Dive Brief:
- Making a Best Places to Work list is nice, but some employers have specific pieces of the puzzle missing to get their organization on such a list, according to a blog post at Virtru.com.
- Author Ryan Mead writes that when you look at the companies who make those lists, they share one main commonality: They built their cultures from the ground up using some very simple steps.
- The winners, in fact, almost always strategically created their organizations with the same basic elements that eventually landed them on those coveted Best Places to Work lists.
Dive Insight:
Meads points to several strategies any employer can borrow from BPTW winners to engage a workforce.
One is to "Think like the employee. Be the employee." Despite their usual roles, leaders can gain insight into the working environment for your team through simple employee engagement surveys, Mead writes. Although this might sound remedial, he says, surveys and evaluations are critical in creating effective teams. Using platforms that are in line with employee behavior (i.e., the use of social media) can make assessing engagement (and finding resolutions to engagement concerns) easier.
Appreciating employees can also go a long way in creating a great culture. Of course, Mead writes, employee appreciation is more than friendly comments and pats on the back. To be effective, it must instill a sense of belonging and exceptional work in your team.
Other strategies include "be a support system" through mentorship and similar efforts, and "tell your story," which means use branding with the workforce as much as you emphasize it with customers. In fact, involving employees in external company branding is also a great idea in trying to make BPTW lists.
