Category: Company Culture

The return to office debate has prompted a lot of discussion about why company culture is important. There can sometimes be a misconception that company culture is about attracting employees who all think in the same way.

However, if you hire people who think like every other employee, it becomes really hard to innovate.

Instead, company culture is about consistency, company mission, and building something that’s future-proof. Something that helps you to stand out from your competition and supports your employees.

If you fail to do those things, you end up with less revenue and higher turnover.

Let’s take a look at the key reasons why company culture is important, now more than ever.

It shows who you are and what you stand for

Customers are more likely to buy from companies whose missions align with their personal beliefs. 

Since we make decisions based on emotions, this can be the deciding factor whether you’re B2B or B2C. We’re all human, after all.

When your morals and mission are clear, your audience knows exactly who they’re dealing with and what to expect. 

For example, let’s say you have strong environmental policies. If someone arrives on your site also prioritizing the environment, they’re going to want to work with you. They’ll want to support your mission—even if your products or services are more expensive than your competition.

It attracts the right candidates

The right company culture will naturally (and organically) be at the front and center of what you do. Which means that it will come through in your hiring efforts, too.

Everything from the hiring process to how you write a job description shouts about your company culture. 

Terms like “fast-paced” are often now seen as euphemisms for “expect to get burned out” and “we disrespect boundaries”. How you phrase your job descriptions matters.

On top of that, underrepresented talent can find gendered or otherwise aggressive language off-putting. This means it’s really important to consider how you describe the role.

You also want to think about whether you’re writing about the candidate you’re looking for, versus what you could do for the candidate you’re hiring. 

What opportunities can you offer them? How can they grow their career with you? 

It shouldn’t be about listing off endless requirements that nobody can meet. This is especially true with the talent market being so competitive right now. 

Instead, you should focus on why you’re such a great place to work. This technique will help you stand out in the job market and attract candidates who can thrive in your organization. Ensuring your recruitment efforts are successful is a key reason why company culture is important.

It helps you deal with problems

A company with a strong culture is better able to deal with problems. That’s because, whatever arises, you know what your core values are. 

So, if you’re faced with a differently abled employee who’s struggling, and you’ve never come across that disability before, you can refer back to those values and it will help you come up with the best ways to assist them.

It’s good for mental health

Our workplace can play a huge role in our mental health. It can give it a boost during a challenging time, or it can cause it to nosedive.

A positive culture means that your employees will support each other when they need it. This will be true whether they have something going on at work or in their personal lives. 

As a result, employees will develop more meaningful relationships, helping with loneliness and mental health.

One of the main reasons employees stay with a job nowadays is the relationships that they foster. That’s why, while workplace relationships are often underestimated, they really do matter. These friendships play a big role in why company culture is important.

It makes employees more productive 

When employees understand the company culture, it helps them know what managers expect of them. They’re also more likely to believe in the culture and want to work hard to help the business succeed.

Happier employees are also more productive employees. The more they understand about the business and feel like their employer supports them, the more they’re going to get done, and the more they’ll do to help your business achieve its goals.

It encourages employees to stay

As we’ve already mentioned, workplace relationships are a key reason people stay in jobs. That’s not the only reason why company culture is important, though.

Consistency matters, too. If you have a manager who, one day is a ray of sunshine, and the next is super grumpy, it’s going to put employees on edge and make their working day less enjoyable. They may absorb their manager’s negative mood. It may impact other aspects of their day, and even their long-term mental wellbeing if it happens regularly.

Employees will then become disconnected and be more likely to leave.

The same is true for colleagues who bring their bad moods to work. If they don’t feel they can be open about how they’re feeling, it creates tension that just isn’t there if you can openly say to someone, “Sorry, I’m having family problems right now. Thank you for being patient with me today.”

A consistent culture can still exist alongside a varied, stimulating working day, too. It’s about managers not taking out their personal problems on their employees. They can instead be open about it when they’re having a bad day.

There’s nothing wrong with sharing bad news. In fact, just talking about it and not bottling it up can play an important role in processing it and treating/avoiding chronic physical and mental health problems.

Conclusion 

In an increasingly competitive job market, it’s essential to know why company culture is important now more than ever. It’s what will differentiate you from your competition and attract employees who will take your business to the next level.

An inconsistent culture makes employees confused and uncomfortable, meaning they’re less likely to want to stay.

If you’re ready to level up on all the reasons why company culture is important, check out Workrowd. We make it easy for you to put your culture front and center for every team member from day one, no matter where or when they work.

With a central hub for all your employee initiatives and communications, plus automated analytics, you can build and maintain an award-winning culture without the stress. Send us an email at hello@workrowd.com to learn more.

A toxic workplace is a recipe for disaster. In addition to making less money because unhappy employees are unproductive employees, it also costs more money to run because of the high churn rate created by a toxic culture. Do you know how to recognize the signs of a toxic work environment?

Some areas, like sales and customer service, will always have a higher churn rate than other areas of your business. 

And some generations don’t stay in the same position for as long as others. 

But it’s your job to create a culture that people want to be a part of. 

Not just because of the perks—which are turning into red flags for many people, for reasons we’ll look into—but because they believe in the business and its mission. 

And you pay people what they’re worth.

In this post, we’re going to explore some key signs of a toxic work environment–some subtle, some more obvious.

Too many perks

“Our employees are happy here. We have a pool table, free fruit, nap pods…”

Stop right there.

If you have any of those things, be very careful. 

Because so-called “perks” are increasingly becoming signs that you’d rather focus on things that encourage employees to stay in the office for longer, rather than paying them what they’re worth—and respecting the fact they have a life outside of work. 

Let’s not forget that embracing and enjoying a life outside of work is good for mental and physical health. Which also helps their working life.

You may think you’re making their lives easier by providing all these amenities. But are you really just asking them to stay in the office for longer? To work more hours?

Pay people what they’re worth instead of worrying about how many shiny objects you have in the office.

If you don’t, there are plenty of recruiters out there who’ll snap up your best employees. And it will be hard to convince new ones to join when they see all the signs of a toxic work environment during their interview.

Bad pay

The market rate for many industries is higher than it used to be right now because some industries are so hot. 

