All companies strive to create a workplace environment that feels like a home away from home.
In every workplace environment, establishing a company culture that is conducive to growth and development is vital.
But what exactly is a company culture?
- A company culture is the set of values and expectations that best define what is considered normal, healthy and standard in a workplace. This could include values around health, wellbeing, personal space, or even norms around conversation, noise levels, and communication.
- You want your office space and the ethos of your workplace culture to be one that feels relaxed, nurturing, and welcoming.
Working to create a healthy workplace culture will inevitably create a sense of belonging in the workplace, which will allow your employees to more easily deal with the inevitable challenges that will arise from time to time.
What is a sense of belonging in the workplace?
No one wants to feel out of place. Even in new situations, most people gravitate towards ideas and personality types that they feel familiar with.
That’s why it’s important to make your employees feel like they belong:
- Having a sense of belonging means that your employees know that their thoughts, opinions, and values are seen, heard, and respected.
- Fostering a feeling of belonging in the workplace across backgrounds and abilities is what makes the company culture shine.
- Understanding and celebrating people’s differences is key to developing a culture of belonging within your company.
Diversity should be met head on:
- Diversity in the workplace is often swept under the rug.
- Some might think highlighting differences can create divisions, but celebrating what makes us unique can actually foster a sense of shared respect and admiration, ultimately making a company stronger.
- When employees feel that their diversity background are celebrated by their employer, they will be more likely to feel safe, nurtured and supported by the workplace culture.
- Employees who feel safe and that they belong in their workplace are more likely to become high achievers and function well within group dynamics.
Tips for creating a sense of belonging at work
There are a lot of things you can do to create a sense of belonging at work.
Below are some tips we’ve compiled that might help you:
- Send, analyze, and implement employee feedback:
- Employee feedback helps to set expectations and provide the opportunity for open dialogue between employer and employee.
- This can also be the chance to give your employees a voice to express any concerns.
- Encourage social bonds:
- Encouraging the self-structuring of teams and facilitating an environment that offers the opportunity to build connections inside and outside of the office is key to fostering happy employees.
- Offer collaborative opportunities:
- It’s important to offer chances for interdepartmental collaboration.
- Office design, meeting structure, and expectations can help to facilitate collaborative opportunities that will foster a feeling of belonging among your employees.
- Trusting relationships:
- Having mentor relationships that make employees feel championed can make all the difference in a workplace environment.
- Inclusion is key:
- If you want your employee to feel heard, you must offer them opportunities to express their opinions.
- Shared documents, group meetings, dedicated time for each employee, and clear guidance on how final decisions are made can all go a long way.
- Cultivating inclusive language:
- Cultivating language that makes your employees feel included in the decision making process is very important.
- Practice leaning into the “How might we” model and other inclusive language practices when presenting to your team.
- A shared vision:
- Working together is the best way to complete tasks for your business’ goals.
- Having values and a collectively established vision can help unite people towards common aims.
Ultimately, if you want your employees to feel appreciated, connected, and valued, you need Grokker.
Giving your employees access to the tools and resources they need to feel happy, healthy, and connected at work will create a sense of belonging that will allow your team to yield superior results.
Grokker has the tools you need to create an inclusive workplace
With Grokker, you can offer your employees a diverse array of options that can fit their specific wellbeing needs. Cultivating a workplace that centers on wellbeing will allow your teams to thrive.
Grokker has a holistic and easy to implement approach. Our patented video technology focuses on behavior changing scientific approaches:
- With a library of over 4,000 mindfulness, exercise, nutrition, sleep, and financial wellbeing videos for every goal, level, and background, your employees will never run out of ways to connect and recharge.
- We do the heavy lifting so you don’t have to. We offer a real time reporting dashboard, interactive surveys to track employee sentiment, and progress toward individual and overall company goals.
At Grokker, we like happy customers and we know that happy customers make happy employees. So meet your employers where they are and partner with Grokker today for your organization's wellbeing needs.
To find out more information about our holistic, cost-effective and easy to implement approach, check out our website and sign-up for a live demo today.
