Humanism for Dummies: How to Create a Humanistic Workplace
Today, more and more workers fall victim to monotonous daily routines, stressful work environments and hold jobs that don’t inspire them to challenge themselves. Many modern workplace models not only suppress creativity by turning workers into cogs in gigantic multinational machines, but also demoralize and decrease productivity.
In response to a rising amount of negative opinions about the workplace, companies like Pixar, Zappos, and more have come up with unique solutions to reinvent the workplace culture, solutions that find their roots in the humanist ideals first explored by Niethammer. The environment that these companies have created isn’t difficult to attain, and it has been proven that workers who feel happier and more secure at their workplace are more likely to excel. With roots in a philosophy that emphasizes the human, the employee handbooks of these companies extend beyond just limiting break times, they seek to revolutionize the definition of the average workday.
Straight from the philosophies of these successful companies, there’s a few things you can do as a business owner to improve the collaborative culture of your company:
Treat your employees like they are people, not just workers.
Although there should be a hierarchy within your company, that does not mean that one employee is necessarily “better” than the other and each worker should always be treated with respect no matter what their position. This idea in itself is based on a humanistic tenet. It is up to your managers and supervisors to create such an environment, and it is up to you as a boss to ensure that you have people in place who can do so. Your hierarchy should be mostly for organizational purposes, but the moment that hierarchy becomes oppressive or squashes the ideas of those who are placed lower on it, you have created a negative company culture. Greetings are important, checking in is important, asking for input is important, and by doing these things you can not only expect quality work, but you will also receive it.
Instead of trying to create ranks and hierarchies, strive to create partnerships, mentorships and teams.
A fine example of this idea is the culture at Pixar. During the creation of Toy Story 2, employees worked long hours 7 days a week, causing stress injuries and even leading up to one artist forgetting an infant son in the car (baby is ok!). This caused the CEO to rethink his company values, stating that since his employees are the ones who come up with the amazing ideas, they need to be respected and valued first and more than the movie itself. The CEO abolished the strict hierarchy the company was following, and redesigned many of the workplaces to make it easier for all artists and production managers to collaborate. In addition, all employees are allowed to give “notes” or suggestions about the development of a movie during screening that are held often throughout the movie-making process, something that allows all employees to contribute when it previously was only high-level directors. By increasing the amount of interactions employees have with each other and with their higher-ups and redesigning the chain of command, Pixar successfully created a leadership and teamwork based environment.
Praise your employees, but always encourage them to improve.
Humanism states that the person is the primary factor in success- success is earned through an individual’s hard work and personal growth. Humanism places a huge focus on the individual and the individual’s pursuit of knowledge- after all, that is how it popularized, with Niethammer looking for a philosophy to help reform the German school system. Humanists, and your employees, should be encouraged to think for themselves. A company that does not take risk will not succeed, and this attitude should be prevalent in everything it does. However, this does not mean that allowing your employees free thought will not result in terrible ideas, but it can more often result in wonderful ones that can be cultivated to push your company forward.
Only retain the employees who feel that the company’s success is their success.
This one is harder said than done, but there are a few methods you can follow. For example, Zappos has a unique model when it comes to hiring employees (although, to be fair, they are a smaller company than most). Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, instituted the Holacracy, a workplace model that revolves around allowing everyone of his workers to have a voice. There’s a badge-earning system when workers learn new skills, all employees define their job titles, and people are managed by teams instead of individuals. There’s also an incentive to quit, if workers are at anytime unhappy with their job, they are offered a significant compensation to leave the company and find other opportunities. Although a quitting bonus may be difficult to implement for most companies, the idea of the Holocracy is based on the humanist ideals of individualism and the quest for education, something which can be integrated into any workplace.
It’s not to say that these companies don’t have issues.
They still do, like they always have, but the important takeaway is that they are taking action. And when higher-ups take action to improve the workplace environment, workers readily contribute to that. There’s working hard to make money, and then there’s working hard because you feel like you are contributing to the success of a company that cares about you. Support the humanist quest for knowledge, belief in the individual, and encouragement of free inquiry (or in our case, question and criticism of the corporate institution), and your company will not only see a rise in productivity and health but also in happy, dedicated employees.