Keep an eye on these trends, because if you advertise a role that pays considerably less than your competition, you’re not going to attract the types of employees that you want. 

Employees are happier when employers pay them what they’re worth and appreciate them. It’s as simple as that.

Lack of diversity

Diverse workplaces are happier and more profitable. Saying that you’re worried a particular individual from an underrepresented community won’t fit in is just an excuse. Of course they won’t fit in—their lived experience is vastly different from everyone else’s!

It’s time to snap your business out of its groupthink before it does any further damage.

Diversity is where the real innovation comes from. That’s how you’ll grow your business faster—and stand out more from your competitors.

Discrimination 

If there are rumors of discrimination within the workplace, listen and investigate. 

There’s no smoke without fire, as they say. 

If you don’t investigate it, it says to employees—and outsiders, if employees talk about what’s happened—that you don’t care how your employees are treated. 

It also implies that everyone can get away with putting themselves first and not thinking before they speak. It’s a culture like this that leads to a lack of respect between colleagues and discriminatory behavior. Lack of respect is one of the most serious signs of a toxic work environment.

Microaggressions 

Microaggressions may be small, but they can have big consequences. 

Always listen when someone reports microaggressions.

It can also help to train managers in what these look like so that they can spot the signs. 

Micromanagement 

Micromanagement is never okay. It’s anxiety-inducing for the employee on the receiving end of it, and it’s just a bad management style. 

If a manager feels the need to do this, either they need more management training, or the employee isn’t doing the job they were hired to do. Either way, you have a problem, and it may be one of the signs of a toxic work environment.

Dictation over discussions

No business should be a dictatorship. Organizations should value everyone’s opinions, regardless of how long they’ve been there or what their role is. 

Embracing as many opinions as possible is what will lead to the best problem solving.

Employees don’t last long

A high churn rate is one of the most glaring signs of a toxic work environment, especially if this happens among higher-paid staff. 

Those who are paid more know what they’re worth. They won’t stick around if they’re unhappy because they know they won’t have to wait long to find something else.

Nobody wants to do exit interviews 

Not every business does exit interviews, but if you do, and nobody ever turns up (or fills in the survey), it could be a sign they don’t feel their opinion is worth sharing. 

Some people don’t do them because they’re worried about burning bridges. This is still one of the signs of a toxic work environment because employees shouldn’t be concerned their employer will hold negative opinions they express against them. 

Regardless of what their feedback is, the organization should appreciate it and take it into consideration. It shouldn’t affect any references the company or their colleagues may give them.

Employees barely leave their desks

Employees should have regular screen breaks to give their eyes a rest and move their legs about. This helps to protect their eyesight and prevent muscle loss.

If organizations penalize employees for leaving their desks, this encourages unhealthy habits that can have long-term physical and mental health consequences.

Eating at their desk can also mean they have too much work and don’t have the time to take a break to eat their food and fully enjoy what they have for lunch. This can lead to employees eating more and gaining weight because the distraction of work means they’re less conscious of how much they’re eating.

Employees work unreasonable hours

Unless someone is scheduled for shift work, or works in certain industries, most employees shouldn’t have to work unreasonable or unsociable hours. They deserve time with their family, just like they deserve the money they’re paid for work. 

If employees do work longer hours to, say, finish a big project, make sure this is acknowledged and appreciated, and they’re compensated accordingly. 

Ignoring when someone has gone above and beyond is likely to mean they don’t stick around long enough to help with the next big project.

Conclusion 

No one wants to work somewhere toxic. And I’m going to assume you don’t want to be in charge of a toxic workplace, either. 

If you spot any of these signs of a toxic work environment, it’s important to address them as quickly as possible. The sooner you do, the less likely they are to become a bigger problem.

Addressing these signs quickly also sends a clear message to everyone in your company that you support your employees and won’t tolerate any kind of toxic behavior.

If you’re concerned about toxicity in your workplace, consider checking out a platform like Workrowd. With tools to ensure every employee can find community and voice their opinions, you’re more likely to catch any signs of a toxic work environment early. If you’d like to learn more, email us at hello@workrowd.com and we’ll be happy to set up some time to chat.

You may think of social media as a way to spread the word about what you’re doing. Maybe you see it as purely educational. But it’s so much more than that. It’s a key tool for building employer brand in today’s digital world.

59% of candidates research a company on social media before applying for a role. Which means if they don’t like what they see, you could be missing out on the best candidates. You’ll never know, because they never applied in the first place.

So, if you’re neglecting your social media presence, or it comes across as old-fashioned, you won’t attract people who can help you grow your business as much as you’d planned.

While it’s hard to avoid our personal digital reflections, it’s easy for businesses to avoid examining their online reflections. However, failing to objectively analyze it can mean you aren’t coming across how you want to. Don’t overlook this avenue for building employer brand.

You are what you share

The articles that the company, its leaders, and its employees share, will affect how people perceive the business on a conscious and subconscious level.

Consider how differently you’d feel about a business that regularly shares articles about climate change, compared to pieces on how to avoid paying tax.

One is going to come across as caring about the greater good, community, and our long-term future. The other is focused on itself and making more money.

It’s not just about the articles, though. It’s about the posts, too.

How are you talking about your business? Are you expecting employees to share what you post because you said so? Or do they share because they actually care about your business?

That caring is key. If they’re doing it because you’re running a dictatorship, the text they add when sharing your post could be lacking.

Or worse—they only share what you told them to. This is dispassionate and disconnected. Your audience will see right through it for all the wrong reasons.

If someone shares a post because they care, the accompanying text will reflect that. It will likely be full of enthusiasm and passion, something which is inspiring and contagious for your audience.

Anyone who doesn’t work for you and sees it will be uplifted by how much your employees care. It can make them want to be a part of that, too. This can then improve and streamline your hiring process because new recruits will arrive with a deeper understanding of your mission and values.

If the only social media content related to your business that your employees share is what you tell them to, it shows a lack of trust and old-fashioned ways of operating—at least in your marketing department.

But, since it’s your marketing team’s job to make your company look good, people are going to assume that what’s on your social media accounts reflects the company, even if it doesn’t. And this includes both your branded accounts and your employees’ own accounts.

Do you really trust your employees?

Some businesses still ban social media usage on work devices. But when employees can access these sites on their mobile, tablet, or even watch, what’s the point?

