Employees first – how to do it right?

Many talk about the “employees first” approach and its benefits. But how many of us truly walk the talk when pressed with business decisions and routine?

We know that our partners Present Connection really knows how to do it right and we asked them to generously share insights on how to foster the culture of people within a team or organization.

Great insights from the Country manager of Present Connection Gintarė Žilinskė awaits.

In your industry, what practices of “putting people first” you are aware of and admire most? 

I think first we need to think about what people admire the most. 

From my personal experience I've noticed that employees would like to be involved in the decision making process, and seek real possibilities to grow in their careers. 

Also they want to feel safe to speak their truth and that company would provide them flexibility in their working hours and location. So my recommendations are the following:

Offer flexibility to blend work and personal lives 

At Present Connection employees decide on their flexible work model and by offering flexible work hours with remote work options we meet employees' personal needs.

After all, a results-oriented work culture that values outcomes over strict office hours provides flexibility in the working hours and workplace so employees can integrate their work and personal lives seamlessly and achieve work-life balance. 

As well, at Present Connection we established policies that are student and family friendly, that we think are important if one wants to name itself as an employees first company.

Provide accurate professional development opportunities

For example, we have developed our own career path planning tool, which helps to identify very precisely current competencies level and gives a clear overview of what one needs to do in order to reach the next level in a career.  

Next, with our internal mentorship program we further develop and support employees and already are seeing benefits of it. 

We found that this helps not only with professional development but also increases job satisfaction and self-confidence, as mentors boost an employee's confidence by providing guidance and validation, which then leads to better job performance and career satisfaction. 

Additionally, we recognize that mentorship it's not only about the work, it can contribute to personal growth, increase in self-awareness, and better work-life balance. 

Organize health and wellness initiatives

Health and wellness initiatives are an important part of Present Connection’s culture. We as a company support all the sports initiatives that our employees want to be involved in, be it running, cycling or new sport lessons. 

We saw that this contributes to productivity, life satisfaction, confidence and of course serves team-building purposes.

It’s also a good idea to be even more focused not only about employees' physical but also emotional health. For example, we invite external lecturers to talk about stress management, burnout prevention, and how to maintain a healthy work-life balance. 

Don’t underestimate the importance of open communication

We promote transparent and open communication between leadership and employees, encouraging them to voice concerns, provide feedback, and share ideas.

This is something that we have been working on for a few years, until we achieve the results we wanted -  employees feeling heard and really understood.

We regularly collect and share feedback whether that's an event, company's initiative or staff wealth related matters - we always involve employees in the decision making process. 

We also regularly review and adapt, where possible, the company's policies and procedures based on employees feedback and needs.  

Key thing to implement is rewards and recognition system

If you want to create a “people first” culture, one of the key things to implement is a rewards and recognition system. 

For example, our company makes an effort to acknowledge and celebrate special days and mile-stones of our employees and does that regularly.  

What is the special about the culture in Present Connection?

Now when probably all IT companies can offer pretty much the same benefits and working conditions, we all need to have something to stand out from the crowd. 

Most of the time it's invisible things that make us who we are. I would say at Present Connection it is our identity “where hierarchy takes a backseat, managers are buddies, people shaping decisions together and company's gatherings are just legendary”

People will perform when they feel safe. So all initiatives should ultimately lead to the creation of an environment of emotional and financial safety. 

How putting people first correlates with company results?  

By incorporating “employees first” strategies we achieved higher job satisfaction and engagement level, e.g. our staff engagement result was 92% last year. Also, it improved retention rates - only 3% of employee change so far this year occurred at Present Connection.

All this, leads to better business outcomes as well - since due to low staff ration the project's knowledge and employees competencies stays and grows with each year.  

How to implement core values successfully and fully into a company's culture? 

In this case our success recipe - we have created values from who we are. That's why we don’t need to think about how to “sell” it to employees – we all were living it, it was just a matter of crystalizing and shaping it.  

And yes, this is a result of careful selection of a-like employees and culture reflecting company's policies.