A healthy corporate culture is vital for any company – it guides team members in making decisions, reflects core values, forms the way employees express their own thoughts and provides feedback. It can also shape the way these employees get acknowledged for their contributions. Positive culture relates to many benefits. They include better retention, greater performance, better employee experience, etc.
It can be hard for front-line managers and HR professionals to accept the fact that high people turnover is a sign of company culture issues. Many leaders consider employees wanting higher wages and flexible work schedules to be the reason for the Great Resignation. However, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management researchers discovered that turnover is almost always caused by corporate culture problems.
According to their findings, companies with a strong reputation for a healthy culture experience lower turnover rates than the average. And at the same time, more innovative and fast-paced companies have higher attrition rates than their more steady and well-established competitors.
The HR teams are responsible for maintaining stability and continuity in a world that is constantly changing. In modern reality, managers are required to adapt to changes in jobs and people being moved away from their offices if they are to provide consistent employee experiences. Managers who are new to their role or have never worked with remote teams may find it difficult to balance flexibility and culture. As one of the options to fix this, organizations can put particular emphasis on communication and the need for managers to get transparent as much as possible with their employees. Managers should listen to them and share their own concerns without being toxic or disruptive. It can be a problem to build a solid corporate culture when a leader doesn’t transparently share his/her problems or discomforts in a mixed work environment.
What are the core elements of a healthy workplace culture? We consider them to be the following:
– regular feedback in all forms. It’s a part of the transparency policy and greatly helps both employees and employers understand each other and take timely actions. For instance, it could be in-person meetings between managers and their team members, weekly or biweekly. Or regular mailing between said persons in case of hybrid or remote work;
– employee recognition in the flow of work. Few things inspire a worker more than a feeling of self-importance and involvement in corporate life. Employees expect dignity and respect from their colleagues and to be treated with courtesy and seriousness. This expectation extends to all employees – from base to top levels. As Richard Branson said, “Train people well enough so they can leave. Treat them well enough so they don’t want to.”;
– employee development. It gives them a feeling that a company praises them and invests in their future to keep them working. Recognize the strengths of your employees and provide opportunities for them to enhance those skills.
The manager-employee relationships is not the only area HR can act within to improve culture. Access to therapy, meditation, and other psychological resources can all be benefits that help employees be resilient in turbulent economic and social environments. In general, the modern blending of work and personal life requires HR departments to consider how companies can support employees.
What are the other ways organizations can create inspiring and attractive corporate culture? Some of them relate not only to HR departments, but to the whole company policy in general. Let’s name a few.
Reorganizations and job security
Employees desire to work in an environment, which doesn’t jeopardize their career and life, for example with constant layoffs. In this instance, transparency is key. Sure, it is impossible to clearly predict layoffs, however, if job security is at stake, it’s important to discuss it with employees early and often in order to let them prepare the best decisions.
Unethical and toxic behavior
Employees won’t work for bosses or colleagues who lack integrity. It’s obvious. Human resources professionals cannot allow business ethics breaches to go unreported or ignored. Companies need to train leaders to help employees recognize and address such breaches, and report them anonymously.
Managers must commit to core values
Leaders must be consistent with company values. This is what employees need. If you want to maintain or improve culture, each team meeting should review such values and give credit to the team members who have always practiced them. You can even reward team members for their dedication and passion.
A toxic culture can have devastating consequences. It can derive from just one person, or an entire department, or the whole organization. Employees who work within a toxic culture are less productive and effective, more likely to have health problems and show absenteeism. Toxic cultures can also be a breeding ground for harassment, incivility, and injustice.
Concluding the above-said, it’s clear that managers and leaders must put the creation of solid corporate culture into the very basement of company development strategy if they want to succeed in business. It’s no easy and fast task, but, at the same time, it’s also not as complicated as space technologies. Many attention to employees as human beings, constant analysis of employee feedback and many patience – these will help you on your way to becoming an organization many want to work in.
If you’re looking for new ideas, fresh perspectives and insights on the future of work, then you’ll want to attend HR Vision Events.