Instead of controlling your employees’ social media usage, you need to accept that you simply can’t. There are too many workarounds.

What you should be doing instead is educating them on how to use it effectively. Show them how to engage in a way that both benefits them and helps with building employer brand.

You can do this through your social media policy. It doesn’t have to be a boring document written in legalese, either. Employees are much more likely to engage with, and remember it, if it’s interactive and has examples.

Formatting your social media policy as a quiz with examples will also show employees how minor changes can make a big difference to what they post. And to their understanding of how social media can affect their employer.

Silence is not a good sign

Some brands don’t post on their social media. Or they post once in a blue moon. They think silence on social is better than saying something that could be construed as negative, and which could come back to haunt them.

But if you’re saying things that could come back to haunt you, chances are you’ve got bigger problems than your social media page.

With more than half of candidates researching businesses before they apply for a job, a neglected or non-existent social media presence can turn people away. In a world that’s all about community and connections, you want to show people that’s what you care about, too.

No social media presence can make people suspicious. It turns your business into a fortress, making it seem like you live in some far-off land. You’re closed off, like Elsa at the start of Frozen. Your walls are up, as if you have something to hide.

You want to be like Elsa at the end of Frozen, where you open the doors to your castle for others to see inside and enjoy.

You don’t have to give them the grand tour of everything inside, but allowing them at least into the grounds so that they get a feel for what you’re all about will reflect a more open and honest culture. 

Conclusion 

Like it or not, every social media post you, your business, and your employees make reflects your company culture. You can leverage this as you’re building employer brand, or you can let it detract from your image.

A compelling social media presence can help you attract more qualified customers and better-quality candidates. On the flip-side, poor or infrequent posts can turn people off who dislike the perceived secrecy or lack of engagement. 

The question is, will you seize this opportunity, or remain stuck in the past and miss out on top talent.

If you’re looking for ways to get employees talking on social media, it’s important to first get them talking internally. Having an effective internal engagement platform like Workrowd can help. Drop us a line at hello@workrowd.com to learn more.

Most people, from CEOs to jobseekers, recognize the importance of building a positive workplace culture. But actually doing it is more easily said than done. 

It’s one thing to understand the statistics about how 86% of job seekers avoid companies with a bad culture, or how engaged employees’ performance is 202% higher than their disengaged counterparts, or that attracting higher-quality employees leads to a 33% increase in revenue.

But what does actually building a positive workplace culture look like? Here are some tips.

Encourage open and honest communication — at all levels

Effective communication starts at the top, by managers practicing what they preach. If you want employees to be open and honest with you, you have to be open and honest with them first.

This can come in the form of responding well to both positive and negative feedback. It could involve sharing your personal struggles and triumphs.

Leading by example is a big part of building a positive workplace culture. Many people will come from other jobs, families, or communities that don’t communicate openly. As a result, they may understand the theory but struggle to implement it in practice.

Open communication will look different for every company. For some, it means sharing the highs and lows of running a business with all employees. For others, it may extend to sharing those stories with the outside world, too.

You need to know where your line is—what’s off-limits and what’s okay to talk about—and focus on the things that are within those bounds.

Prioritize mental health

Despite what many businesses claim, mental health still carries a lot of stigma in the workplace.

I’ve seen people all over the world take leaves of absence due to stress. Meanwhile, their colleagues roll their eyes believing they’re full of excuses, rather than sending them messages of support.

Or worse—their boss still asks them work-related questions, forgetting that they shouldn’t be on call, since work is likely the cause of their stress.

On average, one in six people will experience a mental health issue each week.

Mental health is also one of the primary causes of disease and disability worldwide.

Which means now is the time to not just say that mental health is important, but to show it.

You could do this by having mental health professionals available for employees to talk to. This is someone they can visit if they’re struggling mentally, much in the same way they’d visit a physical health practitioner for a muscle strain.

You could also make sure that any health insurance you offer covers mental health conditions, regardless of whether it’s a new or pre-existing condition.

And, tying back to the first point, when leaders are more open and honest about their mental health conditions, everyone else is likely to be, too. 

This openness shows that they really do understand how employees might feel. It also makes them more relatable. Which means employees are more likely to share their stories, too.

Sometimes, all it takes for someone to feel better is for them to share how they’re feeling with a person they trust. Why can’t that person be someone they work with?

The more people there are within the business who share their stories, the more comfortable quieter team members will feel being honest about theirs. Ultimately, more people will feel relieved just from being in this supportive working environment.

Get your company’s leaders on LinkedIn

Or any other social media platform your employees are engaged on.

Many senior leaders are reluctant to be active on social media, either because they don’t understand its benefits or don’t believe they have time.

The bigger the company gets, the harder it is for employees to connect with the higher-ups. Doors between each level can feel closed to employees who are newer or on a lower pay grade.

Employee newsletters may feel like a solution, but they can often be long, full of fancy formatting and imagery, and take hours to put together. They also feel more one-sided, like employees are being told what’s going on but they don’t need to get involved. So why would they read it if they don’t get a say?

Social media posts, meanwhile, are quicker to put together and allow employees to be a part of the conversation, regardless of their role.

If employees have an opinion, they can voice it knowing that someone is actually going to read what they think.

The more accessible senior leaders are, the more employees will feel like they’re a part of something and not just another cog in the wheel.

Be patient and consistent

Earning enough trust for employees to mirror your behavior takes time.

Some employees will be more willing to be open and honest than others. Some may resist the change.

But you should lead as you’d want to be led. Others will soon follow suit if you’re patient and consistent with your leadership style.

And that will contribute to building a positive workplace culture that attracts better candidates, retains employees for longer, and makes employees happier in their roles.

It starts at the top

There’s no way around it: building a positive workplace culture starts at the top. You have to set an example of the culture you want to build.

If you’re telling employees they need to be open and honest, but you’re hiding in your ivory tower, nobody is going to want to do what you say. You’re not practicing what you preach. That will lead people to think you’re disingenuous and only care about yourself and your goals.

You need to come across as human. As relatable and honest. Like someone any employee, from your second in command to the person who cleans the toilets, can approach to ask a question, or even just say hello.

