Don’t tell all the consultants and suppliers selling services, but … in my opinion, most of what makes a great employer costs nothing at all. While these things can all help, to me they come quite far down the list of what really makes an organisation a pleasure to work for.
It all comes down to how top executives treat their senior team, how the senior team treats line mangers and, most importantly, how line managers treat their teams and individual reports.
If, from its CEO all the way to its front line staff, an organisation shows that it cares about the wellbeing of all staff, it will be way ahead of it competitors.
And wellbeing encompasses a wide range of aspects:
- truly listening to staff and caring about the impact of your response.
- being flexible about working patterns to fit both employee and the organisation (flexible working is one of the biggest wellbeing benefits there is).
- recognising when staff do a good job and taking the time to say thank you.
- giving staff a proper sense of ownership and control over their jobs.
Without making a real effort to get these right (plus no doubt other such aspects in the same vein that I haven’t listed here), the organisation will battle to be a great place to work no matter how much it spends on the added extras.
Get the ‘free’ stuff right, then add the enticement of benefits, to be a great place to work.
Debi O’Donovan??
Editor??
Employee Benefits
Twitter: @DebiODonovan
