognition and rewards.
Like I said in my tweet, it might be hard to explain, or recognize, but once you have experienced it, you know it. Once you’ve been in crappy company cultures you want to avoid them, and once you’ve tasted of the forbidden fruit, if you will, you only want that.
That’s why the questions above are so important… the responses will help you understand if where you are interviewing at really has a company culture you want to work at, rather than something they only brag about on their website but don’t actually live.
If you are still asking “what is company culture,” keep looking. Hopefully, one day, you’ll find it.
Two Word of Warning
And, of course, not everything is roses. Here are two serious considerations if you want to work at a place that has a great company culture:
First: You get what you put in. You get what you look for. You get what you feed.
If you want an amazing company culture then work for it. You don’t have to be the company president or HR to be an active participant. Go to the lunches, get involved in the recognition program (where you give recognition to your peers and colleagues). Work on supporting organizational initiatives and cut down on the crap talk.
I’m not saying to be a Pollyanna. Or, maybe I am. You can spend your entire day talking about how dumb this program is or what a dork that executive is, or what a waste of time something is. Or, you can do your job and look for good, constructive ways to fix some of those issues.
Having a great company culture doesn’t mean there are no problems, but the way the problems are addressed and talked about are much better than in a toxic environment.
What is a great company culture? It is a culture that you are actively involved in, instead of continually trying to tear down.
Second: Your company (or team) culture can greatly be influenced by your organizational (or team) leaders. I’ve worked at organizations where I thought it was the greatest thing in the world while some of my colleagues in different departments had a completely different experience. So, going to work at a top employer in your area might be great, unless you get put in the worst department. You’ll end up wondering what anyone is talking about, and why they say it’s great.
I have worked for amazing leaders. When they leave, everything changed. Or, I’ve worked for barely-tolerable leaders. When they left, everything changed!
Look for, and do what you can, to work with these leaders! Maybe your question shifts from “what is company culture” to “what is the culture my team leader has created?” Go back to those questions above and change them to reflect on the leader you’ll be working under to get a better idea of what culture you’ll be in.
“Some people call this artificial intelligence, but the reality is this technology will enhance us. So instead of artificial intelligence, I think we’ll augment our intelligence.” — Ginny Rometty, American business executive
Artificial intelligence (AI) gets a bad rap in pop culture. For every fictional Jarvis or David, there are a half-dozen Skynets or Ultrons. In the real world, most workers believe artificial intelligence is something we’re still waiting on. But it’s already off and running in corporations around the world, though not necessarily in forms people tend to think of when they hear the term “artificial intelligence.” Some visionary authors call what we have “artificial stupids,” but whatever you call them, they can get the job done.
The job, in this case, is making human workers more productive by handing the reins for repetitive, dull tasks to silicon coworkers. I’m not talking about robots, and no one intends these AIs to take over human jobs. These AIs consist of increasingly sophisticated software boost personal productivity at work, based primarily on machine learning culled from previous data.
Let’s look at a few ways AI has already begun to help out:
Forecasting. By assessing past data from your business or department, and testing hundreds or thousands of models using your data, AIs can help forecast the outcomes of any potential decision or approach. It can also consider innovation, potential disruptions, or supply-and-demand changes based on existing or potential conditions. This may sound more useful to manufacturers of widgets than to classic white-collar offices, but keep in mind that we still manufacture our own kinds of products for our end-users, whether they be white papers or computer programs. Besides, standard manufacturing firms also have white-collar offices to handle the technology used in production and make predictions for next year, quarter, and decade. Given the proper constraints, an AI can learn from its past errors, optimize its data based on what it’s learned, and move forward based on its new conclusions — 24/7. It can also use this information to develop algorithms to predict when maintenance and upgrades to its own system are needed.
Security. These days, the only way to avoid data theft is to use computers completely cut off from the World Wide Web. That just doesn’t cut it if your business model requires an online presence. Even if it doesn’t, most white-collar businesses need dedicated access to the internet so workers can more easily do their jobs and communicate with one another. Many businesses have some level of human security to protect their real assets and people, but increasingly, they also require a high level of cybersecurity to protect data, intellectual property, and other intangible assets. AIs provide an unsleeping eye to safeguard all these: by learning to recognize cyber-attacks based on algorithms developed after previous attacks, by closely monitoring input from outside, and by shutting down access to sensitive files/systems as necessary. They can even help backtrack the attackers to their source, to block further attacks. While script kiddies and other hackers remain a serious concern, with the proper AI cybersecurity, they aren’t as worrisome as they once were.
Research and Personal Assistants. Digital assistants aren’t exactly new, but as AI has evolved in recent years, they’ve become much easier to use and more reliable. Now, with a few instructions, they can handle your email, keep your calendar in hand, and streamline other processes with simple suggestions. This are straightforward tasks evolved from Clippy and Microsoft Bob of the pre-Y2K era (look ’em up). But the most useful thing about these assistants is that they can sift through enormous masses of data with ease, allowing you to do the kind of research that might not have been possible a decade ago. Before search engines alone, research was a much more onerous task, which could require months of library work and, in some cases, prohibitive levels of travel.
Being pure software, AIs not only don’t need time off, but they also can process basic data much faster than anything human. As a result, they can relieve us of a great deal of tedium and allow us to discover connections that help us develop or refine products and continue evolving our technology. The examples here are just a few ways AI can increase efficiency, and thus productivity, in the modern business world; soon we’ll be seeing many others.
Energage is a Certified B Corporation that helps organizations measure, shape, and showcase their culture to build a sustainable competitive advantage. Through its fully unified SaaS platform, plus support and professional services, Energage customers are successfully recruiting and retaining the right talent for their organization by building, maintaining and branding their unique culture. Having launched the industry’s first employee engagement survey 14 years ago, Energage draws on the employee feedback collected through the leading employer recognition program – Top Workplaces — to maintain the industry’s most robust workplace culture benchmarks.
Energage is a Certified B Corporation that helps organizations measure, shape, and showcase their culture to build a sustainable competitive advantage. Through its fully unified SaaS platform, plus support and professional services, Energage customers are successfully recruiting and retaining the right talent for their organization by building, maintaining and branding their unique culture. Having launched the industry’s first employee engagement survey 14 years ago, Energage draws on the employee feedback collected through the leading employer recognition program – Top Workplaces — to maintain the industry’s most robust workplace culture benchmarks.
In today's competitive business landscape, the most successful companies are those that recognize and value the multifaceted identities of their employees. The modern workforce...
