Excited to speaking at the 2018 TEA conference on Culture. Specifically, as part of a panel covering Organizational Culture Throughout the Employee’s Lifecycle with The Employer Group of Grand Rapids.
The topic of embedding culture is not a new one. Here is a Forbe’s article from a few years with essentially the same message. The more recent focus on employee experience and how our people, processes, and tools all come together to help employees feel connected and part of something bigger seems like a fresher take. Especially as HR portals and fully integrated HR management systems come down market and become in some ways, easier for a medium sized businesses to implement.
As a reformed engineer, whenever this topic starts heating up I imagine a wheel with the stages of the employee lifecycle looping around….
Attract - Is this culture right for me?
Onboard - How quickly do I connect to the culture? Do I feel included?
Develop - Is my development fostered? How does the culture support me?
Retain - Does my manager embody the culture? Do I feel connected to him or her?
Reward - Are values rewarded or just performance? Is it fair?
Motivate - Do I feel inspired?
The panel covered a lot of topics - but this wheel in my head had to get on paper. As leaders and HR professionals we have to remember to not just focus on the paperwork and tasks of this process - but making sure employees ask the awkward questions and we do our best to help them find answers.