Last Updated on July 5, 2022

Every business and HR pro knows that the competition for top talent is tough. We’ve discovered a strategy that helps the whole employee, mentally and also professionally. We’ve discovered something that will make employees really want to stay long-term.

People want to work for companies that are invested in their growth and development as human beings. They want to know they matter as people, not just assets in a company’s financial calculus.

So that’s why we connected to this article written by a fellow HR professional, on building a respectful culture of learning, to ensure our people could grow and develop with us.

Building the framework for learning

When I started building our cultural framework, I focused on shared agreements of how all employees would treat each other at work. Everything in our cultural code is centered on one main thing: supporting human flourishing.

We also have core beliefs, behaviors and outcomes spelled out in the cultural code. For example, one of our core beliefs is that we’re all connected, and our well-being is bound with one another.

Some outcomes we strive for include authentic connections, healthy interactions and a sense of belonging at work. To achieve this, our culture emphasizes open and honest communication instead of politicking.

We choose to foster a psychologically safe environment over a fear-based one, and we choose to cultivate and own awareness of our impact on others.

Encouraged employee learning, in many ways

Once we had our core values set, we focused on creating a culture of learning. Our first step was having leaders communicate to all employees that we invite them to continually learn and adapt. We let them know we were making a commitment to help them on their career journey.

We encourage learning in a few ways. Employees can take online courses through our own platform. We also have a robust tuition reimbursement program so employees can expand their knowledge through an accredited college.

We also believe people learn by doing. We get employees active in all levels of the organization, allowing them to try things out and learn directly from our own experts. This helps them explore what kind of career path with us they’d be interested in.

Continue to evolve

Our commitment to this culture of learning has had great, tangible results. In the past two years, many new hires we’ve brought on have said the top reason they came to work with us was because of our culture.

Not only has it attracted new talent, but it’s helped us hang onto current employees. Our turnover rate is about 8%, when the industry average is 25%.

We’re also continuing to evolve. Last year, we invested heavily in development programs for management, which helps our leaders learn how big of an impact they have on employees’ success and happiness.

We also improved our mental health support for employees, too, offering life coaching sessions and gender-affirming medical benefits.

All of these programs are designed to reinforce to our employees that we care about them and want them to thrive — and we’re prepared to put resources behind that commitment.

(Article Credit: Lucy Suros, CEO, Articulate, New York, MyHRMorning)

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