As Human Resource professionals, we juggle many priorities. In this article, let’s circle back to the topic of company culture.
You may also hear people use the terms organizational culture, corporate culture or workplace culture. Company culture embodies the attitudes and behaviors of a company and its employees and has many elements, including work environment, company mission, leadership style, values, ethics, expectations, and goals. It is evident in how your workers interact with each other, the values they hold, and their decisions.
Maintaining or infusing some energy into your company culture is not necessarily easy, but it is doable with the proper focus. Here are three tips:
- Regular team meetings to review priorities: Culture is strengthened most with consistent team meetings — annually, quarterly, monthly, weekly, or daily. The frequency depends on your workflow and team. Although some employees bemoan having so many meetings, it helps to remind them that you care about them and the company’s culture. Having these meetings allows everyone to attack obstacles as a team and celebrate wins as a team. You want everyone to leave meetings knowing the exact actions they can take to have the greatest positive impact on your company’s growth. This clarity promotes collaboration and the sharing of information.
- Staff rewards: It’s important to know your team and their family and pick rewards that genuinely show how much they mean to you. Try providing an award that a whole family can share – something like a food basket sent to their home or a gift card for a family meal. Let a team member know how important they are by sending a personalized gift specific to their interests or hobbies. Outside of actual physical items, recognition rewards work well too. Employees want to be appreciated and acknowledged by their supervisors and peers.
- Flexibility: Accept that remote work may be a permanent facet of your business. Companies are finding that remote work improves productivity and quality of work. Employees can achieve a better work-life balance and minimize stress when they can be available for their family, themselves, and their employer. Flexibility is also helping many of our clients increase employee retention, which is more cost-effective versus losing an employee and spending time and resources hiring and training a replacement.
Paying attention to and instilling an intentional company culture lets you be very clear about the values and actions you want to see exercised within your company. It is also a great idea to ensure that everyone feels heard and respected as they take those daily actions to drive the company forward.
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