Does Your Employer Support an Employee-Oriented Culture?

What Is an Employee-Oriented Culture?

Employee focused cultures have been quite successful for all the right reasons. For example, Total Quality Management (TQM) programs are huge supporters of employee-oriented cultures and policies.

While there are a variety of definitions, all observers agree on the basic components. Employers use and cultivate their employees’ natural motivation to succeed and achieve to reach corporate goals and objectives. They try to publicly recognize and thereby maximize a human being’s innate spirit, ingenuity, resilience, and adaptability to energize the workplace.

Employers understand that, in most organizations, the employees are the company’s most valuable asset, when managed and motivated properly. To achieve this objective, senior management designs and implements policies and programs that encourage, support, and focus on their staff, both personally and professionally.

Five Employee-Oriented Employer Commitments That Generate High Performance

Here are five proven employee-oriented programs that typically lead to long-term high performance. While not “outside the box” or revolutionary, these policies usually generate results of which both employee and employer will be proud.

1. On-the-job training and formal education. Employee-oriented organizations always actively support both on-the-job training and formal education. They offer consistent opportunities for employees to increase their knowledge base and become more valuable to the company and to themselves.
2. Employee participation in decision making. Modern management theory recommends employee participation and feedback in all decision-making activities. Those companies that support employee-oriented cultures display this policy and encourage such participation.
3. Consistent rewards and profit sharing programs. Public recognition, rewards (both monetary and non-monetary), and profit sharing plans are concrete displays of an employee-first orientation. These programs increase creativity and motivation, making employees proud of and comfortable with their employers.
4. Maintain a positive, safe, and clean workplace. Of little concern to employers in the 19th and early 20th century, workplace conditions have risen to the top tier of employee concerns. Those employers that create and maintain a positive mental and physical atmosphere at the workplace typically enjoy higher performance, lower turnover, and higher profits.
5. Adopt flexible work programs and rules. Contemporary employees, particularly those with families, must juggle work and personal time obligations carefully. Additionally, the decline in repetitive manufacturing-related employment has generated jobs that require more thought and creativity than physical labor. Flexible work rules allow employees to maintain their productive individuality while meeting their many other commitments outside the workplace.

Is Your Employer Focused on Employees?

You may already know if your employer supports an employee-oriented culture because one can often “feel” as well as see management philosophies in practice. If you are unsure or want to reinforce your belief that your employer does or does not practice employee-focused activities, you might ask yourself a few simple questions. Honestly answering these questions may clarify your employer’s true commitment to its staff.

• Does your employer respect the dignity, integrity, and individuality of its employees? This is not an activity, but an intrinsic belief and mindset. Employers who do not consistently display these attitudes are focused on other areas, not employees.
• Does your employer support employee creativity and promote productivity? Supporting employee creativity is not a “passive” employer policy. Employees exhibiting creativity and consistent productivity should be recognized and supported. Even in the absence of a formal program, management should always communicate sincere appreciation and offer appropriate “thank-you’s” to appropriate employees.
• Does your employer regularly publicly recognize and reward employee superior performance? More formal programs to recognize and reward are cost-effective and typically very successful. Employees thoroughly enjoy this recognition and good employers understand the benefits of such programs.
• Is your employer consistently fair with employees, displaying dignity and avoiding supporting any personal “favorites”?  Answering this important question may prove challenging to you. However, this policy is a strong indication of your employer’s respect for you and all other employees. Try to be objective and thoughtfully consider what you have witnessed in the workplace.

Creating your own “report card” of answers, you can evaluate the strength (or weakness) of your employer’s efforts at establishing an employee-oriented workplace. Should your employer achieve high marks, you might consider your relationship a longer-term association. Of course, other factors (compensation, benefits, and promotion opportunities) also factor into your evaluation.

If your current employer fails to achieve a score you can support, it may be wise to consider other opportunities that might equal or be more attractive than your current workplace situation. Whether you choose to conduct an informal self-directed search for new opportunities or use one of the top employment firms, like Kelly Services, you should maintain a focus on those prospective employers that support an employee-oriented culture.

You now know how to evaluate and investigate employers to learn of their commitment to employee-oriented policies. Since you typically spend up to one-half of your waking hours at the workplace, you should attempt to spend this valuable time in a positive, creative, dignified, honest, and supportive atmosphere.