For most employees, corporate culture means having an open dialogue with their team and superiors.
It fosters an environment where, instead of fear ruling, effective leadership and communication are what drive the company forward.
This aspect was often overlooked or undervalued in the past. However, ensuring employees feel supported and set up for success is crucial.
It’s not necessary to do a deep dive into a psychology book to understand that human beings do their jobs better when they’re offered:
- a sense of belonging;
- support from their peers;
- and the possibility of growth in the organisation.
The cherry on top is recognition for their efforts when they exceed expectations.
In the interest of backing up what we are saying, let us look at some simple but powerful statistics:
- 20% of the workforce assessed their workplace corporate culture as average.
- Among the employees who view their corporate culture as average, 43% have sought out new job prospects in the past six months.
- Almost half (46%) of all decision-makers report that culture directly affects improvements in areas critical to growth. These include employee productivity, retention, and engagement as culture improves.
Source: Arbinger – Corporate Culture Statistics
These statistics back up the same point—a motivated and supported workforce performs well, is loyal to its organisation, and often stays through thick and thin.
Let us get into the ways of building a solid corporate culture.
Effective onboarding process
Let us start from the beginning.
During onboarding, employees will likely be nervous and apprehensive about what to expect.
This is the time to show support and paint a picture of the company’s corporate culture.
Your onboarding process reflects what your future employees should expect from your organisational culture, so show them your company’s most positive attributes.
Are you onboarding remotely and struggling to make People feel welcome?
Consider creating a personalised onboarding video with a small clip from each team member.
In this clip, each team member can quickly welcome the new colleague and briefly explain their role in the team.
It is a simple way to make new team members feel they are part of the team.
If you are meeting them in person, maybe consider creating a personalised presentation that outlines how the company functions, who’s part of which team, and how their role fits in the bigger picture.
For example, an AI Presentation Maker can help you create presentations with the power of AI while adding a human touch. AI can speed up the creation of personalised presentations and save a lot of time.
You just need to choose your topic, preferred style, and tone. Then, if you want to personalise the final result even more, you can make additional changes or edits.
To get started, you can use one of the available templates:
Source: Slidesgo
So, if you want to inform new employees about your corporate culture, you can help them understand your company better through a presentation personalised to them and their onboarding process.
Continuous Learning Opportunities and Recognition of Achievements
As we discussed at the beginning of this article, the ability to grow and work their way up the corporate ladder is a priority for any employee worth their salt, and it’s a critical aspect of a healthy corporate culture.
If your organisation has the resources, the best way to do this is by offering consistent learning opportunities, such as certifications, mentorship programmes, and even individualised development plans.
If the company conducts business on a large scale, an example of a learning opportunity would be sending an employee to a company location abroad to learn more about the company’s different aspects.
Source: Image by Freepik
Beyond learning, recognising achievements when recognition is due is essential.
Leaving a thank you note, hosting a congratulatory dinner, sending an employee a gift basket when they land a new client, or even creating an employee wall of fame that recognises important company milestones are all great ways to get the recognition ball rolling.
Some companies even have yearly or bi-yearly meetups where they recognise the company’s growth and the employees who have helped make that happen. If you are part of a remote company, you could use a flyer maker to create and send digital flyers to employees, reminding them of the meetup.
These meetings are also a great team-building exercise for the organisation.
Proper Work-Life Balance
There are numerous ways to introduce an excellent work-life balance to the lives of your team members. Here are some companies who have got it right:
- Deloitee has seen increased productivity and customer satisfaction after introducing a flexible workday schedule. Employees can decide when to start and end their workday, better accommodating their personal needs on weekdays.
- Nike offers free therapy, access to employee sports centers, and a general focus on wellness programmes for its team. The company reaps the benefits of having a mentally and physically healthy squad.
These companies serve as phenomenal organisational culture examples to use for inspiration.
High Quality Internal Communication
We have come full circle to exactly where we started in this article. The primary focus when it comes to a solid corporate culture has always been communication.
Recognising employees’ efforts, providing opportunities, and creating a better work-life balance are things that come after the company builds a team with good internal communication.
TED is famous for its talks, but all the meetings there last less than 18 minutes.
Research has shown that the average person can pay attention to a speaker for 10 to 18 minutes. Keeping this in mind, TED focuses on having shorter meetings that don’t waste employee time while also getting the point across.
3M, another company focused on internal communication, implemented a policy allowing workers to spend 15% of their day brainstorming – pursuing and finding fresh ideas with their colleagues.
Team Building Events
Source: Image by Freepik
Last but not least, consider hosting team-building events, especially if you are a remote or hybrid team. This can have a natural positive effect on the corporate culture.
These events could be outdoor adventure quests, escape room challenges, picnics, or anything else your team is excited about.
Wrapping up
This article explains what defines a good corporate culture and give you a few ideas on how to begin improving it.
Wrapping up, let’s go through a few more critical questions that might be on your mind:
What are the five aspects of good corporate culture?
An excellent corporate culture is guided by its people, good leadership, communication, a solid vision (often communicated to the team as a mission statement), and the team’s training to strive for better.
What is the best workplace culture?
While that is a highly subjective question, the best workplace culture is often not a set of rigid attributes that a company has to tick off a checklist but a workspace where employees feel safe, motivated, and supported.
How that is achieved is often very different from company to company, but the aim remains the same.
So now that you have an understanding of corporate culture and a foundation to build your corporate culture strategy, the next step is in your hands.
Author: Freya Laskowski – Founder and CEO, SERPManiac
Photo credit: StockCake
