Company culture can be defined as the overall values and day to day experience of your company. Increasingly, job seekers are naming company culture as a key determinant for whether they will accept a position. Strong company culture can also build loyalty, boost productivity, and increase employee engagement and retention. But where should you start? Here a few core building blocks for improving your company culture.
Humanize Your Employees
Treating your team members like robots will lead to resentment. Instead, get to know them as individuals and learn what’s going on in their lives. If someone is late because the bus didn’t arrive on time, or a single mother needs to take her child to the doctor, don’t penalize them. Understand that life happens, and treat your employees with humanity and dignity.
Foster Respect
Respect should be the foundation that underpins everything else you do. Teach your team members to respect each other as well as your customers. Talk about personal space, boundaries, and professional language. And remember to always set a good example.
Build Diversity and Inclusion
Your team members likely come from different backgrounds, cultures, and generations. Create a culture where all groups have an equal seat at the table, and all voices are heard. Consider implementing specific diversity and inclusion practices such as blind hiring software and job postings with inclusive language.
Show Trust
Micromanaging can be poisonous to your company culture. Employees need to feel that you trust them. Provide general guidelines and boundaries, and empower your team members to come up with solutions. This will help them feel valued, promote open lines of communication, and build team cohesiveness.
Communicate
Be clear and transparent with your employees. Let them know both what’s going well and where there are challenges. Create channels for team members to provide feedback, and be sure to respond in a reasonable period of time. Encourage team members to speak up and listen among themselves as well.
Celebrate
Spread joy through the workspace by celebrating both personal and business accomplishments. Take new team members to lunch. Throw retirement parties. Give small gifts for milestone work anniversaries. Decorate for birthdays and throw showers for parents to be. Even small rewards let employees know you appreciate them and can help with improving your company culture.
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