Recently, there has been a trend to put people at the center of the business equation. Indeed, professional fulfillment has become a major issue for many SMEs and large groups. The emphasis is on the quality of life at work, a major element of professional motivation and productivity.
From this point of view, well-being at work is considered essential. It leads to a reduction in the risk of absenteeism and a lower turnover rate. However, other companies still tend to relegate this issue to a secondary stage, preferring to focus on the customer or the product.
What are the levers of professional development for the company?
The means at the company's disposal are numerous: from getting to know the employees, listening to them, to managing their careers by creating a social link that has become imperative with the new hybrid work modes.
Know your employees well
To understand an employee, anticipate his or her expectations and build loyalty, you must first get to know them. This approach must be carried out on both a professional and personal level. There is no ready-made recipe in terms of QWL that can be transposed from one profile to another. The importance of the employer/employee relationship makes it possible to detect the signs of demotivation and to understand the reasons for it in a timely manner. Personal physical or moral problems can have a negative impact on performance. A lack of communication can lead to errors in judgment that can have negative consequences.
Vertical communication is also important when things are going well. It allows you to detect the warning signs of a phase in which things might not go so well. Knowing what each employee thinks means anticipating their reaction and being able to influence them. But it is also important for educational purposes, to explain the company's policy and objectives, so that the horizon is the same for everyone.
Career management
The HR management process has evolved in parallel with the digitalization of the company. HR applications have been created either to improve the efficiency and speed of administrative processing, such as the HR SaaS cloud. They can also manage the human factor and organization, using HRIS software, for example. By automating certain tasks, these management tools have made it possible to relieve HR departments of repetitive and boring work. The aim is to allow them to focus on the essential, i.e. the human factor. Rather than being left without a job at the end of each resignation, the tools Strategic Workforce Planning give the company the tools to foresee and anticipate.
In fact, optimal management of the company is no longer left to the goodwill of each member of staff. It is now widely accepted that the success of a company is largely based on professional development. Productivity and motivation follow the same curve as the investment in time and energy.
The increasingly important role of the HRD is to ensure that the slope of these curves is upward. To do this, he or she has various QWL tools that enable him or her to increase the level of involvement of his or her employees. The HRD thus implicitly deals with their career management.
Creating social links
Opening up to employees also means creating a link between them and the company, HIS company. They must be able to identify with it and feel a strong sense of belonging within a real team. This is all the more urgent as the forms of work organization have evolved. We develop this subject in our article“What forms of work organization for tomorrow?
Like a sports coach, the company manager must unite the team around a common banner which is the company. This is done through external events such as company parties, afterwork, birthday celebrations, etc… The organization of trips with spouses also helps to break the line of separation between private and professional life. This way, a better personal balance and a reinforced professional fulfillment can be guaranteed.
Getting together with co-workers, managers and employees in unison outside of the traditional framework is the best way to build relationships of complicity, to weave cohesion and to strengthen the attachment of each employee with his company and its human components.
Listening to employees
Each employee at his or her workstation is in the best position to point out a malfunction or suggest an improvement. They are the ones who have their "hands in the dirt" and are therefore the most qualified. Their opinion must not only be listened to, but also taken into account. Valuing the employee experience allows you to react instantly in a useful and efficient way. In this way, we react before the negative consequences impact the performance of the business.
An employee should also be consulted whenever a change in their work environment is being considered. Asking them for their opinion on new office furniture or on the color of paint they prefer is an excellent way to make them feel how important they are to the company.
Professional development is therefore a major stake in the success of a company. Listening to your employees and their feelings, especially in their chosen field, can be a major asset. The more you know your employees, the better you can manage them and exploit their potential. In short, quality of life at work is an issue that human resources can no longer simply ignore.
