Company culture is key to the long-term success of your novel business. Great company culture will generate “buy-in” from your early staff members and help you build a business model which generates great value for the people involved.
However, as a young entrepreneur, it can be hard to determine what constitutes a positive workplace culture. Without a wealth of experience in business, you may not yet know what employees are looking for.
Fortunately, you are not the only one trying to build a business that represents your values and beliefs. You can learn from the example of other young entrepreneurs who have built or are currently on the journey of building rewarding workplaces on values like loyalty, productivity, and inclusivity.
Work-Life Balance
Often, young entrepreneurs quit their job to build their own businesses based on any qualms they have with the company culture of previous employers. By becoming your own boss, you can create the company culture you want with the desired work balance you desire. Although you can generally make these decisions based on your own desires, you should also consider the desires of your employees as well. Generally speaking, employees today value freedom, flexibility, and work-life balance. The rise of remote work has helped folks realize that they don’t have to spend precious time commuting, working overtime, or answering calls when they should be relaxing.
As a young entrepreneur, you can attract talents by foregrounding your commitment to productive work-life balance cycles. Offer employees flexible work schedules and give them the freedom to set their own hours. Increasing staff autonomy is a cost-effective way to promote a positive culture and help build loyalty in your business.
Follow up on flexibility by offering perks that help staff get the most from their free time. However, it’s important to balance out flexibility benefits with the prerogative that productivity is maintained. There are many ways you can track this productivity, however, so don’t let any concerns about it hold you back from building a company culture that prioritizes the well-being of employees first.
Benefits and Perks
Employees today expect more than a pay cheque at the end of the month. Talented staff wants to feel valued and expect benefits from the best perks that professional life has to offer.
As a young entrepreneur, you may not yet have the financial backing to offer expensive benefits. Instead, focus on benefits that staff look for in their contract that have the highest ROI. You may offer higher amounts of paid holiday and partner with a local gym to offer perks like free memberships.
Be clear about your long-term goals and desire to add more benefits as the business thrives. Set performance-related objectives like “provide pension scheme when yearly turnover surpasses $X”. Share these goals with your employees and stick to them. This will increase loyalty amongst your staff and show that your commitment to workplace culture is sincere.
Before rolling out performance-related objectives, be aware of the pros and cons of pay-for-performance benefits. Some staff may love chasing the proverbial carrot, but others may not. Staff may even find that performance-related objectives undermine teamwork and create a stressful work environment. Survey your staff first and be willing to change direction if your benefits model isn’t working out.
Salary Transparency
Salary is a sore subject in many businesses and industries. Some companies even strong-arm staff into keeping their salaries confidential. Rather than worrying about disproportionate pay packages and rumors, embrace salary transparency in your business.
You don’t need a detailed spreadsheet to improve salary transparency at work. Instead, let staff know that they are allowed to talk about pay whenever they want. Maintain an open-door policy and freely discuss why some staff may get paid more than others. Conversations about pay may start out a little tense, but a clear explanation of the pay scale you use will soothe stressed staff.
Conclusion
Conducive Company culture can help you hire more talented employees, increase productivity, and reduce staff turnover. As a young entrepreneur, you should leverage your passion for people by offering perks and benefits with a low cost and high return. By following some of these tips and playing around with what works best, you’ll not only see a more satisfied workforce, but your company may reach new successes as well.
