When it comes to building a successful business, your employees are its most important asset. Because good employees can be your best salespeople and biggest brand ambassadors, it then goes on to make sense that if you want to attract and retain high-performing talent, it’s essential that your company culture is one that your staff not enjoy being part of, but also one that they can be proud of and excited about. But how do you go about building a culture that attracts and retains top talent? Here are some things to consider and tips for how you can go about building a great company culture.
What is a strong company culture?
A company’s culture is the set of values, behaviours and norms that define it. A solid company culture is critical to the success of any business as it impacts how employees feel about their work environment, what they bring to the table and how they interact with others in both professional and social settings.
Developing and maintaining a clear and defined strong company culture helps attract quality staff by providing an engaging workplace that enables people at all levels of your business to do their best work. It also makes it easier for you to retain good employees because they feel part of something special-which can translate into lower staff turnover rates as they feel valued and appreciated for their contributions. A strong company culture also helps you attract and retain customers because people want to do business with companies whose values align with theirs.
Why a strong culture matters to your business?
According to a 2017 survey by Harvard Business Review, 81% of millennials say that the culture of an organisation is an important consideration in deciding where they want to work. What’s more, the same survey showed that over 75% of those respondents wanted to work for a company that has a positive and supportive culture. More than ever, people are wanting their roles in the workplace to be meaningful, impactful and also enjoyable.
In addition to being an enticing recruiting tool for attracting potential high-quality employees, healthy company culture can also improve your business’s bottom line. A study by CEB found that organisations with high levels of employee engagement are more likely to have higher profit margins and sales growth than those companies that don’t.
How to create a positive company culture.
Creating a company culture requires a great deal of consideration, planning and effort. The first step is to envisage what you want the culture to be and then to create a plan to achieve it. Getting your whole team on board with the concept and planning of this is crucial for them to understand how they can first contribute and then benefit.
- Create a mission statement. This will be the foundation for everything else you do, so it’s important that everyone in your business understands it.
- Establish core values. These are the principles that guide decision-making and leadership at every level of the company, from hiring decisions to annual budgets and everything in between.
- Consider creating an employee rewards program based on those values: for example: “We value hard work so much that we provide our employees with paid birthday day off.” You can also offer other rewards such as unlimited coffee and snack provisions, flexible work hours or telecommuting options if they align with your core values.
- Set up regular team-building activities and events where employees can get to know each other better outside of their day jobs; this helps build camaraderie amongst teams which in turn makes everyone happier at work!
Making your company stand out from the crowd.
- Be authentic. You can’t fake a great company culture, so don’t try to. When you’re being yourself, you’re more likely to attract like-minded people who will fit into your team and make it stronger as a result.
- Be transparent about what makes your company special – why it’s important for candidates who are considering applying for jobs at your business to work there instead of somewhere else! And why consumers should want to do business with your instead of your competitors.
- Be consistent in upholding these core values both internally and externally, and remember that consistency is key when building trust with new hires (or even potential clients). This means things like having regular meetings where everyone gets together once per week or month, having clear expectations set out upfront so there are no surprises later on down the line, and sticking closely within budget guidelines agreed upon before starting any project together…
A positive company culture can increase employee happiness and retention, which will lead to a stronger business overall.
Your company culture can be anything you grow it to be, and as long as you consistently walk the talk, your employees will follow. Developing and maintaining a positive company culture will have a huge impact on the success of your business. It can help you attract and retain top talent, improve employee morale, and increase productivity and efficiency and then this of course, results in better business. So how do you go about creating a positive company culture? It’s not as hard as you might think, but it does require a commitment from every employee to do their part in making it happen.
Yes, building and maintaining a strong culture takes time and effort, but will be 100% worth it if you want your business to thrive. The first step is figuring out what makes your company unique – what do employees love about working there, and then, even more importantly, what do you want them to love most about working there? Then use that information as inspiration when creating new initiatives or introducing new programs aimed at maintaining a healthy company culture that will see your business reach its full potential.