Workplace Hierarchy of Needs: Taking your culture to the next level

This is the fifth and final part of our Workplace Hierarchy of Needs series. We're breaking down what successful organizations do right to create a happy and fulfilled workforce.

No matter what the business plan says, every organization strives towards the same goal—to delight customers and keep them coming back. It’s not a simple goal to reach either. That’s why we all constantly look for ways to tweak processes, introduce new tools, and build cultures where employees feel empowered to do their best.

But as we’ve covered in this series, getting from a group of individuals to a high-performing team isn’t something that gets done overnight. Creating a culture of empowerment means building a solid foundation and providing for your employees’ basic needs. Trying to succeed today without meeting these foundational needs can set you up for failure. 

Getting the basics right

In this final post of the series, we will review the first four levels of our Workplace Hierarchy of Needs and then dig into how to turn your team culture into one envied by the competition and loved by your employees.

Getting the basics right

We examined why employee recognition programs fail in part one of the series. Employees need their basic needs met, but employers often look at recognition and appreciation gifts as a way to make up for not meeting those needs first. To move out out the first level, employers need to:

• Offer a competitive wage that gives them the mental safety net of having savings for future needs and emergencies.

• Paid time off to relax with family and friends and the time to recharge mentally and physically.

• Treat them with respect, care, and compassion to create an environment where they feel supported and free to be their best selves in the workplace.

Building safe workplace environments

The next level in our hierarchy is focused on workplace safety. This includes everything from having properly functioning furniture to providing ergonomic equipment to employees to help them work more comfortably. Beyond physical safety, we also looked at the importance of helping your employees be authentic at work. 

Creating belonging through communication

In part three of the series, we looked at how employers can use internal communications to foster connectivity and create culture no matter where employees work. We also looked at how employers who invest in well-structured and consistent 1:1 meetings, performance reviews, and all-hand meetings have better productivity and reduced employee turnover.

Cultivating an employee feedback loop

Moving from level three to level four means employees are confident and comfortable sharing feedback with their leaders. But for leaders, achieving level four is more than receiving feedback. Taking that feedback and implementing changes is critical to continually improve the workplace.

Using employee feedback to take action can improve your bottom line too. Employees are often the ones closest to the organization's day-to-day operations and may have insights into improving processes or developing new products or services. By implementing employee feedback, leaders can tap into this collective knowledge and foster innovation.

Turning employees into advocates

When an organization reaches level four, the time and culture are right to launch a successful employee recognition and appreciation program. This is also the time when your employees can feel self-reliant when it comes to decision-making for themselves, their team, and the organization.

Implementing good ideas

One of the most essential benefits of a strong culture of innovation and trust is that employees can feel empowered to make changes to improve the business. If you drink coffee, you’ve experienced this effect in action. An employee suggestion in 2012 inspired Starbucks to have its baristas write the customer’s name on each cup. While we take it for granted today—and laugh at misspellings—this simple act helped create an intimate connection between Starbucks and its customers.

Employees are actively working to better the business

At Dutch airline KLM, empowered employees took it upon themselves to find a way to solve a time and money-consuming problem—turning around an aircraft. Each time an aircraft lands and passengers disembark, airline ground employees race to clean, restock, and refuel the aircraft for its next flight. Safety is the priority, of course, but each minute a plane sits at a gate costs the airline money. A “rebel” team at KLM took that challenge and reduced the turnaround time for its midrange aircraft from 50 minutes to 35 minutes. The time saving turned the flights for the specific aircraft model into a profitable business.

They’d recommend people come work there even without a referral bonus

Employee referrals are among the best ways to find great talent for any organization. But it’s not just finding the right talent—it’s keeping it. According to recent research, 45% of people employed through referrals stay with the organization for four or more years.

Next steps for your organization

Are you ready to take your organization to the next level? Talk to our team today to see how we can support your employee recognition and appreciation programs.