March 07, 2018

Workplace Culture 101

Ashley Glass – Account Executive

In today’s competitive workforce, it’s important to create an appealing work environment for prospective and current employees. Before making the decision of whether or not to apply for, accept or leave a job, individuals consider job perks like benefits, hours, wages and culture. This is especially important to new pros and millennials.

So, what is “culture”? Culture is a direct link of happiness to productivity. It blends the company’s individual values, beliefs and ideas. It is not only the character and personality of your organization, but what makes it unique. Culture can depend on many factors including workplace environment, business values, management styles, employees and even dress code.

It not only affects the attitudes of employees, goal setting and office communication, but it can also impact your company’s bottom line. When employees are personally invested in the company, they are inadvertently invested in the success of the business.

But, how do you create an impactful, positive culture in the workplace? Creating an appealing culture for your employees can take time and resources. Just as Rome was not built in a day, pizza parties do not suddenly become the norm. Studies have shown that employees who have growth opportunities available to them are more likely to be engaged, as well as those who felt challenged with fair pay and hours.

Here are some tips on getting started:

Personality tests: Have employees participate in a personality test such as the 16 personalities, Myers Briggs or 5 Voices. The results from this test will put employees on a spectrum of introverts, extroverts, innovators, connectors and more. It will also provide tips on how each different personality can effectively communicate to increase workplace communication and productivity. Not to mention, your employees will enjoy knowing you want to get to know them!

Volunteer together: Encourage employees to put together groups for different volunteer activities such as planting trees in a community park, hosting a blood drive, helping reconstruct a home in a nearby neighborhood or playing with furry friends at a local shelter.

Survey your people: Plan events your employees want to participate in. From happy hours to competing in a raceway competition go-kart style, it’s important to make sure you have an outing fit for everyone. Gauge employee preferences and interest by surveying if they’d prefer a restaurant, brewery or wine bar for a happy hour, or if they like pineapple on their pizza for a Friday pizza party.

Implement a Culture Committee: Creating a culture committee in charge of ensuring the quality and quantity of your event is fitting to your company’s needs. This “fun committee” can create the plan, send surveys, execute the events and handle budget. It’s a great way to give junior-level employees an opportunity to take on ownership of a project while gaining strategy and budgetary experience.

Budget: Maybe you don’t have a budget to allocate to parties, outings and shenanigans - no problem! Simply eating your lunch together at a nearby park or watching a movie in office after hours can boost your workplace culture.

Although culture takes time to develop, it’s important to prioritize it as an objective in your business strategy. Curating a culture worth working in is of utmost importance for business leaders. And remember, have fun with it!

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