It seems like all the discussions within the field of HR today are being dominated by talks of technology; whether we’re predicting the impacts of automation on employment within the field of HR or trying to determine how big of an impact changing market trends will have on the broader industry’s health, we’re always obsessed with the way machines are driving HR forward. Isn’t it time our discussions centered more around the human employees who HR is traditionally charged with serving?
Far too often, the conversation ends when discussion about workplace culture begins. Instead of shutting down debates into how we can create more human-centric and welcoming workplace cultures, and the kind of satisfaction you’d achieve with new home construction, we should be exploring this topic more fully. Here are some of the ways companies today can foster more human workplace cultures, and how those will unlock the true potential of your workers.
Make work more than a chore
The first thing HR managers trying to foster a more human workplace culture need to do in order to succeed is set clear, measurable goals for themselves. An excellent ideal workplace culture one should be aiming for is one where work is more than a chore; if your employees are only shuffling in each morning out of a sense of obligation, and not because they have some level of dedication to their positions, then your workplace culture is letting you down, and in dire need of serious reformation.
There are serious consequences to having such a dismal workplace culture; if your employees feel unhappy and unwelcome at work, and don’t possess a sense of belonging as it pertains to their office, their efficacy is directly impacted. Corporate culture impacts employee performances, and shouldn’t be brushed under the rug. HR managers should instead dedicate themselves to broaching the issue of workplace culture more often when speaking with higher ups; so, how can you drive home the importance of creating a human-centric workplace culture?
When trying to secure additional funding or foster greater executive passion for positive workplace culture building, start by pointing to the effective results of embracing a human-centric work culture. Companies which bend over backwards to put their human employees first regularly outperform those who don’t, for instance, and you should be making that clear when trying to explain why it’s so important that your HR department push for people-first initiatives. There are huge economic upsides to instituting family-first, employee-centric vacation policies, for instance, but many employers in the UK fall behind when it comes to making sure their workers are all well-rested and ready to work.
Day-to-day office operations can be positively impacted by more human-centric workplace cultures, too. Everything from offering greater levels of mental and professional counselling to your employees to instituting microbreak policies that boost productivity can be done to ensure your office is part of the 21st century workplace, and not held back by long-disproven work standards.
Why HR reform efforts fail
If it’s so obvious why human-centric workplace cultures are beneficial to the companies that work diligently to instill them, why are they still so rare? To put it simply, fostering a more human workplace culture isn’t easy, and requires active efforts and investments to be maintained. The push to automate across industries, for instance, has generated huge sums of media and industry coverage surrounding the rise of automation, which has put robots at the forefront of the conversation while displacing humans to the back of the line.
If you want to institute more human-centric workplace culture policies without failing, then, you need to understand how to make the case for more employee-centric initiatives without sounding like a dinosaur who’s behind on the times. When it comes time to push back against claims that your company should be exclusively investing in software and digital solutions, for instance, you can make the case that humans and machines work best when working together. Such endeavors like this, which keep humans in the discussion about the future of the workplace, is imperative if we’re to avoid widespread, job-killing automation that will in turn create social turmoil.
Above all, HR managers should stress the fact that their departments exist for the benefit of the company’s human capital, and that only by stressing to the absolute limit how important human employee’s rights and conditions are can companies ever find success in the 21st century marketplace. While the tech-heavy debates of the contemporary HR scene may be getting you down, don’t forget your purpose, or fail to realize that HR departments are often the only actors fighting for a more human-centric workplace culture. As the digital age continues its ceaseless onslaught forward, you’ll be proud that you were one of the workers fighting for a more human workplace culture as others let their standards slip.
