Creating a business that is attractive to investors, customers and employees is critical to keep your company afloat. Profitability and growth are the natural results of a business that has mastered the art of making itself appealing to all. Admittedly, there are criteria that need to be applied.
Ultimately, no company appeals to a broad audience. Even global corporates have a specific target audience, both in terms of employees and customers. While Karl Marx described the dream of a society that would need no more than one industry of each kind to provide to the needs of its population, the truth is that people are different personalities, requirements, preferences and lifestyles.
There is no one size fits all in the business world. But as a company, your role is to ensure that you don’t exclude an audience group. In terms of profitability and growth, it’s in your best interests to keep your options open – even if in the long-term, not all workers might choose to pursue a relationship with your company.
But, what does it really mean to create a business for all? How can you give your company the opportunity to become an attractive pole for your most precious assets, namely employees?
Making your business flexible
Flexibility is one of those trendy words that has been appearing more and more often in the business world. While it’s been labelled as a solution to appeal to a Millennial audience of employees, in reality, a flexible workplace is a natural evolution of the use of digital communications and technologies in the work area. For employees who are trying to maintain the balance between their social life and their professional routine, offering the possibility to manage working hours to suit their other engagements can significantly improve their quality of life.
Ultimately, nobody enjoys the idea of wasting a day off just because they have a short appointment in town. Unfortunately, the tendency to accumulate working hours – most employees work 50 to 60 hours a week – and long commute makes it impossible for your staff to maintain a healthy social lifestyle. The risk of isolation from their friends and relatives as a result of inflexible working hours and overtime is not only real but leads to high employee turnover rates.
Keeping the workplace accessible to ALL employees
Is your workplace user-friendly? It’s an odd question, but you’d be surprised to find out that most small businesses don’t consider accessibility issues. Indeed, while accessibility is the number one factor of success for a website when it comes to your physical premises, entrepreneurs can forget to adapt their workplace to all users. Wheelchair-users, for instance, can struggle in offices that fail to account for width and maneuvering of their mobility equipment. Similarly, other factors need to be considered, such as the addition of specific wheelchair evacuation equipment and access ramps. Additionally, some employees with reduced mobility might require assistive technology at their desks.
Ditching the fine balance for animals
Offices are obliged, by law, to accept service animal at work. A guide dog, for instance, can’t be refused access to a site. However, there is no law that forces employers to accept emotional support animals. In other words, if an employee finds comfort in a fog or a cat to help with their anxiety or stress issues, the business can refuse to let the animal on the premises. The legal distinction is often used by employers to keep their offices pet-free. However, entrepreneurs fail to consider the benefits of a friendly and relaxing presence, which is what emotional support animals provide not only to their direct owner but also to those who come in contact with them.
The differences make your strength
Every generation brings disruption to the workplace. The Baby Boomers started the gender liberation – inviting women to be part of the workplace. Millennials, on the other hand, are more interested in digital flexibility. Ultimately, the ambition of the youngest generation conflicts with the experience of your older employees. But a business for all is a business that respects and embraces these differences. Managing different kinds of people effectively is an art that is hard to master, but that can help your company to reach its full potential. Take the time to mix and match project teams to encourage team building across all generations and mindsets.
Forget full-time staff; the new trend is freelancers
Work demands vary with projects, seasons, and market targets. More often than not, companies find it difficult to keep a team busy throughout the year. There will be periods of intense stress and activity, and quiet periods. Consequently, the idea of an in-house team might be obsolete. Indeed, specialist skills and expertise can be tricky to attract in a full-time position. Most freelancers are experts in their niche, meaning that their skill set differs from a typical 9-to-5 employee. But where a full-time employee would be expensive, a contracted freelancer who works on specific projects is a cost-effective and business-friendly solution.
The top-from-bottom hierarchy is dead
The days when a manager would decide for the entire business are long dead. Employees want to have a significant influence in the direction and strategy of their company. As a result, the boundaries of a vertical hierarchy model are shifting. More and more businesses are looking to implement the benefits of brainstorming methods, that let managers and team members share ideas towards the same objective. The advantage of a brainstorming strategy encourages companies to build a flat hierarchy where every intervention matters.
Get a mental health booth
Mental health and the way it can affect employees inside and outside of the office is a major issue that governments around the world are desperate to sort out. Unfortunately, issues such as nervous fatigue, stress, and overall self-esteem troubles, which can affect your staff, tend to be ignored in the workplace. A company that works for everyone needs to implement additional support for employees, and especially in the area of mental health assistance. In an age where mental health disorders can kill, it’s in the responsibility of employers to give their teams the best chance to stay strong and focused.
Are businesses ready to become the full-accessibility institution’s society expects them to be? We’re far from it yet. The more your company works towards building a business for all, the more chances you’ll have to establish long-term profitability and growth.
* This post was written by an outside source for Morning Business Chat.
