We have all heard stories about companies with both good and bad work environments. These stories affect how the business is perceived in a unique way, since the stories are relayed by current or previous employees. How employees view the character and personality of their workplace is important to their satisfaction and dedication to the company, as well as to the quality of their work. Businesses that have a favorable company culture are able to hire better candidates, retain the best employees, and have stronger, more successful organizations.
What is Company Culture?
Company culture is the personality of the business. This defines the environment the employees work in and is affected by many different factors, including:
Management and Leadership: How the company is managed, the interaction of management and leaders with employees, and mutual confidence in each other’s performance.
Company Protocols: These are company standards regarding practices and policies concerned with hiring, compensation, benefits, bonuses, training and development, promotions, performance reviews, wellness, scheduling, breaks, dress code, and paid time off.
Mission Statement and Core Values: The mission statement of your company tells why it exists, who you want to help, and what your purpose is. The core values are how you go about doing business and the characteristics your employees should convey while working. These should be familiar to your employees and also be inspiring to them.
People: Everyone who works for a company has an impact on its workplace culture. The personalities, beliefs, values, and skills of each individual impacts daily interactions among coworkers. These can range from positive interactions which are collaborative and supportive to negative ones which are confrontational and non-supportive.
Environment: This includes everything from the use of common rooms, to the layout of workspaces (open, cubicle, or rooms), lighting (windows, fluorescent lights), decoration (paint colors, artwork), furnishings (desks, chairs, cabinets), and employee’s personal items placed in their individual spaces.
Communications: The type of interaction and communication between management, leaders, and employees, and frequency of communication.
Why Does Company Culture Matter?
Company culture is important to employees, as they are more likely to enjoy their job when their needs and values are similar to those of their workplace. This results in better relationships with coworkers, more productivity, and happier employees. Employees who don’t fit in with the company culture are less likely to get pleasure from their work. For example, if an employee prefers to work as part of a team, but all of their assignments require working independently in a private office, they may be less happy and productive than if they were employed in a position that emphasized teamwork and had shared offices. Knowing what your company’s culture is, could lead to you asking more specific questions in the interviewing process, which will allow you to get a better sense of how each applicant would fit in and enjoy working at your company, ensuring you hire the best candidate.
Company culture is also important to employers, because happier employees that enjoy their workplace environment, are more likely to stay with the company. Employees should look forward to going to their jobs and the culture of the workplace should alleviate stress associated with work rather than add to it. Failing to decide what you want your company culture to be can be detrimental to your business; you could waste time and money creating policies that fit other businesses but not yours, hiring employees that aren’t the right fit, and tolerating poor management styles. It is important to evaluate how each factor is contributing to or impairing the culture of your company. A well-defined healthy company culture values each employee and their unique contributions, which results in employees working together as a team to achieve common goals.
PMD Group can help you define your company culture if it isn’t where it needs to be. This is done through discussion and interaction with you and your team members to determine your core values, mission and vision statements. The outcome from those can inspire change in processes, priorities, and work environment.
We’re ready to help you with your company culture! Contact us today.