Definition of employee centric culture: a business strategy prioritizing employee needs and well-being and values them. Yes, management, you actually have to put employees first. Your workforce should be your top priority. A happy workforce is a productive workforce and a productive workforce is a revenue-generating workforce - do you see the cycle?

It might not surprise you to learn that a recent survey of 1,000 employees published by Work Human revealed data that only 46.4% of employees feel valued; 10.7% reported feeling not valued at all by their organization. 

That isn't very employee centric. Year after year, organizations seem to miss the mark. Researcher and author Tessa West published a book called Job Therapy, where she surveyed over 2,400 employees globally, and over 70% felt they could be better compensated elsewhere. Now, we know money isn't everything, but it's the meaning behind it that matters - they don't feel valued.

And trust us; there are so many more statistics we could throw at you that show a dire need for organizations to learn how to develop an employee-centric culture, and we're about to tell you how to do it.

Read on to find out more.

Listen to Their Needs

The Workforce Institute released data in 2022 that revealed 83% of employees think they aren't listened to 'fairly or equally' at work. All Voices also found that 41% of employees in their survey had left a company because they didn't feel listened to.

Most of us have been in that situation, and it doesn't feel employee centric. When you're at the bottom of the metaphoric workforce food chain, your mousy little voice doesn't attract attention as much as people higher up the food chain. And it's not about letting their voice run the company; it's about respecting what they need from a company - working conditions, psychological well-being, better management systems, better equipment, the list could go on.

A simple anonymous workforce survey asking the question 'What do you need?' will tell you everything you need to know. Why anonymous? Anonymous surveys are more likely to yield honest results.

Upskill Your Employees

The Millennial and Gen-Z workforce are driving this one - 58% of Millennials and 52% of Gen-Z workers think a successful career is defined by upskilling or reskilling. And it's true. Employees who learn more grow more, and the same study found that employees taking part in training or upskilling are more satisfied and fulfilled.

It's not like it's tricky to achieve. There are so many risk-free corporate training programs that drive impact. The benefits of upskilling your workforce go full circle back to you, with 92% of employees taking part in well-planned training programs seeing a desirable impact on their engagement levels. The more engaged your employees are, the more revenue they generate and the more employee-centric company culture you're creating.

Recognize and Reward

Recognizing and rewarding your employees is one of the best ways to create an employee centric culture.

It circles back to meeting your employee's needs, focusing on making them feel heard and valued. Shockingly, data shows that 65% of employees haven't received any recognition for good work in the last year. And again, we've all been in a situation like that where you feel you're working yourself to the bone for a company that doesn't care because they're not giving you positive feedback or any feedback at all. 

A simple well-done is better than nothing, but we're talking employee-centric here; more substantial recognition and rewards go further. And it's funny because apparently 80% of managers think they're giving recognition for hard work, but only 40% of employees agree - go figure.

Easy ways to recognize and reward your employees include:

• A simple thank you and well done
• Monetary rewards like bonuses or gift cards
• Promotion incentives
• Promote peer-peer recognition
• Additional time-off
• Treats or meals

You can literally do anything to reward your employees so long as you're actually recognizing and acknowledging their hard work.

Actionable Feedback

Feedback is a big one.

Positive feedback is better than negative feedback (obviously). In fact, negative feedback is completely not constructive. We prefer to call it constructive feedback that recognizes shortcomings but doesn't make it an end-of-the-world affair. Instead, it's a conversation about how you need them to improve.

That's one side of feedback. To focus on being employee-centered, you can ask for feedback about how YOU as a company can improve. You can ask questions like:

• Do you feel valued as an employee
• What's the employee experience like at the company
• What could you change as an organization

Those are the types of questions that get you thinking about how you can meet the needs of your employees. Again, make it anonymous if you want more honest feedback.

The Flexible Working Balance

This one is very Millennial and Gen-Z - we can also all thank the COVID-19 pandemic for this one.

Flexible working has become the norm. Well, should we say that asking for flexible working has become the norm? Some companies have started to back-track on this one, bringing employees back into the office at least once or twice weekly, which still accommodates flexible working.

The issue managers have is that they think employees aren't as productive when working remotely. And, while the lunchtime power naps might be a thing, 77% of employees working from home at least a couple of times per month show increased productivity levels.

Don't hate on that lunchtime nap.

And even if you're against the whole work-from-home initiative, flexible working requirements and requests are becoming the norm. Let's face it; do you need your employees in the office from 9-5, or do you need them to meet their workload requirement for the day at some point in the day?

The Benefits of an Employee-Centric Culture

There are so many benefits of focusing on an employee-centric culture - most of them are dotted throughout the article. To summarize for you, here are some of the key benefits of creating an employee-focused culture:

• A more productive workforce
• A happier workforce
• Decreased employee turnover rates
• Improved revenue outcomes
• Happier customers

We think we made it obvious that focusing on your employees and putting their needs first pays off. It's incredible that, still, in 2024, companies are getting it wrong. Ask your employees what they need from you today and start acting on it.