Company culture is a vital part of any organisation and a positive strong one creates a more effective and productive workplace with loyal staff members. Contrary to this, a negative or toxic company culture can significantly damage the organisation’s reputation and productivity. About 94% of executives believe a distinct and positive company culture is important to a business success, according to a recent report. Furthermore, the report concluded that there is a strong correlation between companies that have a strong culture and employees who claim to feel happy and valued at work.
But creating this set of values, rituals and goals can be hard. As your Career Partner for Life, we are here to support you and your organisation in all stages.
Open communication is the cornerstone of a healthy and positive work environment. All corporate communication must be clear, plain and consistent as it ensure that the team understands what is expected of them and how they can achieve the organisation’s goals. This communication must not only be about corporate activities and the day-to-day actions, but also about the employees and their values. Another important point to mention is having a clear and open communication line. As an employer, you want your employees to come to you with any concerns or questions they might have. Creating this can take a while but having individual slots with each member of the team once a month, or always replying to their teams message can help significantly.
As mentioned previously, employees put in their best effort when they are satisfied with management and work culture.
You cannot have a strong company culture without your employees being satisfied and happy. Make sure your employees are satisfied with their jobs and enjoy working with you. If you are unsure if your employees are content, run an internal job satisfaction survey – this will give you inside on the overall employee satisfaction levels and also allow you to analyse any points that aren’t working. When you understand what’s working and what isn’t, you can take the steps to implement improving measures.
Before the global pandemic, the normal company perks would most likely include free lunches or half-days on Fridays. However, with the changes in recruitment, employees want perks that will contribute to a successful work-life balance. Our advice is to ask your employees what they prefer in terms of benefits and perks. You will most likely hear requests for flexible working hours, health insurance or extended paid time off. As an employer, you should understand how you can accommodate those needs without hurting your financial capacity or productivity.
Stress is part of all our lives. But when stress levels become too much, they will harm an employee’s mental health and their job satisfaction levels. This is also connected to general wellness. When employees feel their best physically, mentally and emotionally, they contribute positively to the organisation’s success.
There are some practical actions you can take to help your employees reach a positive level of work-life balance and consequently reduce stress.
A significant part of most positive work cultures is employee engagement which is directly tied to their achievements and feeling as their work matters. If an employee feels as his contributions are not being appreciated, they won’t be enthusiastic about their job and will only do the minimum. This is a very more common scenario. Employees no longer want to go to work just to collect their pay – they want to feel like they are apart of an organisation and feel appreciated for it. Having purpose and meaning is significantly more important in the workplace now more than ever. Most employees crave meaning and without it job satisfaction takes a hit. Goals and communication are the two best practices to not only provide meaning but also make sure your employees stay happy.
A significant part of a positive organisational culture is making sure your employees feel like they belong. This starts with inclusion and diversity practices. Creating a safe environment and building a diverse workforce, not only increases moral and company culture but it will also give you competitive advantage. Recent reports show that companies with diverse teams make better decisions, are more innovative and more effective at reaching their financial goals.
As an employer or in a position of management, you have the opportunity to create a workplace environment where employees feel appreciated and listened to. Making teams feel valued and celebrating their accomplishments will result in an increased employee engagement and loyalty.
Offering rewards beyond compensation, inviting team members to get involved in decision making, and providing a path to career growth opportunities can help keep team members motivated.
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