Findex: Boost employee retention and culture

Steve Alexander, Partner, Accounting and Business Advisory, Findex.

By Steve Alexander, partner, accounting and business advisory, Findex.

OPINION

How we treat one another in the workplace (or anywhere else for that matter) can have a significant impact on productivity. A workplace where staff feel valued and respected has a much better chance of reaching full potential than one where staff are treated poorly.

In recent research carried out by SEEK (www.seek.co.nz), the main internal factors cited for staff leaving their employment are;

1. Work conditions/the environment – 53%

2. Organisational changes/restructure – 39%

3. Management/leadership in the business – 31%

The cost incurred by a business to replace an employee varies depending on industry, role and tenure of the person being replaced. Estimates range from 30% of salary up to 300%. It’s a staggering amount.

Given poor work conditions account for over half of staff exits, businesses should be closely monitoring issues negatively impacting culture and quickly taking remedial action.

Workplace culture is the responsibility of all staff, not just leadership. Staff should be encouraged to feed back to management on their concerns. Management should then be seen to be taking steps to rectify any issues raised.

A really good way to foster a healthy workplace culture is to develop trademark behaviours. These are similar to organisational values. They are the guiding light in how staff interact with one another.

If trademark behaviours are to be adopted by a business, all staff should be involved in their development. It’s important that staff feel the agreed behaviours are theirs… that they own them. Trademark behaviours pushed on to staff will have limited uptake otherwise.

Once developed, trademark behaviours can be viewed as a “contract” within the business. There are many ways to remind staff about them, including tea-room posters, having them read out at team meetings or including them as part of staff development plans. Repeated reminders of their existence will help keep them real, and front of mind.

Once trademark behaviours are in place, it’s important to acknowledge positive examples of them in action, but to also ensure not-so-good examples are addressed. It is up to everyone in the team to play their part.

To some extent, hierarchy takes a back seat. It’s okay for a junior member of the team to pull someone up who is not displaying the right behaviours, regardless of their role. In reality, the junior staff member may not have the courage to do this, so at the very least they should speak to their manager.

Trademark behaviours help facilitate a positive culture. Don’t let work conditions be a reason staff leave your business. Contact your local business advisor at www.findex.co.nz