Creating a people-centric culture

Employees are a company’s greatest asset and biggest differentiator. Creating a people-centric culture means thinking about your employees first and fostering a culture that values them above all else. This type of environment centers attention around its employees to empower them, encourage empathy, and reward and recognize individuals based on performance and peer perception.

Here are a few practices you can implement to create a people-centric culture that works for everyone.

Empower your employees
Empowering your employees may sound like a broad suggestion, and it is, but there are a variety of ways you can enable and encourage your team to perform at their best. A recent study about creating a culture of quality conducted extensive reviews of academic research and surveyed more than 850 employees at all seniority levels. The most notable takeaway was that many of the traditional strategies used to boost company culture—like handing out company-branded merchandise or additional all-hands meetings—had little effect on employees.

Instead, the study found that companies who developed a culture that equipped and enabled employees based on their needs resulted in staff members feeling valued and more fulfilled about the work they do. Harmony in the workplace is easier to maintain when you grant employees autonomy and trust them to make decisions. As long as they’re delivering quality work and meeting deadlines, let them do their thing.

Encourage empathy
In a people-centric culture, everyone in the organization is trained to understand how they’re all connected. All of their roles and responsibilities come together to achieve a common goal. But there’s something else you see in a people-centric culture: employees have empathy for one another. They make decisions based on how it may affect their peers and team dynamic, not because it benefits them personally.

Encouraging employees to be empathetic towards one another and mindful in their decision-making process will lead to better collaboration and cooperation among team members. A great way to promote this kind of culture is through peer-to-peer recognition. Peer-to-peer recognition is a genuine expression of appreciation between coworkers. According to various studies, adding a gifting element to peer-to-peer recognition is considered incredibly effective. For instance, when a peer recognizes an employee, they are 35% more likely to repeat the behavior that earned them that recognition and gift experience.

Recognize and reward
A people-centric culture starts with how you say ‘thank you.’ Gift programs reinforce how essential employees are to a company’s culture and success. The secret recipe to appreciating your team is simple: recognize and reward them with a gift they get to choose. Virtual gift experiences are ideal for any kind of work environment because they allow you to appreciate and inspire your team no matter where they live. Recipients login, choose a gift they love, then we deliver it to their doorstep.

Gone are the days when the only team to get incentivized was sales. Nowadays, companies employ gift and incentive programs across all departments and for a multitude of occasions. Adding a gift program to enhance company culture has been proven to boost morale, increase productivity, and lead to higher retention rates. A gift program will make work feel rewarding and ties something tangible to your employees’ commitment and hard work.

In a people-centric culture, entry-level employees up to the CEO see their role in the context of the bigger picture. When you consider how closely connected employees are to an organization’s success, it’s much easier to make decisions and improve internal processes. Implementing a gift or incentive program is a great place to start to build a positive company culture that lasts. Putting people first can help propel you forward and set you apart from your competition.