Good company culture is becoming a necessity rather than a rare occurrence these days. The expectations of the workplace have greatly shifted over the past decade. There is a new normal and expectancy of what working should be and according to the new generation of workers currently in and entering the workforce, what working will be moving forward.
The new normal involves communicative leadership that can show empathy and allows for flexibility, a positive work environment that instills morality and respect, an environment that is collaborative and creative, and a place that is focused on the team’s wellbeing just as much as deadlines and projects. The idealistic workplace of 2022 utilizes its employee’s abilities and shows proper appreciation to their team members. This new normal of company culture is a representation of the evolution of what ‘work’ is and what will be tolerated by the standard working person. The new generation has spoken, new times call for new ways of doing things.
Is your workplace ready for the steadfast changes taking place in the workforce? If not, it’s time you start thinking about it.
The Change in the Workforce
With much of the workforce being comprised of millennials and Generation Z, these newer generations of workforce newcomers need and expect different things from the older working generations. “Millennials will represent 75% of the global workforce by 2025. Millennials became the largest generation in the nation’s workforce back in 2016 with over 56 million millennials in the US workforce today”. (TeamStage) Although Millennials make up most of the workforce now, “Generation Z will soon surpass them as the most populous generation on earth, with more than one-third of the world’s population counting themselves as Gen Zers”. (Deloitte) So it’s safe to say, what was accepted and tolerated a decade ago, even five years ago, has changed exponentially. Although the workforce is growing of candidates, job placement has been difficult due to business reputations and candidate necessities not being met by the hiring company.
How an organization treats its employees, what the work environment is like, and how leadership leads are crucial to whether or not a company will attain the proper talent they need to fill its positions. “They’re cultivating human-centered cultures where work is built around the employees’ lives and not the other way around”.(LinkedIn) So the more your business leads with a great company culture that showcases respect, empathy, and work-life balance, the more likely your business will have the competitive edge you need to keep you successful and your employees satisfied.
Changing Workplace Culture
Assessing what your business doesn’t have that others might have, should give you an understanding of what you can do to strengthen your company’s culture. For instance, does your company offer skill set coaching or training? Do you allow for flexible schedules? Does your leadership micromanage? Is your work environment positive and welcoming? Do you allow your team the ability to be creative and come up with their solutions? To understand what your team and business need to be successful you have to be willing to acknowledge the changes your workplace might need to kickstart your transformation. “Changing your culture needs to start with defining those cultural attributes that will drive your business strategy. Culture is shaped by leaders’ actions and decisions and by symbols manifested.”(Deloitte) Figure out what will make sense for your company. Take a deep dive into your current workplace conditions, leadership effectiveness, and team satisfaction, and go from there.
90% of professionals conduct research on a company’s culture before accepting a role. (Robert Walters)
Workplace culture “is the tacit social order of an organization: It shapes attitudes and behaviors in wide-ranging and durable ways. Cultural norms define what is encouraged, discouraged, accepted, or rejected within a group. When properly aligned with personal values, drives, and needs, culture can unleash tremendous amounts of energy toward a shared purpose and foster an organization’s capacity to thrive… It’s a powerful differentiator for a company because it is strongly aligned with strategy and leadership. Delivering outstanding customer service requires a culture and a mindset that emphasize achievement, impeccable service, and problem-solving through autonomy and inventiveness”.(Harvard Business Review) Your business’s culture connects your team to their work, your company, your mission, your company goals, and expectations. Without proper culture in place, your team and business won’t rise to the level of success hoped for or needed.
“TeamStage reported that team leaders have the highest impact on company culture and that 94% of entrepreneurs and 88% of job seekers say that healthy workplace culture is vital for success”. (Empuls)
Important Factors of Corporate Culture
The importance of company culture is its power to change the outcome of success. A minor occurrence can change the plans of an organization’s goals. Whether it affects your success positively or negatively corresponds to the culture you introduced into your team. Instilling a great culture in your workplace will benefit company success, produce effective work processes and stop ineffectiveness in the office. Below are examples of why we deem company culture so high in every business process:
1. Attract & Retain or Repel Top Talent
What makes employees stay in a place of employment? The employer’s company culture. What makes employees leave their place of employment or not apply to open positions at all? The lack of company culture. Company culture dictates who applies to open positions, if the talent stays, and whether you have a positive reputation. A weak culture repels top talent from applying to your company. If a business has a negative reputation, more than likely it didn’t focus on the employee’s well-being and had ineffective leadership. Attracting and retaining the best people will be in congruence with the work environment they are given, the leadership that leads them, and the work-life balance they are presented with. To have the best performers you have to have the best working conditions in comparison to the competition.
