Research by the CIPD has revealed that over 50% of employees would prefer to work in an organisation with a ‘family feel’.
The CIPD published the findings of their Employee Outlook 2015 survey this June. More than 2,200 respondents from across a wide range of organisations and industries took part in the survey, which for the first time asked employees about the culture of their workplace.
Nearly half (46%) said that they were employed in a “formalised and structured place to work, where procedures govern what people do and hold people together”. However, over half (55%) stated that they would prefer instead to work in “an organisation with a family feel, held together by loyalty and tradition.”
Just 26% of respondents described their current organisation as having a ‘family feel’. This indicates that more than a quarter of respondents recognise a disconnect between their view of their organisation’s culture and the way that they would like it to be.
Gemma Bullivant, HR director of Bluefin Solutions, indicated some of the reasons for this in a CIPD recruitment interview. “SMEs find they can often tailor their offering a bit more”, she says.
“They’re more likely to be able to do one-to-one negotiations. At a large organisation, such negotiations could potentially affect a huge number of staff by creating precedents and so on. SMEs can be more agile.”
“SMEs also have fewer ‘layers’, and that flatter structure can appeal to people because it feels more accessible. Being interviewed by a board member who can really talk about the business’s vision can be a strong selling point. At a large corporate, the person who’s sitting in the seat opposite you may well have many layers above them.”
If the results of the survey are representative of the UK workforce at large then a family business or SME can consider themselves in a fortunate position. By focusing on their culture and on what makes their business a unique and appealing proposition, they have the opportunity to pick and choose the talent that they hire.
