Guest post by Moneypenny

At Moneypenny, we are incredibly proud of the award-winning culture we’ve created. Embracing workplace engagement is key to building a culture that works for our organisation, our employees and our clients.

We firmly believe that by investing in culture and creating a positive working environment we keep our staff happy and healthy. Happy, healthy teams are more productive and more engaged. There are so many knock-on effects that have helped our business to achieve so much.

Developing a happy workforce has reduced staff churn and absences, and has turned our employees into brand ambassadors. We have built a reputation for being an amazing place to work and this, in turn, has reduced our recruitment costs. Overall it improves our ROI.

A positive culture can be created from within but it doesn’t happen overnight. It is something which takes time, consideration and consistency.

Culture and values run through everything we do, from our approach to recruiting new staff to our working environment, our employee benefits scheme to our commitment to promote from within. It influences how the business grows and even extends as far as the clients we choose to work with or, perhaps, more importantly, choose not to work with.  The wellbeing of our staff is always a priority if a client doesn’t fit with our values or we feel the work may cause stress for our teams then we will choose to say no.

When we think about culture, we focus on four pillars:

• Recognition
• Team building
• Wellbeing
• Engagement

Recognition is crucial to ensuring our employees feel valued for the work they do and the role that they play in the business. From small rewards to handwritten cards to say thank you for a job well done, there are many ways to recognise your employees. Saying thank you is so important and can be done in many different ways, often it is the simple things that people really appreciate.

Team building helps people to belong, builds trust and creates productive teams who work well together. It could be team lunches, activities outside work or undertaking a charity challenge together.

There are many ways to improve the general wellbeing of those working with you. When we began building our new workplace, we asked our staff what would make their working environment better. This influenced everything we did, such as the inclusion of communal spaces, an on-site gym and our very own pub, the Dog and Bone. Whilst not all businesses have the luxury of designing and building a new workplace there are always small things that can be done to help support and improve wellbeing.  Providing fresh fruit in the office or offering discounts on fitness classes are examples of small things which can make a big difference.

The fourth pillar engagement is all about communication and ensuring employees genuinely have a voice. It is about asking, listening and acting.  For example, you could ask your team – what one thing would make your job easier?  You might be surprised by the answers. Think about how you communicate within the workplace and the opportunities people have to communicate and share ideas in an open and encouraging way. We use Workplace, a platform owned by Facebook. It has dramatically reduced the number of emails and has encouraged open communication. It keeps everyone in the business informed, across different sites and locations. It helps staff to support each other and is used to provide information about developments in the business as well as training and other news.

We’re an example of what can be achieved when a business embraces workplace engagement. Everyone plays a part; culture is down to everyone but it is important that business leaders and managers lead by example. Essentially it is about being considerate and treating others as you would like to be treated, in turn, they do the same and the workplace becomes a happier, more productive place.

To find out more about the amazing culture at Moneypenny you can listen to The Culture Gap: Embracing Workplace Engagement webinar here or download their latest eBook The Culture Gap: Giving You The Building Block For An Award-Winning Workplace here.