The Culture Prerogative: How Workplace Decisions Empower or Prevent Employees from Achieving Peak Performance

By: Lauren Justin, Head of People at Active Digital

The term “culture” gets thrown around by organizations big and small. But what does it mean in today’s labor market? When did culture become the thing everyone is drawn to and running from, simultaneously? The ways culture is referenced in the workplace varies. However, it generally revolves around a common factor: employees’ perception of their treatment by employers.

Active Digital’s Head of Performance, Dr. Maryrose Blank, says culture is “[the] foundation on which all other mission critical elements rest. Culture that is created and developed around ‘people first’ builds a loyal foundation of high potential personnel that feel valued and cared for not just on the job, but within their personal lives. [Work-life balance] builds morale, motivation, and of course revenue, with all three being powerful builders of job satisfaction.”

Many executives reference this “people first” focus when making sweeping changes to the employee experience. They cite the need to adapt cultural norms to fit the needs of new generations entering the workforce. These efforts to align workplace culture with these new generation’s norms are not valid, though. There is another force that is disrupting what employees expect in the workplace.

The Great Resignation isn’t news to employees or job seekers. With the pandemic and shift to remote working, the last few years have been challenging at best. Seeds of employee discontent, though, were sown prior to Spring 2020. Pre-pandemic, the adjustments made to employee work-life looked appealing on the surface but were simply a façade to squeeze every ounce of productivity out of professionals. The repercussions of not actually showing empathy for people are starting to come to light. Perks of the in-person office culture may not hold as much weight as before, and cracks in the foundation of these benefits are starting to show.

Normal pre-pandemic benefits, as attempts to keep employees happy in the office, do not work now since, very simply, the office is at home. Common offerings such as unlimited time off looks great on paper, but not when you feel guilty for using it or feel required to make yourself fully available while offline. Free meals in the office are a wonderful reward, but they tend to make employees work longer hours and not take enough breaks during the day. Many of these types of benefits fail to address what leadership should be concerned with: mental wellness of employees, providing the safety to bring your whole-self to work, and ensuring fulfillment with the activities of your job. Failing to address actual human stressors simply delayed resignations until the compounded pressure of a pandemic forced the floodgates open.

Until now, the workplace has been designed to slowly bleed over into personal life. Employees have been expected to be constantly available at the expense of personal priorities, family, hobbies, down time, etc. Since home is no longer a place apart from work, middle-aged workers who typically have more complex lives are choosing a different path.

Per Harvard Business Review, “Employees between 30 and 45 years old have had the greatest increase in resignation rates, with an average increase of more than 20% between 2020 and 2021.” Employees ages 20-25 saw a decrease in resignations during the same timeframe.

The current employment climate is an opportunity to see professionals as adults and start treating them as such. The trauma of the pandemic and subsequent actions taken by employers, choosing economic growth over employee well-being, has forced many professionals to look at their professional relationship for what it actually is: addictively toxic.

So how can we address this cultural shift in a way that rebuilds expectations with employees, retains high-performing individuals, and creates an atmosphere of trust and excitement in which to grow their careers at the employee’s current company? Consider the following:

Psychological Safety: Provide space for employees to make mistakes, not be embarrassed by trying something new, and to feel comfortable being themselves without repercussions.  “The people make up the culture, the leaders empower the people, and when people feel empowered and believe in the mission, performance increases,” Dr. Blank says. “Arguably, [the] most important [aspect of employee cultural alignment] is how people identify with their organization.”

Respectful Candor: Communicating with employees in a direct, open, and respectful manner is necessary for professional growth. Keeping employees abreast of what is happening within the company allows them to feel like they are making decisions on behalf of the company, not simply working to earn a paycheck.

Purposeful Pauses: Life moves at an unimaginable pace, leaving many without the time to recover or strategically think about what is coming next. Permitting employees to pause in their professional or personal lives gives them time to reevaluate next steps instead of running on autopilot. It seems simple, but intentionally choosing to wait a moment before finalizing a project or responding to an escalation (assuming it is not time-sensitive, of course) is directly juxtaposed with what professional society tells us we need to do to get ahead. Purposeful pauses provide clarity of thought and control over circumstances which further multiplies the impact of employee work and encourages them to continue similar behaviors.

Most individuals who jump ship to explore different career options are doing so because they don’t want to put work over life anymore. Let’s level with our people, meet them where they are, and make the time they spend at work the least complicated part of their day. We hire them for their outstanding professional expertise and because we know they will make our company more successful. Let’s empower and trust them.

Employees need to show up as well. Trust is a two-way street, and although employers should go first, employees must have the professional maturity to balance life and work responsibilities. They must find a way to provide quality contributions while establishing boundaries to allow for time away from work, wherever that work is located.

We need to shift corporate behavior to honor and uplift our employees. To make this change, we, as leaders, need to promote Psychological Safety, Respectful Candor, and Purposeful Pausing to allow our people to unapologetically master their craft. Allow bribery benefits to be examples of what not to do when engaging employees. The Great Resignation is here, but it doesn’t have to remain - it just requires corporate leaders to put trust behind actions.