It’s not enough to simply offer your employees a place to work. To maximize your success and minimize your employee turnover, you have to make sure that the right workplace culture is in place as well.
Corporate culture matters in a variety of ways. It helps communicate organizational priorities to everyone in the organization, builds motivation among your workforce, and positions your company as an employer of choice. How can you get there? By following these 5 steps.
1) Establish Organizational Direction
A strong corporate culture starts at the top. Establish a mission and vision statement that highlights your organizational priorities. Create a strategic plan to get you closer to that mission and vision. Build measurable goals in support of that strategic plan. The more you shape your guiding documents and live those documents, the clearer your culture will become to all employees.
A great way for maintaining consistency in larger organizations that have multiple locations is to have software that helps audit and maintain those locations.
2) Communicate Honestly and Frequently
Engaged employees are happy employees. And of course, they’ll only be engaged and happy if they have a chance to be a part in your organizational culture and direction. Happy employees are 31% more productive, and engaged employees reduce turnover by 54%. Keep the communications channels open, and your culture will grow as a result.
Part of that communication should include sharing your successes. And sharing that success can require complex integrations between your software in order to visualize it for the organization. But it’s worth that time and effort. The more they know, the more they’ll appreciate the inclusion–and the more their productiveness will increase.
3) Celebrate Individual and Team Accomplishments
Positive reinforcement should be a crucial part of your employees’ everyday relationships with you and each other. The more they feel that good work is valued, the more likely they will become to strive toward accomplishing that good work and maximizing their skills.
The goal here is to make the celebration of accomplishments (individual and team) so natural that by the time new employees enter, it’s a natural part of everyday culture. Everyone is motivated and competitive enough to get to the rewards promised, celebrating accomplishments in the same way your business benefits from it.
4) Provide the Basic Tools for Success
Employees want to feel included, happy, and acknowledged, but they also need to accomplish their jobs. If bottlenecks or roadblocks exist in accomplishing that, they will voice their displeasure and depress the culture you’re trying to establish.
That’s why providing basic tools for success is absolutely crucial for your workplace culture. In the logistics industry and compliance, for example, a solution like A2B Tracking could be an invaluable tool for your employees to stay happy and productive.
5) Encourage Professional Development
Finally, to improve your corporate culture and maximize your desirability as an employer, be sure to keep your workers satisfied. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs established that without self-actualization, individuals cannot truly be happy or feel fulfilled. In a professional environment, that fulfillment comes in the form of professional development.
Depending on your industry, of course, the types of professional development most relevant to your workforce can vary wildly. You may offer reimbursement of higher education tuition, or regular funding for professional conferences. Alternatively, access to a platform like Real Connex can help especially those in the real estate profession maximize their talent and grow their professional network. Or Curve Dental for Dental Offices.
Building a strong corporate culture comes with enormous benefits, from a more productive workforce to reduced employee turnover. Getting there, however, can be hard work. You need to be consistent in your organizational goals, while also making your employees feel involved, appreciated, and productive. Through the above steps, you can make sure that your culture grows and evolves to become a crucial part of your brand identity.