A Happier Home Furnishings Industry
Maintaining a positive company culture in the new home furnishings world is essential to your success as a retailer – both online and in your brick-and-mortar. After all, your employees are your best ambassadors for how easy it is to work with you, not just the quality of your products and services.
If you’re not sure how to start (or keep) the positive momentum going, we have a few tips to help you recharge your team!
1. Give your team a sense of purpose.
When people understand why they’re doing certain things in the name of working towards a common set of goals, they’re happier and more inspired. And, you guessed it, happy and inspired employees are more productive and, ultimately, more profitable.
2. Embrace being human.
We’re all flawed. So, when you release the expectation of excellence and focus, instead, on the art of growing and becoming, you create a more enjoyable atmosphere where people are free to be. . . people! Being human comes with highs and lows, pride and shame, successes and losses. Create a workspace where people are free to react to all those things in a natural way and you’re on your way to building trust among your employees.
3. Be open to new ideas.
Your employees are the lifeblood of your home furnishings business. So, when they come to you with new ideas for merchandising, streamlining/automating processes or building a better sales funnel – hear them! They’re on the ground every single day and have a perspective for growth and improvement that you may not. Create a way for your employees to submit ideas for improving your business and you’ll create a better place to work.
4. Encourage social interaction.
By nature, we’re social creatures. The most successful home furnishing manufacturers and retailers leverage that as part of the workday. Whether a collaborative work session or empowering employees to engage customers, providing opportunities for positive social interaction is a plus when it comes to building a better company culture.
5. Promote healthy habits.
Yes, an onsite fitness center is a phenomenal perk, but healthy habits go beyond walking meetings and yoga classes. (Not that those aren’t fantastic ideas!) But, we’re talking about creating a culture where maintaining life balance is promoted as a positive and backed up by example and behavior. It’s not enough to say that people shouldn’t work late on Friday nights. It’s shoo-ing them out of the office after they complete the task at hand. It’s creating a space where people feel confident sharing that they need to attend a Little League game but will make up the hours on Saturday. It’s honoring the space people need for family, friends, fun, and faith.
So, all these tips are great, but how do you really know if you have a positive corporate culture? How do you know if your employees are engaged and excited?
It’s simple: ask, listen, and observe.
Not everyone will be honest on a company survey – especially if they’ve been in a large, unstable corporate setting in their careers. But, there are a few behavior-based tells to let you know if your employees are thriving.
You have a low turnover rate. (Happy people don’t leave.)
You see smiles and hear laughter.
Your employees possess team spirit and happily help each other out.
There’s no gossiping or hidden agendas.
They’re not running for the door as soon as their shift is over. (Happy employees leave at a reasonable hour, but they’re not watching the clock down to the second either!)
How do these tips resonate with you? Do you think that you have a positive company culture in your business or do you think you could use some work?
We want to know what you’re doing to create and/or maintain a positive company culture in your home furnishings business, so leave a comment below!