How To Create A Great Company Culture

Company culture is focused on the experience and overall nature of the way an organization operates socially. It relates to how team members are treated and how the different facets or levels of the company interact with each other.

Why is company culture important?

Company culture plays a pivotal role in shaping how people within an organization and outside of it view the company. Due to company culture being a representation of an organization’s values and customs, it can strongly influence perception.

People who are part of an organization with company culture they view favorably are more likely to remain a part of it. Contrastingly, companies with negatively viewed cultures will generally have a higher turnover rate – losing employees much more quickly and often losing great talent.

From outside of an organization, company culture can have an impact on potential applicants’ decision to apply to an available role or to actually complete the hiring process.

It’s hard to deny that company culture is a major part of running a successful company. Management should constantly remain engaged in the process of maintaining or creating a great company culture.

Ways to create a great company culture

Here are some strategies for a great company culture.

1. Obtain and make use of feedback (constantly)

Before creating a great company culture, it is important to understand what this means and looks like to the people who are a part of the team. Changes or new implementations shouldn’t be made based solely on the opinion of management (who may be disconnected from the rest of the workforce in some situations). Instead, they should be made after a consultation of the people who make up the company.

Make efforts to understand what team members think is being done well, what could be done better and what they think absolutely needs changing. Be open to and actively request suggestions because team members themselves can sometimes have great ideas that can have a great impact on company culture.

Something you can do here is surveys, which help understand how people feel. Another way to obtain suggestions is having an available avenue by which feedback can come in at any time. Don’t just have yearly surveys where all your feedback is taken. Instead, make efforts to clearly express your receptiveness to feedback at any time by chat, email or any other means of communication.

2. Look for company culture strategies

You don’t need to push the limits of your own creativity when it comes to creating a great company culture. First, you can make use of surveys and feedback from other employees. These can be great sources of ideas.

But the other idea source you have is the internet. Simply find what people in other companies want done better (read online reviews for organizations). Visiting company websites can also offer a lot of insight into what they do for their workforce. Look specifically at what well reviewed companies offer.

3. Encourage engagement

Engagement can be a source of ideas for a better organizational culture. Allow and foster communication with management and between all co-workers. Give people the opportunity to speak to each other so they can jointly discuss what they want done better. Having the opportunity to build connections is also itself a core part of a worker-friendly culture. Social interaction can be effective at taking minds off work and giving people the chance to let loose.

4. Increase offerings

People should have incentive to be a part of your organization. If your budget allows, try giving more to employees to raise your standard. Try offering better pay. Consider a system by which pay is increased with longer tenures or depending on performance.

Maybe you can offer more health or wellness benefits. These can come in the form of better insurance coverage, counseling, life coaching, family assistance and other similar programs. You can also try to offer more paid time off or optional unpaid time off. These benefits give the impression that you care about the people who form your organization.

5. Make work easier

If a difficult job needs to get done, it might not be much of a choice if the job is easy or not. However, companies often have a lot of influence over how tasks are completed. It is important to try to make work as manageable as possible for workers.

Try providing more resources to employees. Leverage technology whenever possible to make jobs easier. These approaches might not be an option for all roles (it really depends not only on the company but also on the department and specific role within it). You might need to get creative here or make use of feedback to see what the people on the frontlines think would help them cruise along more easily.

Work from home models also tend to make organizations more appealing to remain or become a part of. The ability to work remotely generally allows for a better work-life balance, which in turn is more likely to output favorable employee opinions.

6. Reward good work

Make efforts to identify when good work is being done and reward this work. Jobs with little opportunity for upward movement offer little incentive for team members to do good work. Consider offering promotions, pay increases or other incentives when jobs are done exceptionally well. If these things are not on the table, at the very least try to verbally acknowledge and commend good work. A simple “great job, thank you” can go a long way if opportunities cannot be offered.

7. Be accessible (for managers)

A manager shouldn’t just be an overbearing watcher of work quality. Managers should focus heavily on assuring those under their management feel supported and cared for. Make efforts to establish an environment where speaking to managerial staff is easy. Accessibility and understandability are the main focuses here. Personability can go a long way in making employees feel good about their company. Have friendly conversations, ask about peoples’ personal life, make small talk – just communicate as people, not just as coworkers. Managerial staff should strive to be more like trusted friends and less like bosses. Employees should feel comfortable enough to share their mistakes and seek advice when needed.