Many people’s dream is to become an entrepreneur and start their own business. While achieving that dream is one thing, maintaining it for the long term can be much more difficult. For one, if you want to insure your company has long term success, you need to be able to attract and retain top talent within your industry. As a newcomer, you may not know how to create an inviting workplace, but it can be done if you take the right steps.
Accommodate According to the Law
Certain accommodations that must be made are actually demanded by the law in the United States. This includes federal laws. However, state and local laws may apply as well. One protected group you must accommodate for is the disabled. As the Department of Labor explains, the rules for making reasonable accommodations for disabled employees is outlined under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Reasonable accommodations may also be required based on an employee’s religion.
Accommodate for Families
If you want employees to stick with your company years and even decades in the future, you have to consider the fact that many of those people will also want the ability to adequately raise a family. Try to be accommodating to employees with children. If you have enough employees to make it feasible, consider offering daycare services as a benefit. Maternity leave can also be an important benefit to provide to help retain valuable talent.
Worker’s Compensation
If something were to go wrong in the workplace, you also need to insure your employees’ livelihoods remain protected. One way you can do this is by offering worker’s compensation insurance. In fact, this is required by the law in most states for companies with over five employees. Combine the worker’s comp coverage with a return to work program to insure that injured employees feel welcomed back into the workplace.
Create an Inviting Workplace Atmosphere
The atmosphere of the workplace can also be a big determinant of whether or not a company is accommodating enough for employees. While you don’t want the workplace to be so lax that it hurts productivity, it also shouldn’t be so stuffy that employees can’t wait to get off the clock. Make your company a fun place to work in that also remains productive and professional. Do what you can to resolve issues that plague toxic workplaces by addressing problems early on before they develop into bigger problems.
Be Open to Both Physical and Intellectual Diversity
You also want a workplace that is open to diversity. However, this shouldn’t be limited to diversity based on race, ethnic background, etc. Diversity of opinion and point of view is important too. If your workplace becomes hostile to conservatives or liberals, your workplace may develop group think or tunnel vision. That can be detrimental to the company and harm your products since not everyone in America has a singular point of view.
