Sharon Benson, HR Director at Studio.co.uk, speaks to HR Grapevine about how to establish a collaborative workplace environment, HR challenges going forwards and her HR highlights…
How does HR establish a collaborative, family environment in the workplace?
I’ve found that the most important and easiest way to ensure a collaborative environment is by making sure that every colleague feels valued within the company – and for me this starts with trust.
[card:29888]
Like a family, if you build a safe environment where trust is it at the centre of everything you do, you can work together to create a collaborative, innovative and engaged workforce. There’re many ways to do this, but I’ve found that praise where praise is due never goes amiss.
Everybody who has worked on a successful area of the business should be thanked for their hard work, regardless of their position in the company, and it’s a great way for newer colleagues to learn by example. This is important for every colleague, at every stage, including temporary colleagues who might feel alienated from or inferior to the permanent workers.
Another great way of making your colleagues feel valued is to ensure that there are additional benefits in place, besides their salary. Anything from healthcare to a Cycle to Work scheme can make colleagues feel they’re respected, and their wellbeing, as well as their work are valued by the company.
If you can make your co-workers feel comfortable, respected and valued within the business, you’re much closer to a collaborative, family environment in the workplace.
What do you see as the challenges going forwards?
It’s important for HR teams to be able to deliver sustainable business growth through employee development. It’s all well and good to offer amazing perks and short-term fixes to amuse your colleagues, but this cannot be sustained in the long term and won’t lead to any permanent development.
I’m an advocate of commercially focused employee value propositions; it’s important for a business to understand that improved customer numbers, profit and social responsibility all start with the colleagues. HR is about maximising the performance and potential of employees, and this is a continuous challenge that HR professionals must meet.
[text:29360]
All businesses are facing the challenge of remaining relevant during the digital transformation. As Studio moves from its traditional catalogue roots to a digital-first approach, this is especially important for us. My role is to ensure our strategy is engrained from a people perspective too.
Centralising core services really helps to streamline the HR process, helping the whole organisation run more efficiently. Enabling shared online portals for procedures such as holiday allowance and employee perks makes HR accessible to all colleagues and simplifies the processes, freeing up valuable time to spend further improving the company.
If you could sum up your career in HR is one paragraph, what would you say?
My career has certainly been varied, working in retail, to law, to financial sectors. I’ve learnt that good HR strategy means planning, preparation and communication. But, regardless of sector or size of business, HR is all about people. Finding a balance between professionalism and making your colleagues feel comfortable, valued and trusted is key. After all, a valued colleague is a productive one, and proof that the HR department within a business is doing its job.
