“work hard, play hard!” “The longer you work the more you will earn”
I’m sure we’ve all heard phrases like these time and time again! The idea that the more hours you work, the better you are at your job is drummed into us from a very early age. I have heard it my whole working life in various industries including hospitality, retail and recruitment. Sadly, I have to say recruitment is the worst culprit!
I have now been in the recruitment industry for almost 20 years and a lot has changed, we no longer use a fax machine, advertise in the local gazette, store candidate and client information on record cards in a fila fax. Developments in technology has completely transformed how we work and how the recruitment industry operates.
If the industry has changed, technology has changed and the younger working generation has changed (the so called millennials), then why have so few employers changed?
Take a look at this picture – taken at 4.47pm on Tuesday 22nd of May 2018.
I looked up and noticed a remarkable thing – that’s when I took this picture and realised how proud I was of what we have achieved. “WHY”! You might ask, “the office is almost empty”.
Business leaders always talk about the importance of office culture, it seems to be the latest buzz word! Personally I think we should forget the word culture, it just complicates things, we should keep it simple and focus on happiness instead. Am I happy? Are my colleagues happy? Is this a genuine happy place to work?
What makes people Happy?
Whilst salary, commissions and incentives play a big part, particularly in a sales organisation - I personally believe empowerment is key to happiness in the workplace.
Gone are the days of beating people with a stick, you need to trust your employees and give them the space to succeed in their own way. Set clear objectives that should be achieved whether that’s daily, weekly, monthly or even yearly. As long as you provide your colleagues with the right training, technology and tools required to do the job – success won’t be far behind.
Give your employees the freedom and flexibility to perform within a frame work and they will flourish. People who flourish, will achieve and will ultimately be happy. Call that culture if you wish!