January is often a good time for employers to return from a break feeling refreshed and ready to make plans for the year ahead.
To help you map out your people priorities and focus for 2024, check out my 7 workplace tips below.
Remote + flexible working isn’t going away
As employers, be open to all sorts of arrangements. You will attract the best people for your business if you consider individual needs. Consider having a ‘flexible working’ process that you and your employees can go through to assess and trial different arrangements.
Safety, well-being and engagement
Don’t underestimate the continual importance that will be placed on these things. This isn’t just about gym memberships or employee assistance programs; it’s more holistic than that, from the basics like safety at work, right through to understanding how to manage mental health issues in the workplace, to social activities and connections across teams.
Consider surveying your team to see what they think is important to them. Incorporate a few questions in your regular catchups to cover this. After you survey, take action, even if it is a few small changes to begin with. Taking action after you ask for feedback builds trust.
If you are not sure you are meeting your safety obligations, consider talking to a WHS/well-being specialist for advice. There are a number of requirements as an employer, even if only the basics, that you are responsible to deliver on.
Performance
This might sound counter-intuitive but stop doing annual performance reviews! Instead, have a regular feedback loop. This could be anything from monthly to quarterly catchups, where you cover an employee’s well-being and happiness at work along with checking in on their responsibilities and if they are meeting your expectations.
There is nothing better than real-time feedback, so when something goes right, let them know, then and there. The same goes for when something goes wrong.
Don’t put up with underperformance – act quickly when you have a performance issue. You are running a business and if a team member is not performing to your expectations, get it sorted out sooner rather than later.
In saying that, you need to follow fair work processes when it comes to underperformance and termination. Ask for some advice before you action a termination for underperformance.
Finding the right people
Be open-minded to who you are hiring and how you find them. Consider different arrangements [for instance more contractors or 100% remote workers].
Continue to focus on culture [skills can mostly be taught] because value alignment is still a big deal!
Review your interview process and think about how you can refine things to be more efficient but also get it right. Consider psychometric testing of some kind and do not skip reference checks! Asking the right style of questions in interviews is critical to really drill down on a person’s ability [acumen, skills and personality] to do the job and reference checks are crucial.
That said, use induction and probation periods effectively so you can really understand if the new person is the right ‘fit’. Have a thorough induction process in place to ‘test’ them within your environment.
If you have doubts after a few months, consider a reset of expectations or decide to cut your losses if they are not right. It’s much easier to cut your losses early than leave a person who may negatively impact your culture and your business, long-term
Consider your leadership style
While it’s your business and your culture, emotional intelligence and self-awareness are not going away and it’s important that you don’t have the attitude of ‘my way or the highway, on everything. You need to be open to feedback and growth to be able to improve your own style of management and leadership and ultimately business success.
The leaders who ask for feedback [good and bad] and are willing to have the difficult conversations who tend to be the ones who develop the best cultures. Carry out a leadership survey to seek feedback on yourself and any senior managers in your team. Ask people what they think about your leadership style and act on any negative feedback.
Diversity and inclusion
Keep working on this! Diversity and inclusion are multi-faceted and for many businesses, they are a very long way from getting this right. Make it a priority on your agenda for the next year and beyond and try to avoid ‘token efforts’ as your people will see straight through this.
Consider getting in a specialist in this field to help you introduce initiatives and processes to help you evolve and progress in this area.
Invest in technology
Whether it’s about staying on top of things, reporting or efficiencies, or making life easier for your people, tech is not going away and for good reason. Unlike people with an innovation mindset who are constantly considering new ways of doing things, you might find yourself stuck in old traditional ways.
Consider changing this up and keep tech on your agenda otherwise you will be left behind.
