Building a Great Workplace - Being a Good Employer - Making a Better Society

Last week I was privileged to have attended the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter Awards. One week on from the event, I've had time to reflect on the many example of good workplaces and practices I heard about, and my belief in the positive impact of good workplaces was reinforced.

A good employer recognises that a good workplace can have a significant positive effect on wider society. Good employers work hard to put in place the key building blocks for a good workplace and to ensure that these are suitably prioritised and reinforced.

At Bailes Partners we are committed to working with organisations and businesses which aim to be the best workplaces they can be. We enjoy working with people who create an inclusive and secure working environment where employees have the best opportunities to thrive and perform. We have seen great results from people doing this well. We have also seen the different steps that organisations have taken along the way to improve their workplaces.

The Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter

The seven key characteristics of the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter are a fantastic framework for any employer.

Here are our thoughts on the 7 characteristics of the Charter:

Secure Work

It's vital to provide clarity over fundamentals such as working-hours, salary, remit and accountability. A good workplace is inclusive and psychologically secure. We know that a sense of belonging is important for people to feel secure enough to perform at their best.? Being able to be themselves, ask questions, highlight opportunities and risks, all come from feeling secure and confident.

The benefits of inclusion and diversity are widely known, and we believe that it is the employer's responsibility to create an environment in which individuals can flourish. This means managers need to be highly skilled in understanding how to create this environment and getting the best from others. Managers are key to the employee experience and dominate the daily interaction that an employee has with their employer. Having worked with a number of Boards and Executive Teams, such as Gloucester City Homes and L&Q, who are focusing on this to build great places to work, we know that creating a good culture starts at the top.??

Flexible Work

Companies that allow their people to manage work and life interchangeably usually benefit from the commitment and increased performance that this brings. Employers are increasingly recognising that attracting and retaining skilled and talented colleagues in the current environment requires a different approach to work – one that is focused on outcomes and thoughtfully crafted, mature relationships.

I was particularly struck by the way John Quinton-Barber spoke about workplaces. At www.social.co.uk they have one corporate value: 'LifeHappens'. Their approach is to provide the best work-life balance for the people who work there.

Pay

A lot of our clients have a strong social purpose, vision and an inspiring story to tell about what they do and why they do it. A positive and supportive relationship with their manager will often motivate people more than pay. However, pay is always an issue and this is particularly so now specialists have spent decades trying to design and implement pay schemes that drive increased performance. In our experience, it all comes back to making sure you do what is fair and transparent, and do all you can to pay people a decent wage for what they do. Make sure you explain why you do what you do with pay.?The underlying issue with pay is almost always about fairness.?

Engagement & Voice

Meaningful engagement requires a degree of vulnerability, as you are asking people to tell you how they feel about important issues. If you are not authentic in how you seek to engage or keep the results hidden, then you will not get meaningful engagement. Worst still, you may be reducing workplace trust. People want to feel that they are being heard. We recognise that resilience, risk management and business growth are all enhanced when we hear what colleagues have to say. It is therefore essential to widen routes to engagement and hear your employees’ voices.?

Recruitment

Be honest.

Recruit for what value someone can bring to your organisation, including all of the things that are not contained in the job description. Healthy, high performing teams always have people who are the glue - who hold the team together, carry the emotional weight, mediate, focus on relationships, celebrate successes and help others through tough times. We don't include these important attributes in job descriptions but they are key to a great workplace.

People Management

The landscape of leadership has changed significantly. Arguably, being a leader has never been more challenging. Not only do leaders have to oversee ‘normal’ performance and delivery of organisational objectives, but they also need a suite of emotional intelligence tools. These will enable them to motivate and guide, manage relationships and benefit from diversity.?The best leaders we see have a good understanding that we all have unique qualities and of the benefits that these can bring.

Health & Wellbeing

We have never been more aware of the importance of good health and wellbeing. Burnout rates continue to increase and the stress that work can add to peoples' lives is being discussed and examined as a negative for the employer and the employee. Good workplaces actively encourage fundamentals such as regular rest breaks, getting outdoors and keeping hydrated. Meditation and other stress-relief tools are becoming increasingly common in workplaces. There is no single answer to improving health and wellbeing. Good workplaces recognise this by not applying a one size fits all approach to health and wellbeing. We are all different and we need different things.

Tell us about your own experience

When the foundations of good workplaces are broken down in this way, it looks simple doesn't it? As Andy Burnham said at the awards: "there should be no conflict between good employment and good business." Why then is it so difficult to make this happen and what is preventing employers from doing more?

I'd love to hear about your own experience. Please tell me about any great workplaces you know of and what it is that makes them great.