Ask HR: What, exactly, does the modern employee value the most in at the workplace?
What you need to know:
- How might you help to create an environment in which people learn and grow in their careers?
- Whose support do you need to enlist to as you set up a HR function and build a place in which colleagues would dare to stake part of their future?
- Take one step at a time. As Dan Rather says, “If all difficulties were known at the outset of a long journey, most of us would never start out at all.”
I have been asked to set up a HR function in a local company and would like to know more about what employees value most in organisations so I may help to put it in place. What ideas should I consider first? How can I succeed in this project?
Tending to the obligation that has been bestowed upon you is akin to having a clean slate on which you can sketch a better future for your organisation and employees. Besides helping to create an environment in which employees have rewarding career experiences, you could also contribute to organisational performance by helping the organisation to draw the best from its people.
It is useful to remain aware that it will take time to build a fully-fledged HR function for your organisation. Every component will not be built in one go, even if the organisation could financially afford it. Your journey might start with meeting compliance and administrative requirements before lunging towards sophistication. Yours may be the privilege of laying the foundation on which others will later build on. There are several aspects for you to consider as you embark on your assignment, including what employees value most. A good place to start would be to think about what you value as an employee. A survey or focus groups could also help you appreciate what your colleagues value.
As an environment is critical to the survival or success of organisms within it, so is a conducive organisational culture for employees. How might you steer your current organisational culture more towards enhancing employee experience and organisational performance? What could you do to help improve the quality of leadership and supervision in your organisation? What can you do to ensure your organisation’s compensation and benefits are competitive relative to your peers in the market? How might you help to create an environment in which people learn and grow in their careers? Whose support do you need to enlist to as you set up a HR function and build a place in which colleagues would dare to stake part of their future? Take one step at a time. As Dan Rather says, “If all difficulties were known at the outset of a long journey, most of us would never start out at all.”
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