Your Business Model is Not the Only Thing that is Changing
by Jenn DePauw, The1stMovement
You can’t talk about it being the End of the Beginning without talking about the changing state of our workplaces, our teams and our culture. Where we work, when we work, and how we work has been going through a drastic transformation, and will continue to do so as we embark on this next chapter.
In order to keep your team happy and be a desired place to work, staying with the times is more important than ever.
Company Culture and Core Values
In the last two decades we saw the importance of a good Company Culture rise to the forefront in terms of importance for current and potential employees. Workplaces became more fun, and companies added more and more perks to keep their teams happy, and therefore working at peak productivity. Companies used these perks to their advantage, free lunches, ping pong tables, breakroom snacks. Then a lot of these perks became so common that they no longer served as a differentiator, were no longer a perk, but an expectation.
Good company culture also comes with a solid set of Core Values. Carefully crafted Core Values, along with a great set of perks, were another selling point, a way to market themselves that made them different than their competitors. But just like the foosball tables and Friday beers, the Core Values started to sound the same from agency to agency.
Now, companies are striving to live those Core Values, to model them. They are no longer words in a handbook or painted on a wall. They have, and will continue to become more of a living, breathing part of the company, and will continue to define company culture going forward. We will see more and more companies moving to having a mission beyond the values. It’s more important than ever to see companies that serve a greater good, and allow the employees to give back to causes that are important to them, and this allows them to attract clients that believe in that same set of ideals.
Working Smarter, not Longer
Having a great office environment—lively open spaces, all those perks we mentioned above, and a sense of camaraderie that was so far removed from the traditional, buttoned-up office of the past—did something else to the agency culture. We were working longer, we were hanging out and brainstorming, we had so many reasons to just stay at the office. But somewhere along the line we have seen a shift. Technology made it easier than ever to work from home or a coffee shop, and even dare I say, your vacation. The line between work and life became blurry—and work/life balance is now at the forefront of a happy, thriving culture.
As technology continued to evolve, we learned to work smarter, not just longer. We see that rates of remote and embedded workers are rising—and will continue to rise, 4-day work weeks are growing in popularity. Our teams are not only craving work life balance, they are demanding it. How companies react to these cultural shifts will determine whether they will rise to the top or sink under the pressure.
The Value of Mental Health in the Workplace
One of the most important shifts we see in the business environment right now is that companies are recognizing that the mental health of their employees is vital to a strong company culture. Programs need to continue to be put in place to ensure that the value of a mentally healthy workplace is a fixture in the cultural framework.
The state of our workplaces will be an ever-evolving work in progress. As we head into this next phase of internet technology, the agencies driving the progress will need to continue to recognize the changes that will be necessary to keep their companies competitive and relevant.
Jenn DePauw, The1stMovement