The term “company culture” describes the behaviors and attitudes of a business and its employees. Centering around shared values, characteristics, and attributes within an organization, it is demonstrated by the decisions that employees make, the values they hold, and the way they interact with each other.
Company culture evolves from a variety factors, including company mission, values, leadership style, ethics, work environment, goals, and expectations. Sometimes referred to as workplace culture, corporate culture, or organizational culture, a company’s culture may be cultivated deliberately, or develop organically over time. In an organization with a strong company culture, employees know what is expected of them, understand expected behaviors and outcomes, and act accordingly. Today, many companies have a team-based culture that prioritizes employee participation on all levels.
Other organizations have a more traditional approach, with a clearly delineated hierarchy. Employees of companies with a hierarchal management style typically find that their job responsibilities are clearly defined, but they may struggle to advance without adhering to a formal promotion process.
Meanwhile, in a more casual, team-based company culture, employees generally have more opportunities to take on new projects and additional roles. For example, Netflix outlines a “people over process” philosophy in its company culture document, describing its values as communication, courage, curiosity, selflessness, passion, inclusion, innovation, impact, and integrity. Employees are expected to uphold these values in every interaction and action, resulting in a collaborative, creative, successful organization.
Studies have repeatedly established that there is no substitute for a great company culture. It is an irrefutable fact that making workplaces more human and fun improves productivity, and with it, profitability. In this article, we share five priorities for a happy, healthy company culture.
Employee Morale
Studies by the Journal of Labor Economics reveal a 12% rise in productivity when workers are happy. Not only do happy workers take fewer sick days, but they work harder, taking more initiative.
Employees who are not happy disengage with their employers. According to a Gallop poll, disengaged employees have 49% more accidents, 37% higher absenteeism, and 60% more errors and defects.
From supporting a healthy work/life balance and staging social events to rewarding staff for their accomplishments, there are a multitude of different ways for forward-thinking companies to reward and incentivize employees, boosting employee morale, staff retention, and ultimately the company’s reputation.
Diversity and Inclusion
Workplace diversity requires employers to create a working environment that accepts individuals from all backgrounds, embracing the individuality of employees. An inclusive company benefits from input from a variety of different perspectives, potentially expanding the reach of that organization by helping it to connect with and appeal to a wide range of different demographics. According to research, diverse teams are more efficient at problem-solving compared with a group of cognitively similar individuals.
Getting to know the religious and demographic background of employees is a great place to start. As well as recognizing holidays of all cultures, employers should be vocal about the need to be respectful of all employees’ beliefs and cultures.
Core Values
Creating a list of core values is an effective way of ensuring that all employees are on the same page, providing a moral framework and guiding principles for workers to gauge how to act within the business.
Your company’s core values must be more than a list of nouns in a new starter pack that is read once then forgotten about forever. They must be lived and breathed in over the course of day-to-day operations at every level of the company. It is important for these core values to be open to adaptation as the business grows and its culture evolves.
Strong Leadership
Nearly half of all employees mention management in reviews, with their collective assessment of their company’s leadership team typically a strong indicator of the company’s culture rating. In terms of company culture, employees generally credit or blame C-level leadership more than their direct boss.
It is important for managers to be supportive of employees, to be responsive to requests, offer encouragement, accommodate the individual needs of employees, and generally have their staff’s backs and help them to do their work. In fact, supportiveness is the leadership trait that correlates closest with a highly rated company culture.
Professional Development
It is important for businesses to have a clear roadmap on how they want to develop each staff member’s knowledge and skillset, holding regular performance reviews to present a venue for employees and managers to discuss development goals and training programs that may be relevant to progression.
No employee likes to feel pigeonholed. Two in three employees agree that a lack of career development would be enough to persuade them to start looking for a new job. Four out of five employees report that are happier with roles where they are provided with learning opportunities, preventing feelings of stagnation, and lowering the risk of burnout among employees. A high-performance learning culture enables employers to develop talent, helping businesses to identify promising candidates for promotion.