Creating a Human-Centric Workplace

Creating a human-centric workplace means fostering empathy and listening skills among employees and embracing hybrid work. These skills will help to drive employee performance and retention. They also improve cross-disciplinary enterprise functional collaboration.

Empathy and listening skills

Practicing empathy and listening skills is one of the most important ways to build a positive workplace culture. These skills can help you respond appropriately to other people's feelings, make intelligent decisions, and facilitate teamwork.

Empathy is the ability to understand another person's experience from their point of view. Empathy helps you find the best solution for a customer or client. It also boosts teamwork and makes employees feel valued.

Both leaders and employees can practice empathy. Some examples of ways to practice empathy are sharing emotions with others, volunteering, and acting classes.

Empathy and listening skills are essential in a workplace driven by diversity. These skills also support teamwork, engagement, and profitability.

The best way to practice empathy is to listen to others and put yourself in their shoes. Ask open-ended questions so that the speaker can share their own. You may also consider why the speaker made the decision or action.

Cross-disciplinary enterprise functional collaboration

Creating a human-centric workplace means building a culture of collaboration among employees. It involves many tasks, such as communicating and encouraging team members to bring their authentic, culturally-diverse (and appreciated) selves to the forefront.

Cross-functional teamwork is vital for continuous improvement. It allows team members to apply their problem-solving skills and bring in knowledge from other operational areas. It can also bring in new and creative ideas. However, it takes work.

To improve the effectiveness of cross-functional collaboration, it is essential that all parties feel heard and respected. It is also important to make sure that all team members have the opportunity to voice their concerns. This can be achieved by having regular conversations.

Embracing hybrid work

Embracing hybrid work in a human-centric workplace has become a priority for many businesses and organizations. Leaders recognize that flexible work models are critical in attracting and retaining top talent. In addition, these organizations are empowering employees to make personal choices about where and how they work.

Organizations should create a culture that promotes employee well-being and engagement when designing a hybrid workplace. This includes making clear and concise policies for all employees. In addition, they should implement security procedures to protect internal data and content. They should also provide technology for face-to-face and video conferencing.

Meetings are critical aspects of the seamless experience in a hybrid work world. For example, the EY Design Council, a team of employees from different regions and functions, worked to create EY's Way of Working guidance. It reflects a mix of perspectives and uses design thinking to address critical challenges around work-life balance, intentional collaboration, and employee-driven flexibility.

The challenge of keeping employees connected has been the driving force behind innovation. Companies have experimented with flexible workplace strategies, coworking spaces, and other solutions to help attract digital talent.

Compensation

Creating compensation in a human-centric workplace involves much more than setting salaries. It also consists of the company's philosophy and values. Your compensation philosophy will affect your organization's culture and employees’ feelings about their job.

Creating compensation in a human-centric work environment means creating an environment that allows employees to feel a sense of belonging. This means providing equal opportunities, fostering a healthy work-life balance, and creating a culture of coexistence. You also want to create a workplace that allows employees to make various shared, independent, and collaborative decisions. It also means providing a safe work environment that encourages productivity and creativity.

Human-centric companies also focus on developing employees. The compensation philosophy should include a variety of benefits, such as flexible work hours and reasonable paid time off. It also means providing health insurance.

Employees who feel appreciated will be more committed to your organization. This is why it's essential to listen to them. When you listen to your employees, you can accommodate, pivot, and plan accordingly.