2. Strong Company Reputation
Reputation has a lot to do with a business’s success and without proper culture, your reputation is bound to be negative. How someone was treated during their employment, the resources or lack thereof they were provided, how leadership leads, work-life balance, and the overall work environment connect to your reputation. If an employee is let go or quits, more than likely if they had a negative experience they will talk about it. Past and current employees help attract, retain or repel talent.
86% of job seekers avoid companies with a bad reputation. (TeamStage)
There is so much to lose when you have a bad reputation. “A company’s reputation is a public perception of the company and how it operates. This includes public opinions on the company’s products or services or how the company treats its employees. A reputation can be positive or negative, it can change over time and affects growth and revenue. It’s important to maintain an outstanding reputation to attract and keep customers as well as employees. So learning what affects a company’s reputation and how you can improve the reputation of your company, can help accomplish your expansion goals, establish your brand, increase your sales,” (Indeed) and keep employees satisfied.
3. Increased Employee Engagement & Performance
When you give a team a positive environment and are focused on their well-being, their quality of work will surpass the company’s expectations. Increased performance has everything to do with the resources a business provides, the work environment, and management.
Does your team feel a connection to your brand? Why does your team do what they do? What’s the work for? What’s the business’s purpose? “To keep employees engaged and attract the values-based generation of consumers, all your actions should be led by your brand purpose. Your brand purpose should be well-defined, understood, and infused across your organization via all touch points—in everything you make, say, and do. Your purpose can be a galvanizing force—something bigger than a company’s commercial offering—that people can believe in to drive innovation to all parts of the organization. This is also a great time to evaluate and possibly update your company’s core values to make sure they are still relevant in the new world order”. (Fast Company) Building a proper brand identity is crucial to your success. Your identity will correlate with your culture so figure out what works for your business and instill those changes.
4. Creates Healthy Team Environments
When creating a work environment for your team, focusing on their well-being and creating a workspace that was made to collaborate and stay creative, productive, and performative is the wanted outcome. Without a healthy work environment, your team will find it hard to succeed. “Employee morale and happiness at work are crucial factors to any company’s success. Understanding what motivates job seekers and current employees alike can make all the difference when creating a healthy company culture and environment. At the heart of a company’s success is often a culture that truly demonstrates its value and appreciation of employees, which can often be found by supporting employees’ physical and mental health. To create a motivated, healthy workforce, take a look at your organization and reassess if it’s evolving to meet the needs of today’s modern employees”. (Forbes) Invest in your team and they will invest their time, show belief in your team, and they will believe in you, give your team positive work culture and they will be sure to provide you with expected outcomes.
“There is a correlation between employees who say they are “happy at work” and feel “valued by their company” – and those who say their organization has a clearly articulated and lived culture”. (Deloitte)
Culture Sums Up Success
Company culture is the most important aspect of any business. It’s a representation of the company and the perspective of its employees. A positive culture will focus on the well-being of the employees. Without exception, this team can collaborate, can communicate easily with leadership, and will know in detail their task and the company’s end goal. This type of culture provides the competitive edge any growing business needs to remain successful.
An organization with a poor culture could technically reach some level of success- Especially if your product and/or service is wanted or needed by your targeted audience. But this success is usually short-lived due to the negative reputation of the business. Reputation follows you everywhere and can be quick to turn growing success to stagnant success to failing.
“Strong cultures resulted in a 4X increase in revenue growth. An influential culture can account for up to 50% of the differential in performance between organizations in the same sector”. (Empuls)
Remembering to focus on your team is a fool-proof way to create the circumstances they need to reach the level of success you want. Company culture can transform your workplace, your team’s performance, productivity, and company loyalty if you are willing for change to take place in your business. Building a strong culture isn’t easy, especially if your company doesn’t have proper positive cultural characteristics already- take your time to understand your team, their needs and wants, come up with your strategy, and acknowledge this new normal of instilling a good company culture focused on well-being. Figure out what works best for your workplace and through trial and error, success will follow.
Want to Elevate Your Company Culture? Ready To Get Started?
By utilizing the CODE Program, elevate your team to a higher level of productivity, higher performance, and increased effectiveness. Designed to enhance teams, work environments, and company culture, the CODE Program is customized to tailor to the needs of organizations and provide strategic help to these businesses through personalized lessons created by business professionals to produce meaningful changes and outcomes for the overall success of the organization and team.
All companies, no matter how big or small should implement a culture reset in their workplaces throughout their years of operation. Are you ready to improve your team dynamics, reputation, leadership effectiveness, and overall team performance?
The CODE Program helps businesses instill effective growth cultures into their workplaces to create better effectiveness in teams and help these teams reach their full potential through CODE’s customized approach to team coaching and workplace culture implementation. Contact us and improve your company’s culture and competitive edge today.
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