Why celebrating as a team is good for businesses.
If you follow Intro Recruitment Solutions on social media it may seem like all we do is have a good time… well, we definitely do, but the reality is we work incredibly hard before we let our hair down.
Statistics show that 80 per cent of small businesses don’t make it past the first year; 50 per cent fail in the first five years. With such numbers, why wouldn’t you be celebrating success? Intro is now in its fifth year since inception, and since the very beginning we have taken every opportunity to applaud our team’s efforts.
In the past 12 months alone, Intro consultants have made 642 placements with more than 80 companies – directly dealing with over 150 clients. We have beaten four office records, celebrated three individual records, and witnessed one of our directors hit back to back $100,000+ in margins for four consecutive months which is more than double our regular targets.
Although margins and placements are a big part of our team’s success, we also focus on smaller but integral wins related to the construction and infrastructure industry such as no lost time injuries, moving temporary staff to permanent roles, and ensuring we reach and exceed our diversity, inclusion and training targets.
Under normal non-pandemic circumstances, we celebrate these moments in many forms – long lunches and after work drinks (on the boss), attendance at conferences and corporate events, and early marks or days off to encourage much-needed rest and recovery.
While COVID-19 put an obvious hold on our standard celebratory events, more recently we’ve been holding small in-office gatherings (just as fun and rather cost-effective) and look forward to getting back out and about when it’s safe to do so.
We invest in our team when they invest in us, and we encourage other businesses to do the same. Rewarding the Intro team as both individuals and as a group has facilitated better teamwork in general and created a culture that makes us proud.
It is important to note that our directors have also been known to cancel our much-anticipated events (a Hamilton island trip was one!) if we don’t collectively reach our targets. This is a key part of incentive-based celebrations – you must deliver on promises made.
A recent article written by Museum Hack found that companies with highly engaged employees achieve twice the net annual income and a further 50 per cent of the positive changes in communication within the workplace can be credited to social interaction outside of the office. It’s no secret you’ll work harder for a company that looks after you over a company that doesn’t. This is why Intro goes above and beyond with its culture. We ensure our team love where they work.
Failing to provide a workplace environment of appreciation can have negative consequences on employee engagement. When a team member sees their work having a direct impact on the success of the company, it motivates them to contribute their best work. We believe celebrating both workplace milestones and individual wins shows our team that not only are they a valued member, but they are also contributing to the organisation and its higher purpose.
Celebrating milestones is good for business. We take a practical approach by scheduling the right number of events throughout the year coupled with small ad-hoc get-togethers. At Intro we hold three key annual events – EOFY, Melbourne Cup and a Christmas party. Our Melbourne Cup Day includes our key clients and has increasingly gained popularity, with our VIP list doubling every year. This is an excellent investment for Intro – it brings our team and clients together, boosts team morale months in advance and has proven a useful tool for gauging the overall success of the year.
Intro Recruitment Solutions General Manager Michael Burgess believes that self-recognition for what staff have done allows them to set new goals.
‘We love seeing our staff smash their targets out of the park – we then celebrate accordingly before we set their sights on even bigger things,’ Michael said.
Michael believes that support for celebrating milestones and achievements is an asset to any company. Sharing experiences boosts employee morale, improves teamwork and provides an opportunity to reset and recharge ready for the next hit-out.