Building a positive workplace culture is about breaking down silos from every angle. And, just like attracting customers, that takes time.

But if you do it right, you’re going to experience the rewards for years to come.

If you’re looking for ways to open up communication, encourage connections between employees and their peers and leaders, and drive measurable progress towards building a more positive workplace culture, check out Workrowd. Our comprehensive tool suite can help you streamline communication, increase engagement, and track and analyze culture change over time.

Taking company culture seriously at your organization can be a massive undertaking. This is because there are so many implications to understanding what your culture looks like (and what it means for your current staff members.) Creating a company culture committee can be the perfect way to take steps toward creating a more defined workplace culture.

Today’s article will walk you through what you need to know to form one of these essential committees at your organization.

What Is a Company Culture Committee?

First, let’s start by defining what a company culture committee is. Essentially, these committees form to ensure that different voices are heard when companies make decisions that impact workers.

Different organizations may have unique use cases or activities for these groups to run. These committees look different based on the organization’s size, the funds the group has, and how engaged staff members are.

To summarize, having these committees should prove valuable for companies that want to improve team member bonds.

Why You Should Create a Company Culture Committee

Next, let’s cover why you should create a company culture committee. As you are trying to get leadership buy-in, pointing to some of the benefits of the committee will help you sell this.

Thoughtful committee creation can have profound positive effects on organizations. Here are some things you can expect when you invest in a company culture committee:

Committees Help You Represent the Interests of Different Employees

As your organization grows, it should become far more diverse. It can be challenging to represent the needs of a diverse group if you aren’t actively talking to a variety of employees.

Most committees are built with representation in mind. You might choose to create committees based on gender, race, department, or any number of demographic factors. These committees will help you understand how people from a wider audience feel (or they can’t point you to where to find more information.)

Company Culture Committees Ensure That Your Organization Is Making Progress on Culture Goals

Having a goal to improve company culture is one thing. The next step of forming a committee ensures that you have employees who can hold you accountable.

Once you’ve created SMART goals related to company culture, you can share those goals with your committee. After that, encourage your team to look over your goals and ask about the deliverables you promise.

For instance, if your goal is to have 6 company culture events per year, your committee can keep you honest. Are you planning and holding these events every year? If not, you are missing your goal. Your committee can be in charge of the actions taken once you miss a goal deadline.

On the other hand, your committee can also work with you as you set up company culture goals. Since their committee will be devoted to culture, it makes sense that they help you with goal prep. Either path creates a better culture for your workplace.

Company Culture Committees Look Good to Outside Parties

As you are trying to reach outside investors, recruit new employees, and improve your company’s brand, company culture committees can look amazing.

How does that work? Simply put, people love when organizations value their workers. As a result, your engagement rate will likely be higher than other organizations in your space. Overall, your company can expect positive rewards from creating and advertising company culture committees.

How to Create a Company Culture Committee

Now, you’re probably wondering how to create one of these committees. Again, it’s simpler than you think. Here are some tips to help you out.

Understand the Demographics of Your Team

First, you need to understand the demographics of your team. If you want to represent your staff, you’ve got to know the makeup of it. Send a demographic survey to understand who’s on your team.

After you get your survey results back, you should be able to see any interesting trends you need to account for when filling out your committee. For example, you might decide to balance based on gender, age, race, etc.

However you choose to balance, take time to build a committee that represents your organization. You shouldn’t rush this decision.

Ask For Volunteers

Second, you want to ask for committee volunteers. Take some time to sit down and write out a few things about your company culture committee:

• A thorough description of what the committee is tasked with doing.
  • Include items like the committee appointment period, how you will choose committee members, meeting times, etc.
• A form that employees can fill out to express their interest.
  • Be sure to add a few questions to the survey so that you can vet their interest.

Don’t forget to promote this opportunity to your workers. Ask for volunteers at a couple of meetings to keep committees top of mind.

Don’t Forget to Work With Other Departments

As you are working to find volunteers, don’t forget to keep other company departments in the loop. Working on culture from a leadership perspective is amazing, but sometimes that can leave others out making it harder to get buy-in.

After you decide to tackle company culture with a committee, reach out to other leaders to understand how they want to interact with this process.

Set Aside Funds to Support the Vision of the Committee

Finally, companies have to put money behind cultural initiatives. Wanting a committee is just the beginning. If your committee doesn’t have the money to make the changes they need to make, they won’t get much done. After all, you want this committee to be more than lip service.

You don’t have to go bankrupt supporting company culture. For instance, you could give your committee a small $500-$1,000 budget per quarter. Then, your team can find a simple activity to organize for employees each quarter. Encourage them to find events that will make the biggest impact on company culture.

Conclusion

Company culture committees can make a huge impact on organizational growth. As your team expands, you have to find ways to keep everyone centered. Focusing efforts on learning from different workplace groups will help you lead better.

Are you looking for a place to market, manage, and measure your company culture committee community? Look no further than Workrowd! After you check us out, send us an email at hello@workrowd.com to see if we’re right for you.

Defining company culture in an organization isn’t an easy task. It can be challenging to invest energy into a topic that feels grandiose or theoretical. It’s crucially important that you do so, though; company culture plays a larger role than you might think.

What Role Does Company Culture Play At Work?

Company culture is more than just a theoretical list of values or statements. Your company is creating a culture, even if you are not actively focused on it. Culture is about:

• The feeling an employee has when working for your organization.
• What behavior is accepted by employees and managers at work.
• How conflict or disagreements are handled.

Culture touches so many aspects of life at your organization. Therefore, we must take a more active approach to defining our company’s culture.

5 Reasons to Invest in Company Culture Every Day

Investing in company culture every day might feel like a massive undertaking. So, why do we need to connect on our culture, values, and vision so often? Here are some of the reasons why:

1. It’s Easy to Lose Sight Of the Company Culture You’re Trying to Build

You’ve probably heard of the phrase “out of sight, out of mind.” Company culture is a hard concept for some people to grasp. It only becomes more challenging if you aren’t spending an adequate amount of time defining and perfecting your organization’s culture.

A recent company culture story that made headlines was about the merger of Kraft and Heinz and what it did for the company culture of both organizations. Unfortunately, as companies grow, merge, and get acquired, it’s so easy to lose sight of the company culture you’re trying to build.

