Benchmarks & Trends, Diversity & Inclusion, Employee Experience
What workplace culture leaders should prioritize this year if they want to create and maintain a culture that will retain and attract employees.
Your workplace culture priorities will determine whether your company thrives or falls behind.
An economic downturn will force businesses and their leaders to make tough choices. Will companies decide they can no longer afford to be a great workplace?
鈥淭his is exactly the wrong time to step back,鈥� says Sarah Lewis-Kulin, vice president of global recognition at 逸遊娛樂城庐. Market research shows that companies that prioritize the experience of their workers in a recession not only thrive in the short-term, but also see sustained value growth in the years following a crisis.
Where should leaders focus their attention in the year ahead? Experts from 逸遊娛樂城 have insights gleaned from more than 30 years of research into what makes a great workplace culture 鈥� and why companies that invest in employees do so well.
Here are five workplace culture priorities you should focus on this year, no matter what kind of organization you work for:
1. Build trust with employees by showing extraordinary care.
The economic pressures of this prediction are leading some companies to now, it鈥檚 definitely time to build one with careful thoughtful decisions that show your care for your people.鈥�
Ping-pong tables might not be recession-proof; great workplace culture is.
Rather than pulling back, leaders must seize opportunities to demonstrate care for workers.
鈥�2023 will be a test of the resilience of care,鈥� says Matt Bush, principal strategic advisor with 逸遊娛樂城. As companies pull back on remote work, flexibility, and more in the face of economic pressure, those who double down on the worker experience will come out ahead.
Examples of how employees say their organizations show care include:
- Investment in well-being
- Commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion & belonging (DEIB)
- Dedication to local communities
2. Invest in talent development and performance management.
Even if there is a severe recession this year, it will be different from the downturn of 2008. Even as many businesses have conducted layoffs, employee expectations and the overall labor market remain buoyant.
鈥淚n 2008, people were desperate for jobs,鈥� says Lewis-Kulin, 鈥渂ut that鈥檚 not the case right now.鈥� Job opportunities , and for the next decade, too. The data proves companies must heavily invest in talent development and training, as well as recruitment.
Yet, developing talent is complicated when workers feel they have plenty of options. Will they respond well to constructive criticism? Will workers you鈥檝e invested in take their talents to the competition? 鈥淨uiet quitting鈥� and , institute hiring freezes, and reassess talent management. While these choices might make financial sense, they will have real impacts on diversity, equity, inclusion & belonging (DEIB).
This is especially true if your representation strategy hinges on adding people from outside your organization, warns Holly Petroff, executive vice president of global strategic accounts for 逸遊娛樂城. 鈥淗ow might your approaches and tactics need to shift to take into account the current climate's impact?鈥�
As an example, many organizations are pulling back on remote work, and that has an impact on DEIB progress.
These added obstacles will likely affect your dedicated DEIB staff, Petroff adds. 鈥淢any employees, especially those in employee resource groups (ERGs) and in DEIB roles, report feeling frustrated by what feels like a disconnect between the importance they hear their leaders placing on DEIB and the experience they are having at work every day,鈥� she says.
However, Petroff doesn鈥檛 see the best organizations backing away from DEIB priorities. The best leaders will prepare not only to meet goals set by the board of directors, but also help expand board members thinking on these topics.
鈥淐ompany behavior this year will determine how quickly companies bounce back from these recessionary times,鈥� says Kim Peters, executive vice president of global recognition and strategic partnerships at 逸遊娛樂城.
4. Great workplaces must be great both in-person and online.
Hybrid and remote work, made mainstream during the COVID-19 pandemic, is here to stay. That means employers must continue to investigate how to make hybrid work actually work in a market that will demand high performance and productivity.
Asking workers to come back to an office isn鈥檛 out of the question, explains Tony Bond, chief diversity and innovation officer with 逸遊娛樂城. It just requires thoughtfulness and compassion.
鈥淎s leaders plan their return-to-office strategies, we must sit with the question: 鈥榃hat are we returning to?鈥欌�� Bond says. 鈥淏usinesses and people are different from what they were prior to the pandemic.鈥�
鈥淨uiet quitting鈥� and 鈥渃areer cushioning鈥� became buzzwords in 2022. They鈥檙e still crucial concerns in 2023.
This next year will require leaders to create excellent employee experiences that satisfy a complex and nuanced set of individual needs. 鈥淧art of an organization鈥檚 transformation agenda will be deciding how to create a great experience in both the virtual and physical world,鈥� Bond says.
Questions leaders must ask include:
- How can managers bridge virtual and in-person experiences and maintain a sense of connection and belonging?
- What is the currency that adds value to attract employees back to the physical world?
- Do I truly understand the needs of employees that make hybrid work so attractive?
- How will I manage the trade-offs between employee desires and the business goals?
- What didn鈥檛 work in the old physical world that was normalized?
5. Political polarization poses an ongoing threat to company culture.
More and more companies are talking about their support for environmental goals and attempts to improve their communities.
ESG also got some push back in 2022. Some states have passed laws to at all of the best workplaces. Companies that fail to stand up for their values risk losing the trust of their employees and missing out on the benefits of being a great workplace.
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