What is an Employee Centric environment?
Jaime Ramos
Most companies have a customer-oriented view within their organizations, but a new trend has emerged in human resources recently. In the last couple of years, the term Employee Centric has been popularized amongst the most strategic HR Teams. Having an Employee Centric environment means to prioritize employee engagement, autonomy and creativity as well as giving employees a secure sense of identity at work.
Employees within this environment are to be seen as key players in the company’s growth and success and are given the possibility of developing their skills and talent by working in a collaborative culture.
In this article, we’ll see:
- The meaning behind Employee Centric
- Benefits of an employee-centric culture
- How to create more engagement with employee-centric strategies
What does it mean to have an Employee Centric environment?
In a few words, adopting an Employee Centric environment is about improving your employees’ experience, respecting and caring for them, and investing in actions that encourage a sense of purpose. Ideas, creativity, free-flowing communication and innovation are encouraged throughout the organization.
The main idea behind the Employee Centric environment is to build a welcoming space, to be open to new ideas, feedback and where the employee can express their thoughts in an atmosphere of cooperation amongst their entire team and across the organization.
More than just offering a space of dialogue and respect, the workplace and the benefits offered to employees must also be considered. Building a comfortable workspace that promotes your employee’s well-being or offering benefits that help them maintain a healthy work life balance, are also Employee Centric strategies.
Benefits of having an Employee-Centric culture
The main benefit of having an Employee Centric culture within your organization is making your employees feel that they are a part of the company’s overall mission and believe in its purpose. 90% of employees that work for an organization that promotes an Employee Centric environment, are proud of their employers and ultimately help foster the company’s growth.
When employees can be a part of flexible work environments, they also manage to have a better balance between their personal and professional life, which can positively impact their professional productivity.
Attracting Talented Candidates
Having an Employee Centric culture can bring many benefits to employers as well. Companies that promote Employee Centric strategies can increase their employee retention across the board. In addition, these strategies, as a result, attract a higher number of talented candidates as they seek to work for a company that values the care of its employees.
Driving brand awareness
Employees who work for a company that invests in Employee Centric processes, are more likely to share their work experiences and achievements on social networks, which ultimately helps attract more talent to your company as your employer brand strengthens.
Companies that support their employees also build more trust amongst their clients, influencing the public’s view.
Reducing turnover
Companies that listen to their employees and build an environment based on suggestions and feedback, achieve much higher levels of workforce retention.
Feeling seen and validated creates more productivity. Employees pay attention to whether or not their feedback is being accepted, which encourages them to be more invested in their daily tasks.
Companies that encourage employee ideas, suggestions and challenges will be able to attract talent who are more likely to stay loyal to your business and put 100% into their work, because they feel invested with the company.
How to create employee-centric strategies
To create employee-centric strategies, companies must first understand their employees’ basic needs and desires. In other words, finding out what can impact your employee’s sense of wellbeing within your organization. This can be community, respect, appreciation, understanding, space for dialogue and discussion on issues related to the company’s growth, being able to give and receive feedback, among other things.
Before becoming an employee-centric company, HR teams and other key leaders should come together and review what strategies can be implemented that are easily scalable and can last long term. A great starting point is to survey employees across the board to receive feedback, learn where gaps exist and be able to create a list of priorities.
If your company offers hybrid work or you have full-time remote employees, this feedback is even more important. Promote communication and employee feedback by implementing recurring team meetings, brainstorming sessions, distributing short surveys or keeping online communication channels open at all times (ex: Slack).
Your company can improve its environment by simply listening, taking action on feedback and letting your employees be people! Offering more autonomy to employees is a simple yet profound strategy that can go a long way.
Remember that by putting your employees first and building a more pleasant workplace, you directly increase your company’s productivity and growth. Employee satisfaction and health should matter to your company because at the end of the day, everyone wins.
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