In the article about Kraft Heinz, a Kraft employee talked about life pre-merger. Kraft was treating its employees well with a lot of opportunities for advancement. As Kraft was acquired, the culture it had built as an individual organization was slowly eroded.

If you are not careful, it’s easy for something similar to happen to your team.

2. Culture Consistency Builds Brand and Company Loyalty

There is a brain hack called spaced repetition that dramatically improves the way your brain stores information. It works by going over the same information in a spaced, but repetitive fashion. Most people choose an hour every day to go over flashcards if they want to make the biggest impact with this method.

As an organization, you have to spend more time than once per year going over your organization’s core values and culture. Defining company culture should be a daily activity so that employees begin to understand the culture and what appropriate behavior looks like.

Put another way, you can’t act like culture doesn’t matter 300+ days out of the year. Employees need consistency to model great workplace behavior.

As you showcase your company’s culture, employees begin to understand that it’s more than just lip service on your organization’s career site. Culture becomes tangible, and it makes employees want to improve their loyalty to your organization.

As your customers become aware of your culture, you can draw new and existing customers to your brand.

3. Understanding Company Culture Helps You Make Better Decisions

Company culture isn’t just for employees. Managers and company leaders also need to understand the culture you are trying to build. Decision-making takes up a ton of mental energy for leaders who can spend hours of their time each week making decisions. When you have a clear culture, decision-making becomes effortless.

You would be surprised at the number of employers who struggle with decision-making:

Only 20 percent of respondents say their organizations excel at decision making.

McKinsey & Company

Imagine how much better leaders would be at making decisions if they had clarity about the company’s culture, mission, vision, and values. In a world where clear decision-making is critical, we need leaders who understand our organization and can step up to the plate.

4. Culture Issues Are Easier to Fix When Detected Early

Cultural misalignment at work can cause a wide array of issues for employees. If one employee gets out of alignment, they have the ability to cause employee dissatisfaction, turnover, and a negative public image for your organization.

If you let cultural issues go undetected, you are letting employees that go against your culture connect with employees and customers.

On the other hand, maybe you are creating a toxic company culture. If you go months without addressing culture, you could be perpetuating this negative experience for a long time. Addressing culture often helps you spot these issues before they get out of hand.

5. Company Culture Defines Your Organization’s Very Existence

Company culture isn’t a pie in the sky thought experiment. It’s the makeup of your entire organization’s existence. Culture isn’t always easy to spot, but it’s being created every day.

Regular culture maintenance is a necessary part of organizational growth.

We care for our culture because we care for our people.

Daily Organizational Culture Tweaks

Now that you know why you should define company culture daily, let’s walk through a few activities to help you make this a reality.

• Highlight employees contributing to your company’s culture every morning inside your company’s communities.
• Check-in with employees daily to let them know you are thinking of them and see if they have any issues.
• Play a short get-to-know-you game during every daily standup meeting you have.
• Give your employees flexibility in how they choose to work every day.
• Encourage everyone to take daily breaks or naps to improve focus and get off the computer for a while.

You may be struggling with the thought of defining company culture every day, but this doesn’t have to be difficult. Start by defining the culture you are trying to create at work. Then, based on that, come up with a few activities you can do daily, weekly, and monthly to keep that culture top of mind for your employees.

Defining Company Culture Should Happen All the Time

Company culture isn’t something you define once and then put on a shelf. Leaders need to find ways to connect with employees. We have to address culture daily.

Without this extra step, it’s easy for employees or leaders to go back to their old ways. If you want employees to follow your culture, you have to keep it top of mind.

Are you looking for a way to improve company culture at your organization? Read our article about how employee communities drive positive company culture. If you are ready to invest in employee communities, reach out to us at hello@workrowd.com to see if our tool can serve your organization’s needs.

Creating an inclusive culture continues to be important, especially for employees who belong to the millennial and Gen Z generations. It’s becoming increasingly clear that inclusivity has a positive effect on an organization’s bottom line, but what strategies can organizations use to take diversity to the next level? Today, we are discussing the inclusive culture strategies your organization can use to improve in 2021 (and beyond.)

What Does It Mean to Build an Inclusive Culture?

Having an inclusive culture is about more than hiring diverse employees. Inclusivity goes beyond the mere presence of minority groups.

Inclusive cultures celebrate and empower minority workers with well-paying jobs, fair and equal promotion opportunities, and the feeling that they belong at the organization.

Culture matters. Company leaders can’t expect to retain underrepresented hires without deeply committing to their culture and how they treat diverse groups.

7 Inclusive Culture Strategies Your Company Can Utilize

Going beyond hiring diverse employees takes time and energy. It’s not an overnight success, especially for organizations with a small number of minority employees at the outset. Accordingly, here are seven strategies you can start with to improve the culture at your organization.

1. Go Beyond Black/White Thinking

First, we have to move past black and white thinking when it comes to diversity and inclusion at work. Many organizations depend too heavily on having one single diverse population represented. It’s important to go beyond black/white thinking or male/female thinking.

Hiring a lot of black employees or several women doesn’t necessarily make your organization diverse or inclusive.

Inclusivity is more than black/white. There are other ways to create an inclusive workplace for different groups of people. For instance, diversity exists across:

• Age
• Gender
• Race
• Ethnicity
• Religion
• Sexual Orientation
• Educational Attainment

Consider these different dimensions of diversity as you are looking at candidates and interviewing. Keep all of your organization’s types of diversity in mind as you are planning holidays, creating social media content, and developing employee resource groups.

2. Celebrate Employee Differences

You might hire employees from diverse backgrounds, but are those employees able to be themselves? Do they spend more time assimilating than bringing their unique experiences to the table?

You’d be surprised how many people don’t feel comfortable being themselves at work. Speaker and writer Jodi-Ann Burey recently gave a fantastic TED Talk about the myth of bringing your full, authentic self to work that summarizes many of the issues diverse groups face around opening up at work.

Your employees might celebrate different holidays, wear different clothing to work, or choose to bring someone you wouldn’t expect to the company family day.

Are you able to accept and celebrate all the different ways your employees might choose to show up at work? Creating an inclusive culture allows you to celebrate and learn from your employees’ different cultural and personal beliefs.

