I have been with Peak Strategies now for 8.5 years and the reason why I love coming to work is due to the workplace culture that we have here. I come to work happily knowing that I am going to do my best and work alongside a supportive team to help a pharmacy owner with their business. I’m able to release my creativity and provide valuable input to the operations within Peak. I also know that I can come in to work and be my authentic self and feel safe to do so. This is the workplace culture I’m proud to be a part of and being Peak’s spiritual leader (that’s the term JT calls me), I find it fitting that I write about workplace culture.
The first thing a customer experiences as they step into your pharmacy is the vibe of the environment set in your store. This vibe is given off by your staff and how they interact with your customers and those around them. Now when it comes to running your business, how many times have we heard that your team is one of the biggest assets you can have? Well, that’s because this is true however when a work environment turns sour and becomes toxic, it can be detrimental to the business and have the following effects:
· How your business operates: Your team is an integral part to running your business and when things are working well, it’s the best feeling in the world. Imagine your pharmacy is a machine and it needs to move. The cogs, your employees, are the most important parts of the machinery and how they are working will depend on which direction you move to. The best outcome is propelling forward and reaching your goals together. The other outcomes are that your machine moves you backwards or grinds to a halt. This will leave you tired and exhausted as you and other cogs are trying to work harder to force the machine to move forward.
· Less customer loyalty and returning customers: When a customer has a bad experience at a pharmacy, the trust they have in your business is broken and they don’t feel any enjoyment of wanting to repeat this experience again. Depending on the severity of the negative experience, they will tell their friends, family, social media, and members of the community which will impact and influence their decisions to step foot into your store. You don’t want this to ruin the reputation of your pharmacy and drive your customer numbers down and them moving on to another competitor.
· Your business profits: The final nail to the coffin is when you see your trading profits decline. This is one of the biggest stresses of a business owner. The combination of your business operating ineffectively, and the downturn of customer numbers is bound to translate and have an impact to your business profits and cashflow issues will be of concern.
So who is the main culprit to a toxic workplace culture? Well, the answer to that is the level of employee satisfaction and the behaviour they exude. When employees are unhappy in the workplace, you will notice the following signs:
1. Staff are experiencing work burnout and are not focused on their tasks and are struggling to find the motivation to work.
2. Employees don’t enjoy being at work and dread being there causing them to call in sick more often, are late to work or have a negative attitude as soon as they get to work.
3. They choose to do the bare minimum at work and are unlikely to get involved or have much input to their tasks and can be unreliable.
4. There is no cohesion of teamwork and more build-up of conflicts, blame games and/or resentment amongst other team members especially when things go awry. Communication lines between team members are broken.
5. They don’t wish to form a bond amongst their peers and community.
6. They can form bonds with other team members however they tend to continuously talk negatively about their peers or spread gossip around the workplace.
7. Your staff don’t feel acknowledged and valued within the business and are not recognised for their achievement or compensated appropriately.
8. Employees are not feeling challenged and they feel they don’t have the opportunity to learn or have further growth in their roles
9. Your team does not feel it is a safe space to voice their opinions and concerns especially when it comes to upper management as they don’t feel changes will be made.
10. Your employee turnover is very high due to employees no longer feeling loyalty to the business and wish to exit out of the toxic workplace.
I hope this brings some awareness to you on toxic workplace culture and the next time you step foot through the door of your pharmacy, see if you can spot any of these signs through your team’s behaviour and how they conduct themselves. Running the HR hat can be another exhausting role as you manage your pharmacy however your employees are your biggest assets and cost to the business and should not be overlooked. I can guarantee you that in every business, you will be able to find your own champion to become the spiritual leader of your pharmacy to help create the workplace environment you envision.
I don’t want to reveal my secrets all at once so stay tuned to my next blog where I will discuss ideas on how you can help create a positive workplace culture.