How to Create a Good Workplace Culture

We will look at industry-led guidance that will help direct you in line with industry peers and employers to become an employer of choice and also protect your internal and external employer branding.

As an industry led promise, The Wellbeing & Development Promise has been established to set out guidelines for businesses to flow to and comply with who are serious about valuing and supporting your employees. As an employer committing to the Well Being Promise you are committing to the following:

Diagram from Wellbeing Promise:

The Promise is not compulsory, however its guidance to ensure team members across all levels are supported. This is a crucial element to your business to be able to attract and retain existing employees. Throughout this series, we have emphasised the importance of making team members feel valued and supported, creating environments of positively and investing into both social and mental health of all individuals.

Adapting the workplace Wellbeing Promise you are creating a sense of value with team members, and showing you respect and in their life outside of the workplace.

Signing up to the Wellbeing Promise you are collaborating with the industry to collaborate and create a new vision and approach for hospitality and its employers to attract and retain talent.

Implementing the Promise you will be boosting the productivity in your workplace, and the overall morale amongst the team having a positive impact on your brand, employer brand and your market position within the recruitment market.

The Promise acts as a signpost for employers, and for employees to understand their pledge in the industry when considering applying for jobs. When team members are supported, and they have career development opportunities in front of them with the organisation they are less likely to move or take a risk of moving.

As the Promise states, team members have the right to feel happy and supported within the workplace, this is all built over time (not overnight) with implementing industry best practices, building respect and constant monitoring to ensure standards don’t slip.

The Promise

1. Ensure that you create a working environment that facilitates respect between all team members
2. Promote a diversity & inclusion policy
3. Support a team member on their wider life issues, if appropriate, and provide assistance where possible
4. Ensure that team members are well-rewarded for their work, considering a wide range of pay and benefits, communicated through a clear pay policy
5. Where tips are received have a clear policy for their distribution and keep deductions to an absolute minimum and only to cover costs
6. Identify training and development opportunities for team members at all levels, and promote these to your workforce along with the provision of all necessary compliance training to keep our teams safe
7. Be open to flexible working where you can and offer a range of shift patterns with reasonable notice on changes
8. Produce and maintain a health & safety policy
9. Be aware of the mental health challenges associated with working in hospitality and minimise these
10. Enforce a policy of anti-harassment in the workplace

Monitoring and Maintaining a Good Workplace Culture

It’s crucial when you have the ten-point plan in place that you have regular checklists, feedback mediums available for employees to express and advise of any changes to the employer branding.

Building and maintaining trust with employees, will provide a workplace that will encourage employees to speak out and highlight any discrepancies between the daily operations and to that on the Promise you have committed to delivering.

Implementing an anonymous employee feedback tool can help monitor the workplace culture, preventing bigger problems arising by allowing employees to give honest feedback without fearing reprisal. These tools can also help to build a company culture of openness, as employees will feel that their voice is being heard and valued.

Benefits to collecting employee feedback include:

• Managers ability to collect regular feedback from employees about their role and the company.
• Help to identify any workplace trends brewing.
• Highlights areas for improvement to enable management to make informed decisions to improve the employee experience and the workplace culture.
• This is vital feedback which is detrimental to your business as it can help identify areas employees are feeling demotivated and guide management to put together a plan to address these issues.

There are several online tools businesses which can be used for this, or for a small business you have regular informal conservations over a coffee to express areas of concern or improvement.

Employee feedback which is anonymous collected will enable individuals to feel free to speak their minds without fear of comeback.

Importance of Feedback

Employee feedback gained throughout employment and obtained at exit interviews are two of the most valuable tools you will ever have direct access to, in order improve on your ability to attract and retain.

Use both these tools wisely and with integrity for the better good of your overall business and workplace culture.