Company culture is no longer handled as it was in the past. It’s not just a mission statement and core values, and some small employee incentives such as catered lunches or employee birthday celebrations. Company culture is defined as a shared set of values, goals, and practices that make up an organization, both internally for its employees and externally as part of its public image.
The culture of any company starts at the top with leadership. Employees look up to their leaders and managers. Employees want to know that their leaders care about each of them as an individual, recognize their importance and contributions, and appreciate their work and efforts. They also want leadership that provides clear communication, listens to their ideas, and is honest with where they see the business going.
Today, company culture is an important component when candidates are considering a job offer as it ultimately impacts everything- including their personal happiness and career growth. Companies have no option but to create a healthy and productive company culture to ensure employee satisfaction and the hiring of qualified candidates.
Here are seven ways companies can improve company culture and employee satisfaction:
Employees look up to their leaders and managers and a successful company is built upon trust. It is important for leaders to be transparent about company policies, expectations, salaries, where the company is headed, feedback, and concerns. Creating transparency strengthens company culture and creates trust which results in employees feeling included and valuable.
Some of the best feedback companies receive come from their employees. However, if they feel as if they cannot voice their opinions and ideas they are unlikely to share them with management. It is important that companies are making their employees feel comfortable voicing their concerns and not fearing repercussions.
Mental health support is no longer a bonus to working for a company, it is a necessity. Poor mental health can lead to poor job performance, burnout, lack of social engagement and interactions, decreased productivity, and even death. Since people spend about one-third of their life at work, companies need to make sure they are taking proactive approaches to provide their employees with easily accessible services and resources to keep them mentally healthy.
A good leader supports their employees and the employee’s career development. As a leader, your guidance and encouragement can help employees gain new levels of confidence, develop new skill sets, and reach new career opportunities. This support lets the employee know that you care about them and their future. This will then also benefit the company by increasing productivity, improving morale, greater engagement, reducing turnover, and increasing loyalty.
Employers need to remember that employees have a life outside of the office. Poor work-life balance can lead to fatigue, burnout, increased absenteeism, increased stress levels, poor performance, high turnover, and poor physical, mental, and emotional health. When companies are understaffed or employees are expected to check emails outside of normal business hours employees will lose motivation. Employers need to lead by example: encourage employees to take their paid time off, offer flexible working arrangements, and establish boundaries between work and personal life.
Everyone deserves a pat on the back sometimes and when employees are recognized for a job well done in the workplace, they will feel valued and more connected to their work, team, and organization. In addition, employee recognition increases employee satisfaction, increases motivation, and engagement, improves team culture, leads to better performance and business reports, and increases retention of quality employees.
Little physical activity during the day can lead to many health problems, and increased risk of heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, depression, obesity, and even death. Employee wellness programs aim to improve employee health and wellness.
By prioritizing employee well-being, the employer can help employees reduce the risk of certain illnesses, manage stress, reduce burnout, and increase productivity and performance.
In conclusion, we understand how important company culture is. Creating a culture and environment in the workplace is a critical part of ensuring your company's success and should be a top priority to retain employees.
An article from Steelcase stated that a study was conducted that found companies that has an impactful workplace culture outperformed those who did not in areas like return on assets, sales growth, and market value.
As stated above, company culture isn’t just a mission statement and core values anymore, it is made up of multiple factors such as employees health and wellness initiatives, recognizing employees, etc. Making sure the top executives in your company represent this culture well and implement it into the workplace is key.
The same Steelcase article states, “leaders hold a key role in reflecting culture and sending messages—intentionally or unintentionally—about culture’s core characteristics”. Company culture isn’t something organizations can ignore, it is something that needs to be shown off in order to retain quality employees.
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