Your company culture is reflective of your organizational values. Every company has its distinct culture that sets its identity and differentiates the organization from competitors. The company culture is an important aspect of employee attrition and helps in keeping employees engaged and motivated throughout their journey with the organization. Along with the management, the HR staff is the custodian of maintaining a balanced office culture and incorporating it into the daily lives of employees. While each organization and its values differ, incorporating a few tips can strengthen the company culture. A winning culture improves results and leads to increased productivity, better retention rates, and higher profit margins.
Let’s dive in!
1. Maintain transparency
A transparent culture has a positive impact on employees and produces highly engaged employees. Practice open communication and instill trust to maintain a transparent office culture. Make your employees feel comfortable by sharing milestones, challenges, and involving them throughout the work process. This makes them confident and helps them in realizing their true potential. Transparent office culture can be achieved by leveraging modern communication and collaboration tools to stay connected and share crucial information.
2. Communicate your values
Company values are much more than some philosophical quotes, but practical guidance on how to act and interact with each other. A strong corporate culture stems from a set of carefully determined values that aligns with the organization’s vision. Set your company values by keeping long-term business goals in mind. This reduces uncertainty, helps employees in understanding what is expected of them, and keeps employees aligned towards a common goal.
3. Recognize employees
Create a culture of recognizing and rewarding valuable employee contributions to motivate employees. A recognition-rich culture reduces turnover and makes employees feel appreciated and valued. Identify specific behavior that aligns with your company values and reward the employees who adhere to these. Peer recognition also goes a long way in building strong relationships between co-workers and developing an outstanding company culture.
4. Empower employees
Empowering employees with the right set of tools and equipment is important to maintain productivity. The right information, right tools, support, encouragement, and autonomy goes a long way in reinforcing positive values and encourages employees to perform optimally. Leaders must set the right tone and see to it that the employees are adequately provided for in meeting their daily goals. A good corporate culture sets employees up for success without micro-managing and by building adequate trust.
5. Keep employees engaged
Building strong work relationships drives employee engagement. Undertake team-building exercises to build employee rapport and keep them engaged and motivated. Engaged employees are more productive and present exceptional results. Involve them with development plans, annual objectives, business goals, and keep them updated with changing company policies and regulations. Encourage employees to participate in team-building activities and contribute to important discussions.
6. Practice flexibility
The value of flexible work culture is immense. The recent pandemic has further highlighted how workers are more productive with a flexible work policy. It grants them autonomy and helps them to function at their optimum best. A flexible work culture trusts its employees, thereby pushing them to achieve commendable results. It can range from a variety of things, be it granting flexible work timings, remote working facilities, or even granting workers a sabbatical. A flexible work culture reduces employees attrition rates by reducing stress and yielding higher employee satisfaction.
7. Communicate actively
Many organizations lack a culture of open and active communication. Involve employees in important meetings and give them a chance to participate. Communicate expectations clearly, and help them to navigate through work efficiently. An organization that practices open communication policy thrives and is more successful than its competitors. Remember that communication is two-way, therefore, encourage your team members to contribute effectively.
8. Foster a feedback culture
Like communication, feedback culture also works effectively when it is two-way. Provide and solicit feedback from employees to build a strong company culture. Annual performance reviews do not count as feedback and are a very poor method of gathering employee feedback. Ideally, it should be provided on a regular basis with active involvement from employees. Timely feedback helps in performance improvement, reduces fractions, and aligns employees to the organizational goals in a timely fashion.
9. Give culture-building its due importance
Company culture should not be something that just looks good on paper and is rarely inculcated. Every organization must spend considerable time building it and incorporating it appropriately within the organization. It requires adequate time and energy, should align with the company’s vision, and resonate with everyone in the organization. It should be a work in progress and keep up with the changing times. Devote enough time in nurturing your company culture and provide it its due importance.
10. Embrace diversity
A diverse and inclusive workplace promotes a culture that honors respect and dignity for all. A diverse culture helps employees grow, embrace other cultures, and do away with any inherent bias. Implement policies to reduce racial discrimination and cognitive bias, educate your employees and maintain a friendly and inclusive work environment. Doing this can help your organization to truly leverage the skills and knowledge of a diverse workforce. Diverse company culture is more successful in the long run.
Attractive company culture is an important aspect in hiring future talent. Developing a good work culture is a work in progress and requires significant involvement from all the stakeholders. Improving the company culture is an important step in maintaining productivity levels and increasing employee satisfaction.