3. Ensure Buy-In From All Directions

Typically, organizations consider buy-in from leaders and managers, but top-down buy-in won’t cut it when it comes to inclusivity.

Employees interact with a wide array of people every single day. For example, customers, colleagues, managers, and even investors might interact with your employees.

If managers are the only people who have expressed buy-in, you might open diverse employees up to many micro and macro-aggressions at work.

4. Define & Check-In on Goals, Not Quotas

For many organizations wanting to invest in inclusion, their first thought is to set quotas for the hiring process. For example, they may choose to set a quota for the number of minority candidates who turn in resumes or the number of interviews held.

Quotas without the work of actually hiring more diverse candidates are just a waste of the candidate’s time and your own. Candidates want to feel like they have a shot at joining your organization, not like a quota checkbox.

Get specific about what a diverse and inclusive organization would look like. Create SMART goals around diversifying your organization and creating an inclusive culture at work. Go beyond quota filling to create the best company culture.

5. Focus on Creating Training Moments Year-Round

Are you spending your time creating one diversity and inclusion training per year? While this is a great gesture and start to improving D&I at your organization, it’s easy for your initiatives to get swept under the rug if you are only addressing the situation once per year.

Instead, you can create smaller monthly or quarterly trainings for employees to keep your diversity work top of mind. Consider hosting town halls about diversity at work, sharing details about diverse holidays, and celebrating heritage/recognition months as they come up.

Connecting with employees about diversity topics throughout the year will make everyone more educated on related topics.

6. Learn From Other Organizations Who Value Diversity & Inclusion (D&I)

One of the best parts about HR work is that you can learn from others. Other human resources professionals are dealing with (or have dealt with) all the issues you are currently facing at work. You can lean on other HR professionals to learn from their mistakes and successes.

By connecting with others, you can implement their strategies to create a more inclusive culture at your organization.

One way you can do this is by joining a network like the Global ERG Network. This cross-company community is a fantastic opportunity for employee ERG leaders to access best practice templates and toolkits, monthly learning events, and 24/7 networking and knowledge sharing with peers.

7. Think About the Outward Work

Many organizations start claiming their inclusion success too early, but never claiming it at all isn’t the answer either.

Potential candidates need to see the work that you are doing to improve diversity and inclusion at your organization.

Here are some ways to do inclusion work outwardly:

• Plan social media campaigns about diverse holidays.
• Spotlight diverse employees in brochures and company publications.
• Feature diverse faces in your company’s marketing material.
• Donate to and partner with diverse organizations.
• Publicly support causes and political legislation that uplift diverse groups.

Creating an Inclusive Culture Takes Time

You won’t be able to transform your culture overnight. There are no quick fixes when it comes to inclusivity. By following these steps, you will slowly win over your organization and make inclusivity the standard.

If you are looking to create a more inclusive culture through employee networks, we’re the perfect partner. Email us at hello@workrowd.com to see if we’re the right fit for your organization.

Employees have gone through a lot in the last year. As companies begin to get back into the office, you might have a culture problem. Transitions back to life as usual can’t happen overnight. We must give our employees ample time to get used to the commute, water cooler conversation, and dressing up for the office again. If your employees are struggling with office life, there are several things you can do to improve your office culture. 

What Impact Did The Pandemic Have on Office Culture?

So, what impact did the pandemic have on office culture?

When we think about traditional workplace culture, a lot of our memories start with the office. From general water cooler conversations to lunch with our colleagues, we spent a lot of time in the office pre-pandemic.

In early 2020, many companies shifted their work completely. Companies pivoted to working from home, and more silos formed as we went to virtual communication like Slack and Zoom meetings.

Companies had to learn to restructure communication and benefits that were tied to the office (e.g. free lunches.) The pandemic truly changed the way that we worked. Some companies plan to stay remote forever.

With all the rapid changes we had to make, it’s no wonder the pandemic impacted office culture.

5 Ways to Help Your Office Culture Rebound After the Pandemic

It’s easy to understand why the pandemic has changed office culture in the last year. Knowing this, how do we deal with the fallout of the pandemic when it comes to office culture? Well, you can start with these five activities:

Set Proper Expectations About Office Culture as Employees Return to Work

Before anyone steps foot back in the office, you have to start by setting proper expectations about what office life will look like as employees return to work.

Set expectations about:

• Mask guidelines
• Social distancing protocols
• Cleaning frequency
• Testing
• Office gatherings and events

Write all of these policies down and put them in a place where every employee can see them. As employees go back to the office, ask them to acknowledge your office guidelines before returning to work.

Ease Back Into Office Life

Many employees have been working from home for more than a year. Getting back into the grind of daily office life isn’t going to be easy for people.

In fact, some people are choosing to quit their job instead of going back to work. The thought of a mass exodus of employees is pretty scary, especially because filling empty positions is so difficult right now.

Don’t ask employees to flip the switch automatically. Come up with a plan that slowly gets people back in the office.

For example, you might choose to create a hybrid work plan where employees can choose to come in the number of days they want. Many employers have even decided to utilize a desk sharing model where employees reserve a desk if they are in the office.

We have to understand how badly we need employees in a physical office. Is it worth the commute and upset employees to require their physical presence? Or is there another option where we give employees the ability to work from an office if it works for them (e.g. downsizing the office or using coworking spaces)?

Consider Ways to Bring Back Pre-Pandemic Traditions Safely

What did the office look like pre-pandemic? Did you offer free lunch or workout Wednesdays? For many employees, the best part of office life was the perks they got for being there.

Are you bringing employees back to the office without thinking about the benefits of returning? If so, it’s time to plan this part of office life.

To make things safer, you’ll likely need to change some aspects of those pre-pandemic traditions. For example, lunches might need to be individually packaged, and workout Wednesdays will need to be socially distanced.

Going back to the office after the pandemic doesn’t mean you need to start from scratch on office traditions. Ease back into holding these traditions regularly to rebound office culture quickly.

Set Up Employees With Weekly Office Buddies

If your company is like most with turnover and hiring new employees, it’s likely that many team members haven’t had the chance to get to know one another.

If you are looking for a way to rebound office culture, start small by assigning weekly office buddies. Encourage office buddies to connect over a meal or a joint project one day during the week. You can even set weekly ice breakers to get the conversation flowing.

