The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that job mobility in the year ending Feb 2023 remained at 9.5% for the second year in a row, the highest rate in a decade.1 With so many people changing jobs, there is fierce competition to attract and retain the best people. If you understand what workers want and take action to provide that experience, your job will be done, quite literally! Workplace design and fit-out company Evoke Projects explains how to find out what workers want.
An EVP is very worthwhile. It is a statement of what your company is doing to improve the workplace experience. International recruitment company Hays defines an EVP as “a clear and consistent message about the experience of working at your organisation and highlights the unique experience you offer that attracts, engages and retains top talent”.2 Notably, they make the point: “Remember, your organisation is unique. It may make the same products or provide the same service as your competitors, but it is unique in its own way”. Your company is unique and so are the needs of the people who work there.
You can start a draft EVP based on the tangible and intangible benefits that your company currently offers. Some benefits are clearly defined. Others, particularly the intangible benefits, may be more subjective. Your perception of the intangible benefits may be challenged and revised during the employee research phase.
Every company and workforce is unique. Conduct employee research. Listen to your employees. Really listen. Surveys, focus groups, annual reviews, exit interviews and suggestion boxes are all valid ways of exploring what your workers want.
The workplace design team at Evoke Projects have been researching what is high on the general priority list! We do this type of research to bring fresh ideas to our clients, but we always recommend a personalised approach and listening to your team.
High on people’s priority list are the following desires:
• Higher pay. It would be a rare person who felt they were paid enough! Of course, it serves all companies well to pay attractive salaries to attract and retain the best people. Beyond that, human resources experts often advise companies against increasing a salary to match a counter-offer from another company. People who were tempted by another job are rarely just seeking a pay rise. They are unmotivated, unfulfilled, un-something, that’s for sure. Your pay rise may tempt them to stay, but only for now.
• Work-life balance. This has always been important to people but the pandemic and working from home brought home just how important. People now demand flexibility as a right. Hybrid working (time shared between the office and home), and the 4-day week (condensing 5 days’ work into 4) are the most popular requests. Modern workplace design comes to the rescue with flexible working. Activity based zones (e.g., quiet work areas, meeting rooms, creative hubs, video conferencing booths, breakout areas) give people flexibility and autonomy over their work.
• Well-being at work. This is closely connected to work-life balance but is mentioned so often that it deserves a bullet point of its own. After all, well-being shouldn’t be a subtext. Make your workplace a well-place™, an environment designed to enable people to ‘do well’. A well-place supports overall physical and mental health, engaging and motivating staff to be their best and most productive selves. Encourage physical movement with an office design that includes sit-stand desks/treadmill desks and printers that are not too close to workstations. Evaluate air quality, lighting and noise. Add biophilic elements and homely touches to your workplace fit-out.
• Recognition. Both formal and informal recognition are important. Think about the recognition for achievements that exists now. Is it enough? Are people being quietly grateful because they are so busy? An email or shout across the office to say thank you for a job well done is such a simple gesture but a very valuable one.
• Positive workplace culture. Research for SEEK shows 73% of Australians find workplace culture important; 61% of people say they’d turn down a job if they learned a company had a poor culture and 83% say they’ve left a job or would leave a job due to poor culture. Most of the points above feed into workplace culture but SEEK identifies the most important factors as “Supportive colleagues and leadership” and “Flexibility and autonomy”. Listening to employee feedback about what they want is a great place to start in improving the culture as it shows supportive leadership.3
Evoke Projects has a team of well-place specialists committed to workplace design and fit-outs that support what employees want. This ultimately supports your business growth and success. For more information, please call 1300 720 692.
