When Hybrid Doesn’t Work for Your Workplace Culture

The cure-all for the great resignation—letting everyone work from home when they want, right? But what if you operate a business where that isn’t an option? What do you do when you need employees on site every day?

Don’t worry. You have options and the good thing is those options include something your employees will value even more than the ability to work from home. One of your strongest weapons in your effort to attract and retain talented employees is creating a solid and healthy workplace culture.

Why Workplace Culture Can Trump Work from Home

Work from home or even hybrid arrangements are not always possible. If you’re in the business of manufacturing, healthcare, education, or other in-person work, giving employees work from home options just isn’t realistic. If your business requires others to learn through apprenticeships or junior roles with on-the-job training, you need people present.

Work from home options are also not appealing to everyone. Extroverts and people who require close management attention or supervision will not thrive in work from home or hybrid scenarios. Some people just need people. For that reason, creating an extraordinary workplace culture is the way to go and provides the most return on your investment.

3 Ways to Keep Your Business Competitive in Hiring When Work from Home Doesn’t Work

While being able to offer work from home options sounds like a necessity in modern job descriptions, it is not the only way to remain competitive in hiring.

1. Investing in Workplace Culture

According to a Gallup study, organizations with above-average levels of employee engagement earn 147% higher returns per share than companies with low engagement levels. Authors Scott Dekoster and Jennifer Robison wrote, “If your company does not scientifically measure engagement and doesn’t optimize your wellbeing program to increase it, you could be losing hundreds of millions of dollars in productivity value.”

A culture of engagement is powerful in employee retention, productivity, and profitability. When leaders find their purpose, they can become the driving force behind their organization’s ability to succeed. This is beneficial to you and your employees.

2. Education and Training

Another way to remain competitive is by offering employees opportunities to further their education or receive additional training. The skills needed in many professions change at lightning speeds these days. Making these allowances part of your benefits package can be very attractive to new employees and keep people with you.

According to data from ClearCompany, 94% of employees admit they would stay longer at a company if it invested in their careers. However, according to research from IBM, only 38% of employees feel their employer has been focused on this and helping them learn new skills during COVID, leaving plenty of room for a company to shine if it makes professional development an important part of the company’s workplace culture.

But professional development shouldn’t (just) be something executives enjoy. While 38% of total employees felt their companies were helping them learn the skills needed to work in new ways during the pandemic, nearly double (74%) of executives felt the same. That’s a large discrepancy in perception and one that will negatively impact not only company culture over time, but productivity, resilience and profitability. All employees should feel like their professional development matters.

3. Promotion and Career Pathing

Outside of a difficult manager, one of the main reasons people leave a job is a lack of upward mobility. Whether perceived or objectively accurate, your talent does need to feel like they’re going somewhere. While everyone doesn’t have to be on a corporate fast-track to be satisfied, they do need to progress toward a goal or have challenges to meet. Very few people enjoy stagnation. If they do, those are not the people you want working for you.

Implementing strategies to continue to challenge employees or create pathways to promotion is a good way to keep your best employees focused and engaged.

Liddell Consulting Can Help You Design a Winning Workplace Culture

We know that every company has a unique set of challenges, especially when it comes to hiring and retention in a world where alternative work settings are so prevalent. Our experienced perspective can help simplify what needs to be improved and our time-tested methods can provide clear steps toward your performance goals. Contact us today.