Here are some ice breaker questions to get you started:

• What was the last thing that made you smile/laugh/feel excited?
• Where do you want to be in life or your career five years from now?
• What is your favorite thing to do outside of work? How did you get started with that hobby?
• What’s the next destination on your travel bucket list? Why do you want to go there?
• If you could change one thing about your favorite book/movie/television show, what would it be and why?
• What is your favorite place in the city? How did you find out about the place?
• If you could create a super job featuring all of your favorite work activities, what would that job be?

Ask For and Utilize Employee Feedback

Last but not least, one of the best ways to rebound office culture is to talk to your staff and get their opinion. Gathering and utilizing employee feedback is one of the best ways to understand what your team needs from you.

Create a confidential survey using a tool like Google Forms or SurveyMonkey. Ask all your burning office culture questions and request that employees fill out the survey.

After receiving all your responses, synthesize the information for employees and tell them what you will do about it. Employees can get tired of surveys quickly, especially if they don’t feel that managers are hearing them. Ensure that you close the feedback loop and make any necessary adjustments.

Conclusion

Getting back into the office is going to be challenging for even the most seasoned employees. As an organization leader, it’s your duty to guide employees to speak up for what they need and advocate for your organization at the same time. It’s a tricky balancing act, but it can be done when you make sure to keep active listening top of mind.

If you are looking for more information on hybrid workforces, check out our free hybrid workforce engagement guide. Reach out to us at hello@workrowd.com to see if building employee communities with Workrowd is the best way to engage your employees in and out of the office.

Corporate social impact has been a topic of discussion for decades now, but as with diversity, equity, and inclusion, there’s been a lot more talk than action in many circles. As we remain at crisis levels across climate change, nuclear weapons, and COVID-19, and with the wealth gap widening for 70% of the global population, there is certainly no lack of work to be done. It’s time that companies stop simply paying lip service and instead empower their teams to drive real change around corporate social impact and environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG).

Developing an effective corporate social impact program isn’t just good for the world at large, though. Increasing your company’s work in this area can greatly improve your bottom line through attracting and retaining top talent, driving positive employee outcomes such as higher engagement and productivity, and boosting sales by establishing a compelling and socially-oriented brand. Your corporate social impact strategy can also be integrated with your diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, helping accelerate your progress on these two crucial initiatives. Read on to learn why corporate social impact is more important than ever and what you can do about it.

Why corporate social impact is more important today than ever before

Corporate social impact has long been considered a ‘nice to have’ rather than a ‘need to have’. In today’s world though, as both consumers and job seekers become increasingly concerned with what companies do and what they stand for, failing to prioritize important societal issues can be costly. In business, the axiom of ‘nice guys finish last’ no longer applies. Take a company like Patagonia, for instance. Patagonia has a strong environmental focus, and encourages employees to pursue their passions and work towards a cleaner, greener planet. As a result, they have just a 4% turnover rate as compared to the average in their sector of 12-13%. Similarly, when they took a strong stance discouraging people from buying Patagonia clothing they don’t need and being transparent about the true environmental cost of their products, they saw sales increase by 30%.

Consumers and employees both want to support companies that mirror their ideals. In fact, more than 70% of buyers overall and more than 80% of younger generations prefer to purchase from companies that align with their values. The key takeaway here is that if you and your competitor offer a similar product but your competitor speaks out about causes that matter to consumers while you remain silent, your bottom line will suffer the consequences. If you’re concerned that taking steps to make your company more socially and environmentally responsible will be costly and not worth the investment, consider that younger generations increasingly support companies raising prices in order to prioritize people and planet, and their buying power will only expand in the coming years and decades.

Similarly, your organization’s corporate social impact is important to employees as well. Two-thirds of jobseekers consider a company’s stance and work on social and environmental issues when researching potential employers. Moreover, 55% would take a pay cut if it meant working for a more socially responsible company. Younger generations are even more concerned with the corporate social impact of the companies they affiliate themselves with, so as the workforce continues to shift, this issue will only become more crucial as part of your talent recruitment and retention strategy.

What steps to take in 2021 to increase your corporate social impact

Now that you’ve read a bit about why corporate social impact is so important, what can you do about it? Luckily, there are some relatively straightforward ways to boost your efforts without breaking the bank. We’ve outlined a few high-level strategies below, but as we always say, your first step should be to consult your employees. We can pretty much guarantee they’ll have some great ideas for you, but if you need some tips, check out this list:

1. Take a look at your supply chain. A crucial first step in examining your company’s impact on the world beyond the people you directly employ and the revenue you generate is to check out what you’re endorsing across the entirety of your supply chain. If you say that you want to be an upstanding global citizen, you need to determine where you’re actually doing more harm than good. Are your products derived from sustainable sources? Are you working with vendors who align with your values and goals? At every point in your supply chain, seek to minimize your carbon footprint, engage with underrepresented sellers, purchase sustainable and local supplies, and whatever else makes sense with your values and broader ESG goals.
2. Empower your employees to advocate for what they believe in. Those monolithic days of service most companies run aren’t serving anyone. One-off engagements are rarely worthwhile for resource-strapped nonprofits, many employees won’t be passionate about the chosen cause, and often all it does is generate a few forced photos for the Careers page. Instead, consider enabling employees to drive smaller impact efforts around the causes that are actually important to them. Equip them with tools to be able to organize volunteer shifts with their colleagues, launch fundraising challenges, and consider offering matching funds to ensure employees know you support them. You’ll be able to do more good through these smaller scale campaigns, and you’ll reap vastly more benefit from this tailored approach to employee programming.
3. Form community partnerships that align with your values. That said, it is also important to have some sense of company-wide identity and investment. Consult your core product or services as well as your values to determine what causes are most relevant for your company. Next, research organizations that target these issues. Forming strategic partnerships with nonprofits and NGOs will boost your employer and customer brands, give you additional publicity, and support important work that’s aligned with your offerings. For instance, if you’re a financial institution, it might make sense to partner with a financial literacy organization. If you’re focused on transportation, you can connect with entities working to reduce carbon emissions, or to increase mobility for underserved communities. Bring employees to the table for these conversations, and you’ll be bound to come up with some great potential partnerships to pursue. Reach out to the identified organizations, and make sure that however you decide to collaborate is truly mutually beneficial. If the partnership is only helpful for your company, current and prospective employees and consumers will see through it quickly, greatly reducing the business benefits of your efforts.

