When the two of us first paired up and decided to grow a business together, one of our main priorities was to build a healthy culture based on trust and open communication. We wanted our people to genuinely enjoy coming into work – where they would be greeted with attainable targets, recognition for a job well done, and support whenever needed.
Support doesn’t only mean training and mentoring – but also general health and wellbeing. For example, just this past month we’ve held a couple of office-based yoga sessions, team breakfast, an invigorating massage, about 100 games of pool and a few trips to the pub. Not even mentioning our flexible working policies, early Friday finishes, and Perkbox memberships!
In today’s market where candidates can seem to have all the power, companies need to go above and beyond to attract and retain staff – a ‘competitive’ rate just won’t cut it!
Read on below for our thoughts on company culture, wellbeing, and inclusion - and how all of this impacts your recruitment needs and retention stats.
- Rich and Martyn, Founders of Talent Locker
How the 7 pillars of corporate wellness could benefit your company...
We’ve all seen how COVID has impacted the world of work and how lockdowns fast tracked the uptake of flexible working / WFH by many organisations.
While this was a silver lining of the pandemic for many people, especially those with caring responsibilities or varied lifestyle, the concept of employee wellbeing has now expanded beyond working flexibly – which is fast becoming an expectation, not a perk.
Ultimately, to recruit and retain the best staff, you need to be the best employer! In the current market, a positive company culture and good benefits are often valued more than salary.
There have been many different studies on the core pillars of employee wellbeing, but generally speaking the core areas to cover include:
- Physical wellbeing
- Career wellbeing
- Financial wellbeing
- Social wellbeing
- Community
- Emotional wellbeing
- Purpose driven wellbeing
Here’s some suggestions into how your organisation can tick every box (including real examples from the Talent Locker crew)...
Physical well-being
Physical wellness covers everything from exercise, sleep, and food choices.
Now, you may well be thinking, how on earth can I manage my employees' exercise routine?? Well, organisations can encourage positive behaviour through incentives, effective communication, and adaptations to the office environment – such as stand-up meetings or treadmills at your desk.
At Talent Locker we encourage physical well-being through regular yoga and massage sessions at the office – and we also have a couple of stand-up desks available for anyone interested. While our team breakfasts are usually sausage and bacon rolls (maybe not the healthiest option…) we did have a few slices of melon on the go at the last feast!
Career well-being
One of the most important aspects in retaining staff is ensuring you’re fulfilling their career goals and meeting expectations. This could include increased compensation, learning and development, internal mobility options, and more.
At Talent Locker, aside from our generous compensation and bonus schemes, we also offer mentoring support from our recruitment experts and dedicated consultants to help the team reach their full potential. Internal talent opportunities are rife – in fact we just recently promoted one of our overachieving team members to Associate Director.
If staff have their career goals satisfied within their current organisation then they will be much less inclined to start shopping about externally. Generally speaking, happy and fulfilled employees are also more productive - a win win!
Financial well-being
Finance is often a root cause of stress – as well as a major reason for employees choosing to search for a new role. By recognising the talent you have and compensating them accordingly, you can prevent the loss of key team members.
At Talent Locker we offer a generous bonus scheme and compensate our staff well. We also offer Perkbox memberships to all employees – which provide discounts to loads of everyday shops and supermarkets. Little additions like this are a great way to show your people that you value them!
In the current market offering a competitive salary in your job advertisement is not enough - applicants want to know what they'll be getting before they even submit a CV. Be clear in your offering and ensure it's actually market competitive.
Social well-being
Building genuine friendships in both your personal and working life is a core aspect of long-term happiness. Remote working, while necessary during peak COVID and for those continuing to work flexibly, can easily make people feel isolated from their co-workers.
To prevent this, we held regular Zooms with the team all throughout lockdown – keeping them upbeat and un work related. See below for a photo of all of us dressed up in style…
We’re now back in the office three days a week and can return to meals out and trips to the pub on a Thursday evening – thank goodness! We also have a social area in the office complete with pool table and TV for the guys to enjoy on lunch.
While you obviously can't force people to be best friends forever, providing an environment for co-workers to socialise and relax enables stronger relationships to form in the workplace.
Community well-being
Building relationships with the local community is a great way to deepen the connection between an employee, their employer, and their local community.
At Talent Locker we sponsor a local football team and dance troupe (who have actually now qualified for the World Cup!) and we also support a local nursey through raffle prizes and other contributions. It’s important to give back to your local community and we’re proud to support these fantastic causes!
If you're interested in finding a local cause to support but don't know where to start, try reaching out to local charities or schools and seeing what services you could provide which would best support their needs.
Emotional well-being
Organisations have been working hard to remove the stigma around mental health and are (as a whole) increasing their commitments to well-being, inclusion, and flexibility.
We support this wholeheartedly! We recognise that our team has varying needs and lifestyles and try to accommodate this as much as possible through flexible working policies, early Friday finishes, and working from home options.
Enabling employees to work in a way which best suits them can reduce stress immensely and therefore improve productivity and staff retention.
Purpose driven well-being
Employees increasingly want to work for an organisation whose values reflect their own, particularly when looking at the Millennial and Gen Z generations. Additionally, actions taken by the employer are becoming more and more visible to the general public and they are often encouraged to take a stance on topical political and social issues.
At Talent Locker our values are clear. While we are ambitious and work hard, we do it with a smile and genuinely enjoy working with on another. We respect each other and maintain a healthy and supportive environment.
Corporate culture and a healthy feel to the working environment tends to drip down from the top, so make sure you're leading by example and sticking to your corporate values and you can't go wrong!
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