“Corporate culture matters. How management chooses to treat its people impacts everything for better or for worse.” — Simon Sinek
Over the past two years, Friday happy hour venting about work stress has migrated online through short, satirical, and funny videos on TikTok. #WorkTok is a tag that has billions of views, and a lot of people find it relatable and cathartic. But it is more than just fun venting online about the workplace; it also sheds light on the common discourse our workforce has regarding the negative side of corporate culture.
With the Great Resignation being a trending topic, company culture and employee engagement have become buzzwords in business and leadership discussions. Our employees are showing signs of growing dissatisfaction, and studies show that among the top seven factors that affect employees’ decisions to leave a job, six are related to work experience.
As business leaders, it is crucial for us to listen up. Our employees are the backbone of our business’s success: No matter how great your vision is, if you can’t attract good talent to execute it, your business won’t grow. In the tight job market we are currently in, we can no longer turn a deaf ear or see our employees as “expendable” resources.
Yes, you can always hire someone else, but the loss you experience in terms of talent, knowledge, skill, time, and money during the hiring and training process is a big one on your part. Plus, when the turnover rate is high, you probably need to take a closer look at the working environment you are providing for your people.
According to surveys, employees are willing to leave a company for another that offers a better working experience, flexibility, and work-life balance. Offering a higher salary is no longer enough of an edge to attract brilliant people to your team. They want a good culture that allows them to engage in meaningful work and thrive both inside and outside the company.
In Gallup’s 2022 State of the Global Workplace report, they say that employees who are both engaged at work and thriving in their personal lives “experience significantly less stress, anger, and health problems.” But only 9% of employees worldwide believe they are both, while more than half (57%) think they are neither engaged nor thriving.
This poses a higher risk of burnout among our employees.
It is a good thing that being bored and locked up in our homes for the past two years has given rise to #worktok trending. Now leaders can be in-tune with what needs to change in the workplace and we could be more proactive in finding solutions to improve our organization’s culture.
What needs to change in the way your team works together? Take time to really reflect and strategize on how you can make it better.
A happy employee is, overall, a better employee. If you want to grow and move forward with your purpose, you need to prioritize your people’s overall well-being.
We spend way too much time at work to spend it stressed, angry and dissatisfied. It is up to us as leaders to bring out the best in our people and provide a healthy environment where our team can engage in meaningful work and thrive.
Thanks for reading A Brilliant Tribe.