Corporate social impact is a crucial topic in today’s world, with increasing effects on companies’ bottom lines. Make sure that your company comes out on top by prioritizing your corporate social responsibility and environmental, social, and governance efforts. Feel free to make use of the high-level tips above, and don’t forget to empower your employees to get involved early and often. If you’re looking for an easy way to equip employees with the tools to make a difference, and which also provides analytics and oversight for you, come check out Workrowd or drop us a line at hello@workrowd.com. We’d love to learn more about you and help you do the most good for your business, your community, and the planet.

As the U.S. begins to discuss reopening offices, it’s time to take stock of how your company culture has fared over the course of the pandemic so far. The culture of a company sets the tone for virtually everything that occurs both inside the organization with the employee experience, and outside the company with customer and employer brands. From the way that employees treat each other to the level of customer care that’s provided, company culture can be a make or break issue.

If your company wasn’t quite where it wanted to be on the culture front before and/or during the pandemic, returning to the office offers an exciting opportunity to reimagine how you approach culture building. The culture of a company is not something that can simply be decreed from the top down; your culture stems from your values, which need to be practiced every day, in every interaction. We know this may sound daunting, which is why we’ve assembled some quick tips to help you make the most of this moment to transform the culture of your company into one that everyone loves.

What is company culture and how does it impact business outcomes

The culture of a company powers a number of significant business outcomes including recruitment and retention, engagement, and productivity. Since company culture impacts employees’ experiences every single day, it’s absolutely crucial that organizations dedicate sufficient attention towards ensuring that it thrives. Ultimately though, unlike sales or marketing, it can be difficult to know just how to build a positive and productive company culture, or even what comprises it.

Company culture starts with your organization’s values. What do you, as an organization, believe in and why? Now that we’re entering a new phase of the pandemic, it may be time to reassess your values and determine whether they’re still aligned with how your company operates. For instance, if your organization has historically placed a high value on face-time, but you’re going to be transitioning to a hybrid model of working, it might be time to shift how you’re communicating that.

Similarly, your interaction norms should stem directly from your company values, and provide a structure for how employees should treat one another. As an example, one of your company’s values may relate to respect. As part of this, your interaction norms should place respect on the highest pillar, and encourage everyone to treat all others with dignity regardless of their role, background, or any other factor. 

Beyond values and interaction norms, the culture of a company stems from a wide variety of different components related to how employees and customers are treated including benefits and perks, team structures, learning and promotion opportunities, client support, and more. Due to the fact that it intertwines through so many different elements, approximately half of job seekers list company culture as being very important when considering potential employers, and nearly 90% say it’s at least somewhat important. Perhaps more worrisome is the fact that nearly half of job seekers also noted that company culture was the reason they were looking to leave their current employer. Employees who are unhappy with their company’s culture are 24% more likely to quit. Perhaps that’s why more than 90% of managers say that a candidate’s alignment with the culture of the company is more important that their skills or experience.

How you can leverage company culture to supercharge your employee experience

Based on the data above, it’s unsurprising that 88% of employees and 94% of executives believe that a strong company culture is key to business success. Accordingly, how can you take advantage of this crucial moment to elevate your company’s culture and ensure a world-class employee experience? We’ve collected some quick tips below, but as noted above, it really comes down to how you treat your employees. At this point in the COVID-19 crisis, people want to know they have job security, to feel like they have the autonomy to get their work done on their own terms, and to know they have the ability to take care of themselves and their families, financially, health-wise, time-wise, and beyond.

Ensuring you’re supporting employees from the organizational level, and training and equipping managers to support their teams at the individual level, is a guaranteed way to start your culture revamp on the right foot. From that point, the following strategies can also help enhance the culture of a company:

• Communicate clearly and consistently. Transparency and consistency in all your communications provides a strong foundation for your company culture. Employees who don’t have to worry about what something meant or what they’re not being told are inherently happier and more productive by virtue of having these distractions eliminated. By ensuring everyone feels included and in the loop around what’s happening with the company, you’ll foster more openness and collaboration between employees, and more loyalty to your organization as well because team members know they’re valued.
• Prioritize deeper needs over superficial perks. Among the mainstays of the old approaches to company culture and employee engagement are superficial office perks such as foosball tables and free beer. While these were never particularly effective to begin with, the rise of remote working combined with the level of burnout brought on by the pandemic has rendered them wholly obsolete. Employees want to know that their companies see them as whole people with needs both in and outside of the office, so things like expanding your paid family leave policy, offering coverage for more mental health services, and mandating time off for team members to recharge will do a lot more for your culture than keeping the communal trail mix well stocked.
• Double down on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Nothing is more toxic to the culture of a company than enabling exclusion and microaggressions to flourish unchecked. The overwhelming majority of people are part of an underrepresented group in some aspect of their life whether it’s their gender, race, sexual orientation, caregiving role, veteran status, etc. This means that when you create or allow environments that are unwelcoming for some people, you’re making the overall culture unwelcoming for many knowing that they too might be made to feel less than simply for their background or circumstances. Make sure you’ve got an effective, long-term diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy in place, and infuse this work throughout all areas of your company’s operations.

Your company culture essentially dictates whether the employee experience will be positive or negative. While it’s important to streamline systems and processes and otherwise make employees’ day-to-day easier, if the culture of a company is poor, employees will inevitably have a poor experience working there. If you’re looking for ways to improve your company’s culture at this crucial time as more and more people are getting vaccinated, consider checking out Workrowd’s platform. We offer an all-in-one solution for managing employee engagement and company culture across both on-site and remote workers. You’ll gain access to a central hub for all your employee initiatives, best practice resources to support employee culture leaders, analytics, and much more.

If you’re specifically looking to ramp up your diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, Workrowd also powers the Global ERG Network. We’re working to build a comprehensive ecosystem to support company culture and employee engagement in order to meet the needs of today’s organizations. Drop us a note at hello@workrowd.com if you’d like to be part of the movement.