What is Company Culture?
Company culture refers to how an organization’s vision, values, purpose, attitudes, and work ethic determine how its team members relate to and interact. When a talented group of like-minded people is supported by leadership, given the proper resources, and focused on achieving a shared goal, this usually results in positive company culture. You’re focused on running a profitable business, hitting deadlines, and making sure that the company stays afloat. So even though it sounds good, you may wonder whether your workplace culture really makes a difference. Maybe you’re asking what a positive company culture can do for you. Quite a lot, actually. If you want to hire the right people for your place of work, you should know that 46% of job seekers cite company culture as an important factor when looking for a new job. Additionally, 91% of managers in the U.S. say a candidate’s alignment with the company culture is equal to or more important than skills and experience. Research and experience both point to the fact that culture is integral to a company’s success.What is the Employee Experience?
Employee experience is downstream from company culture. Essentially, employee experience is the culmination of what an employee has seen, observed, and encountered during their tenure at a company. Naturally, company culture will be one of these things that employees observe while working for the business. If the company culture is poor, the employee experience will likely be poor as well, resulting in unmotivated employees, lackluster performance, high turnover, and a generally negative experience for everyone involved. This is why fostering a positive culture in your business is so important.5 Ways to Improve Company Culture
It takes time to build a good company culture, but it starts with a few simple steps. Let’s look at five ways you can start improving your company culture.Communication
Communication is key. We cannot stress this point enough. Communication should be the cornerstone of everything you do in your business. Effective communication might include staff meetings, one-on-one check-ins, emails, or even a simple effort to chat with employees when passing each other in the office. Employees feel more engaged and connected to the business when they receive regular communications.
Of course, communication can also take the form of praise or critique. When an employee has done a good job, tell them about it! Additionally, if there is something they can improve on, tell them what they can do better in a respectful and constructive way. Effective communication lays the foundation for a positive culture.
Create Connections
Employees will enjoy coming to work more when they feel a connection and sense of belonging with their coworkers. To help foster these relationships, provide opportunities for these friendships to build. This could include office lunches, an office book club, volunteer days, off-site team-building activities, creating an inviting common area in the office, etc. Get creative! There are plenty of ways to help form and foster meaningful connections among your employees.
Be Transparent
Your employees need to trust you, so offering top-down transparency is vital in establishing a positive company culture. Being transparent might include sharing company financials, giving employees an idea of the future of the company and where it’s going, and sharing relevant information with them on a regular basis. Transparency goes back to the point of effective communication – sharing these pieces of information with employees goes a long way toward creating an environment of openness and trust.
Give Employees Autonomy
You’ve hired your employees to do a specific job because they are talented and well-poised to complete the tasks they’re given each day. With that in mind, there’s no benefit to micromanaging your employees. Give them the independence and autonomy to complete their work. Giving them a sense of ownership in their work shows that you trust them to do what you hired them to do.
Inspire with Purpose
Employees need to feel like they are pursuing a larger purpose at work. When you connect your employees to a purpose, you can show how your company’s mission and values align with it. Consistency does incredible things for your company culture. It inspires a sense of teamwork that will make every employee feel like they are a vital part of the overall success of the business.
A company’s culture can’t be measured, but it’s obvious when a company has a positive culture — or a negative one. It’s always worth investing time and effort into creating an inviting culture for your employees. Not only will it improve their employee experience, but it will also lead to better business performance, productivity, and profitability.
