Like any other company with YOY internal growth, we too take an internal Brand Health Survey every year. It’s important for us to understand what people think, how they feel in relation to the workplace and what we can do to improve, and then to follow up on that in the upcoming year.
I’m going to say it now, so there aren’t any surprises later – I don’t believe in an objectively perfect workplace. Like I don’t believe in unicorns or Santa Claus (ok, maybe I do believe in Santa a little). Instead, I think that there’s a pool of options out there – some better for your personal goals, some not that great.
Strictly from a recruitment standpoint, this is the core of our job description – we’re looking to create a match between what a position has to offer and what a candidate is looking for.
The Importance of Feedback
The reason why we do take this annual survey is because it’s impossible to build a sustainable structure without a sound foundation. And one of the main points we address with it is raw feedback from everyone in the team (anonymous feedback, of course).
Last year for instance, most of our colleagues complained that, while they do understand the global effort of battling a pandemic, they miss in-person activities. This year, we’ve done our best to create an opportunity for socialization with every event we organized – we took care to make them in-person, so that the human connection would be stronger, and we could facilitate genuine bonds.
As a Psychology major, I learned that feedback is not a two-sided conversation a long time ago. So whenever we’re in doubt about something, we try to listen as much as possible to the people around us. This wisdom of accepting what someone is feeling as an undeniable truth is not negotiable if you’re looking to create a healthy environment. Rather, it’s the premise for change.
And while we’re talking uncomfortable truths of life, gathering feedback is a messy process. It’s not easy to get two people to agree on something, let alone over 100. Change doesn’t come easy in a company, but that’s only more reason to seek it whenever it makes sense for the team.
What We Have Learned
It’s especially important for us to listen to feedback from our people, since it’s exactly these people who make us so different from the rest of the companies out there.
In this year’s Brand Health Survey, among the two main reasons why people decided to stick with our company in the last year are:
- The quality of human interaction and the diversity of our colleagues
- The opportunity for growth – that of being able to work in a company that’s steadily growing, while also being able to keep personal touch both within the projects and outside of them.
These same two reasons may be why over 98% of our respondents would recommend or consider recommending Bytex as a workplace to their peers. And also why over 93% would recommend our services to friends and acquaintances.
But while this is flattering, it also creates the extra responsibility of delivering on our promises every time. Investing in people is not just about a set of ‘corporate perks’ or offering the impersonal bare minimum for people to be able to put in the work and see results.
Investing in people is an ongoing commitment, one that we’ve definitely made our priority. Especially since over 60% of our colleagues said they value ambition in our company, growth on all parts is not a prospect, but a firm expectation.
We’ve also learned that feedback is supposed to be gathered in a personal way, so we’re undergoing a company-wide series of micro-interviews with all of the employees to understand what areas we could improve & to create the basis for the next year’s priorities.
Nurture is all about the climate you create for growth – whether you’re a company, a team leader or anyone on the top of a decision-making process – and we’re devoted to actively listening to the needs of our people in every way possible.
So if you’re looking to make a career change, we can promise that your voice will be heard and your feedback will always be listened to.
