Building a great workplace culture will attract and retain talented employees. I encourage you to have your staff take 5 minutes and answer these twelve questions.
They are the simplest and most accurate way to measure the culture of the workplace. Answer these questions right and you're on your way to serious positive business outcomes of productivity, profitability, retention, and customer satisfaction.
Answer with a score from 1-5 (one being a low score or negative response and five being a high score or positive response).
- Do I know what is expected of me at work?
- Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work properly?
- At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
- In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
- Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
- Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
- At work, do my opinions seem to count?
- Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel my job is important?
- Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
- Do I have a best friend at work?
- In the last six months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress?
- In the last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?
Scored 60 - 40: Great work. Share your success tips with your peers.
Scored 20 - 40: Better get to work. Read this article and you'll score a 60 in 6 months.
Scored below 20: Give it up, Burger King has a better culture than your facility.
Securing scores of 5 in each of these questions should be the highest priority to a manager looking to create a dynamic work environment and culture.
You may be wondering why there are no questions dealing with pay or benefits. Although important, compensation does not play a direct role in performance. Paying someone more money does not necessarily mean it will produce more or better results.
Your employees know better than anyone else what makes them productive at work. Don't ignore this vast and untapped resource. If your course is going to beat the competition, it's mandatory that you involve the minds, hands and ideas of everyone on your team. Getting employees involved not only yields valuable ideas and suggestions, but also improves the morale of workers who feel they are being heard. It inspires community, motivation and communication among both workers and management.
