Company culture is a hot topic right now as companies such as Facebook and Google are creating office spaces that promote collaboration, comfort, and an overall cool office vibe. Companies are competing to have the best, most appealing company culture to attract new talent and set them apart from their competitors. Employees are also considering culture as much as salary when accepting a new position. Creating a positive company culture is no longer optional. While ping pong tables, kegs, and napping pods are appealing, there’s much more to a great culture.
Here’s a quote from Francis Frei and Anne Morriss at Harvard Business Review. It speaks volumes on the importance of having a successful and meaning company culture:
“Culture guides discretionary behavior and it picks up where the employee handbook leaves off. Culture tells us how to respond to an unprecedented service request. It tells us whether to risk telling our bosses about our new ideas, and whether to surface or hide problems. Employees make hundreds of decisions on their own every day, and culture is our guide. Culture tells us what to do when the CEO isn’t in the room, which is of course most of the time.”
As you can see, company culture is about employee treatment, ownership, and trust. And these unlike the office perks, are inexpensive and don’t have to be budgeted for. In fact, when you have a positive company culture, you can lower company costs short term and long term, because happy employees are productive employees, and that creates happy customers.
When employees believe in your company’s mission, they become passionate and are dedicated to the success of the company. And what makes a great company culture is hiring the right people. Employees are representing the company and brand in and outside of the work place. They want to have a voice in their position and want to challenge VPs to think differently. Giving employees the platform to perform their job adequately while making a positive impact, can create a team of happy and motivated employees. And often times someone’s perception of a company is based on their opinion of the person. If an employee isn’t dedicated, it usually means the employee isn’t happy, which leads to a negative impression of the company and poor company culture.
Ultimately, creating a positive company culture begins and ends with employee satisfaction. The happier the employees, the happier the customers. Be sure to recognize them by praising them and congratulating them for their hard work and achieving goals. Also, take the time to talk about the future with each of your employees. Get to know what their personal goals are and how you can help them get there. Not only are these things that can be part of your company culture in the long run, but are things that can start today.