Company culture will make or break you. At the end of the day, you can have a greatly successful business with no employees to manage it or continue its’ growth because they all left amid an unhealthy workplace or unengaging environment.
Of course, competitive pay is a baseline consideration for employees to remain happy. However, beyond the pay, employees want to work at a place they enjoy… somewhere that offers them opportunities to better themselves and explore their passions. As an employer that can be highly difficult to balance.
From hundreds of studies completed, we know full well that employees desire a good company culture. So how can you create yours to be one that employees never want to leave and always strive to work hard?
Company culture is directly related to your workplace values. It is a core set of ideas to showcase the way things are done and the decisions that are made in an organization.
At Engage, we value hard work, responsibility, opportunity, and humor.
What does your company state as their values?
Defining values is the first step in paving the way to building strong company culture. When it comes to defining your values it begins with asking the right questions. Questions like…
- What is our mission?
- How do we expect our employees to help carry out that mission?
- What do we value both in our workplace and out of our workplace?
- How does what we value impact the day to day work we complete?
- In 10 years, what do we want to look back and feel most proud we accomplished?
- What are the goals we have to set so that in 10, 15, 20 years we will look back and see our accomplishments?
- What does an enjoyable work environment look like to us?
- How can we make our workplace an enjoyable environment?
- Does our current model of work position us to be successful in creating the culture we desire?
- How can we change our current model of work to better position us to create the culture we desire?
What’s the benefit of working to build culture in the workplace?
Culture does one main thing – it’s the direct communication to employees stating what types of behaviors are acceptable, how they can positively impact the organization, and what level of performance is expected throughout the company.
For companies that run within a quick-paced and competitive industry hiring employees who are self-motivated and competitive is essential. If you work in an industry that rewards quality and creativity, you want to build a culture where employees feel free to design, create, and explore their skills. You also want to build a culture that recognizes how these attributes can differ across departments all within one company. One final note, we’ve heard it said when it comes to culture, your offices and teams should be siblings, but not twins. Each unit may have its own ideas and strong opinions about why they are right, but at the end of the day, everyone is all part of one cohesive unit that works together.
