As we approach 2020, many businesses are preparing their annual reports, suffering through staffing shortages due to archaic PTO policies, working through next year’s budgets, and keeping on with business as usual. The routine for businesses is just as comfortable as routine is for individuals. It’s also not helping anyone. Of course you need to prepare your product roadmaps, schedule your investor calls, publish your companies annual report. That’s your job and it’s always been your job. After years (decades for some), you should be experts in this and it should come with some ease.
If you really want your business to succeed in the upcoming year, and years beyond, you need to make some resolutions. Not business goals focused on numbers and sales, but resolutions. Actions focused on bettering your company culture.
(I’ll be honest here. I’m not a real fan of resolutions based on an arbitrary or defined start date, like January 1. However, I am a staunch supporter of making beneficial changes at whatever time you need to. Since businesses are accustomed to designing financial goals based on fiscal years, a New Year’s Resolution makes sense for companies.)
Here are three corporate resolutions for 2020 that will help your company culture:
Create an HONEST place of engagement for all employees to express their concerns
- Face to face is great, but it’s also not the way many people want to share their concerns. Create alternative methods of submitting a complaint or concern for employees.
When you say CONFIDENTIAL, actually keep it confidential
- Employees aren’t stupid. We are all aware that every time we go to HR or a business leader about a concern, it’s never kept confidential. There are plenty of ways to achieve confidentiality AND solve problems.
STOP VICTIM BLAMING just because there’s no “evidence”
- Employees go to HR in an attempt to resolve a problem. It’s never the first choice, but it’s the way we are told to resolve issues. If an employee comes to you with an issue, whether there is evidence of it or not, BELIEVE them. Employees have absolutely nothing to gain by coming to you with a made-up story. If they are coming to you, remember the significant amount of trust they are putting into you and the process. Don’t make them feel like a victim again by telling them there’s nothing you can do because there is “no proof”.
When it does happen, you’ll see employee productivity increase, shitty employees will leave (either on their own or not), good employees will get even better, and employees will start referring their friends for jobs at your company.
Companies are losing the trust of employees because leaders in the company, including HR, are perceived to be dishonest, blabbermouths, and never believing the employees. Solving these significant issues will not happen overnight. In fact, it might take all year to re-establish their trust. There won’t be a trust metric that can be reported to executives (unless you invest in a survey tool to take the pulse of the employees on this issue on a regular schedule), but you’ll know when it happens. When it does happen, you’ll see employee productivity increase, shitty employees will leave (either on their own or not), good employees will get even better, and employees will start referring their friends for jobs at your company. We all know that when those things happen, the company’s overall health gets exponentially better, which helps the business achieve all of those financial goals they spent so much time creating.
Segovia Consulting 