Employers who make a concerted effort to craft quality roles and build a sense of community have the power to lower depression and increase employee engagement.

Employers create meaningful work through community-based volunteering and reverse mentoring. Consider a skills-based volunteering structure that allows your employees to use their competencies to connect with the larger community. 

Each business, regardless of size, requires structure to sustain business continuity and workforce productivity. The frame serves as a critical building block in workplace culture. 

Start with an audit of your existing policies, employee skill sets, and assessments. Outline any skill gaps in relation to future business needs. 

Employees who feel supported and cared for tend to stick around and are more engaged with their work. A culture of care makes the difference between working for the next paycheck and being an employer of choice. A caring culture also drives innovation, creativity, and profitability.

A caring culture can take many forms. It can be offering employees a flexible work schedule to accommodate caregiving responsibilities. It can also be providing professional development training or having regularly scheduled progress check-ins. What is most important is that a culture of care is never “finished.” The commitment to creating this culture must be ongoing and authentic. 

Placing too much focus on performance risks maxing out capacity and makes employees feel insecure about their value in the company. Investing in growth is worth the time and financial cost and results in increased retention.

You can begin to create a growth culture in your business by letting your team know they have autonomy in their roles, signaling your trust in them. You can also have a clear “open door” policy for employees to share their thoughts or ideas. These types of actions are small steps that will make meaningful impacts down the line.