It is December 21st, which means in a few days a lot of people will be home for the holidays. This is when people spend time as a family chatting about life, kids, pets, 2020 (yuck), and of course, jobs.
At least, in the United States talking about jobs in these settings are pretty common. I know outside of the U.S. it is fairly taboo to make that a point of conversation.
But when jobs come up with friends and family, it’s a time for self reflection and comparing. “How’s your job going?” becomes “are you even happy at work?” and then “Why are you still there?”
No matter how much cultural hype there is at work, getting away from the office and into these family conversations can bring out different concerns. Maybe commuting or having to get to work early becomes an exacerbated issue when comparing schedules with cousins and siblings. Maybe someone has exceptional work/life balance, and you feel like all you ever do is (a) work, and (b) worry about work stuff.
Your team members will be on one of two sides of this conversation. They’ll either feel really spoiled by their jobs, and feel very appreciated by what you do for them. Or, they’ll wonder why everyone else at the table has a better work environment and culture, and maybe it really is time for them to look for something else.
Which side do you want your employees to be on?
There are meaningful things you can do have them the envy of the conversation. In a recent role I had I would tell the story about working at 5:00 p.m. and an executive would walk around and gently invite people to go home, reminding them that the work would be there the next day. That organization was really big on enforcing a real work/life balance, and wanted you to have a life outside of work. Most companies say that, but this one actually didn’t like you working past 5! I bragged about that, and other cultural perks they designed into the employee experience.
As you strategically and intentionally design your culture, you are setting your employees up for those conversations. If you are a high-turnover organization, and are okay with that, your employees will feel very little loyalty to stay with you. But if you create a culture where people feel appreciated, heard, and rewarded, they will talk favorable about you and for years.
I worked for a janitorial company where I saw this. Managers would talk about how that company was life-changing for them. I saw those managers regularly go above and beyond for the company, giving way more than I thought was fair. But those managers knew they were appreciated, they were compensated well, and they knew other companies wouldn’t offer the same culture. It was fascinating to watch this almost cult-following… for a janitorial company!
Snowfly has tools and programs to help create that type of culture. Manager recognition and peer recognition are a big part of that. Incentives and rewards are also a big part of it, and doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. Smart program design can help you get a health ROI out of your incentive budget and not have it be a meaningless expense.
Are you ready to get more strategic about culture and performance? Are you ready to see return on your investment into your employees? We are ready to talk about it with you! Just give us a call: 877.766.9359
