Creating a start-up from scratch is a great way to flex your entrepreneurial spirit and build a business you can be proud of. However, succeeding as a start-up requires more than hard work and a good product. You must become a business leader and learn to get the most from the people you bring into your new company.
Developing a people-first culture is the best way to find and maintain great talent in a small business. Putting your people first can land your top employees and ensures that your team has the desire and motivation to help your vision succeed.
Core Principles
Big businesses are oversaturated with mission statements and “shared values”. These corporate slogans exist for a reason: they help bind teams together and give everyone a chance to share the business’s vision.
As a small-scale start-up, you should develop your own set of shared values and a clear mission statement that guides your business’s culture. These values and mission statements should refer to the way you want to treat your employees as well as the overall purpose of your business.
Creating an employee-friendly mission statement is also an important part of the people-first approach to business. Today’s talented employees know their value and have heard about the employee-friendly treatment that workers at big firms like Google and Facebook receive. They’re looking for employers who offer a clear sense of purpose as well as greater flexibility and excellent work-life balance.
Flexibility and Coworking Spaces
The rise of remote and hybrid work means flexibility is a priority for employees. Your best employees know that they don’t have to sit in an office from 9 to 5 to be productive and will look elsewhere if you try to tether them to a cubicle for no good reason.
Instead of insisting on creating an office culture, you can invest in coworking spaces that save money and give employees the flexibility that they want. Coworking spaces are typically cheaper alternatives for small businesses and give you better cash flow. Coworking spaces also ensure that your employees have the equipment they need and can pack up when they’re done.
When looking for a coworking space, focus on the nuts and bolts first. There’s no point in renting space if it doesn’t have an adequate Wi-Fi connection or enough equipment like standing desks and keyboards. Once you have a list of top locations for your coworking space, focus on the amenities and perks they provide. Some coworking spaces even have deals with local gyms and health clubs that will look great as a people-first employer.
Work-Life Balance
Achieving an appropriate work-life balance should be a priority as a people-first employer. Even if you’re putting in the hard hours to make your business succeed, you shouldn’t expect talented employees to burn the midnight oil to help fulfill your vision.
Insisting on overtime and crunching will only result in burnout and a high rate of employee turnover. Employees with a poor work-life balance have been known to experience conditions like blurred vision, cataracts, low quality sleep, increased stress, joint damage, and cognitive impairment.
As a people-first employer, you should put the health and wellbeing of your employees first to avoid health-related conditions from burdening your staff — even if this means you have to reduce capacity or take on new employees. Trying to expand your operations by forcing your existing staff to abandon their work-life balance is not a sustainable, people-first approach, and will only lead to cultural rifts and employee turnover.
Conclusion
Operating as a people-first business can boost your startup culture and create better buy-in amongst your new team of employees. Highly motivated teams are essential for the success of small businesses, as you rely more heavily on fewer people during your first years. You can help develop a people-first culture by creating mission statements and shared values that promote the well-being of all employees. This should be translated into real policies at work like offering coworking spaces and a better work-life balance.
