Understanding the workplace vibe and why it’s important.
What’s all the hubbub?
The words “company culture” are becoming much more household. Business owners who are with it actually aren’t and those who don’t feel like they don’t need it. Let’s talk about what it is first, then we can assess if it is as necessary as people say it is.
Company culture is how you do what you do in the workplace. It’s the sum of your formal and informal systems and behaviors and values, all of which create an experience for your employees and customers. At its core, company culture is how things get done around the workplace.
Given the dramatic shifts in the world’s climate these past two to three years, we have all had to adapt in our own ways. One that stands out is the shift to working remotely and then shifting back to some sort of hybrid as we climb out of a global pandemic. For even the most veteran of employers, no one could have prepared for such a shakeup within our economy. During unprecedented times, we tend to see and deal with new problems that require new solutions. One solution that can help a business on nearly every fronts is improving your company’s culture.
Does my company have culture?
I don’t know. But, there are ways to find out.
Before you can improve your own culture, you first need to find yours. Every company should have some sort of vision, mission, or another statement that gives consumers an understanding of the company’s direction, purpose, and place within the community.
According to Monster.com, there are three key ways to uncover your organization’s company culture.
- Review mission and vision statements, shareholder reports or marketing materials that convey the company’s self-identity. But these materials often convey what the company wants to be, and may not reflect what the company’s work environment actually is.
- Conduct a survey. However, surveys are fairly labour intensive and often fail to capture the work environment truly unique aspects.
- Interview a cross-section of employees and leaders about the work environment. Ask for short phrases that describe the company’s atmosphere, reasons why they like the company and things they find frustrating.
The ideal approach is to use a combination of these methods. But people may be reluctant to speak openly about negative aspects of the company, so bringing in a third party that has adequate HR experience can be majorly beneficial.
If done correctly, a culture audit should provide five to 10 primary cultural attributes that set your company apart. These themes will probably not be completely positive. However, culture tends to evolve based on a past or current need, and it is usually possible to find ways to word each attribute in a way that highlights its advantages. The following are good and bad aspects of some common cultural attributes:
- Clearly Structured/Bureaucratic
- Adaptive/Reactive
- Focused on Results/Evaluative or Competitive
Do I need it?
In the grand schemes of things, yes. If you care about your business then you care about your employees and if you care about your employees, then establishing an envisioned company culture is the right thing to do.
Company culture requires employee engagement. Surveys, training, soft skill development, managerial training, and company policies are all ways to engage and build your company’s envisioned culture.
Employee engagement improves work culture, reduces turnover, increases productivity, builds better work and customer relationships, and affects profits. High employee engagement also turns workers into your best advocates.
ChampionPEO
Taking on routine matters such as payroll and benefits administration, allows your HR team to focus on what is more important: planning for growth and improving company culture. Ultimately, ChampionPEO provides better support that an additional employee would – at a fraction of the cost.
ChampionPEO will help with job design both at the position description level and the task level, by leveraging our experience in the various industries. This contributes to increased productivity as employees are able to get their work done smoothly, in less time, and with fewer mistakes.
Employee engagement improves work culture, reduces turnover, increases productivity, builds better work and customer relationships, and affects profits. High employee engagement also turns workers into your best advocates.
- Custom workplace training
- Personalized workplace policies & procedures
- Increased ease of communication and more!