The answer is a resounding “Yes!” But unless your company culture is something you’ve actively worked on before, it’s possible that you’re not entirely sure what it means and why it’s important. You’re not alone!
Your company culture is something that can be felt by an outsider coming into the business. It’s the way you do things, how you do things, the reason you do things… and it should be echoed across the entire business.
When you get your company culture right, it should be something that everyone in your business resonates with – that means your people will be happier in the business, be more productive, and stay with you for longer. Who wouldn’t want that?!
But where do you start if you want to work on your company culture if you’ve never really thought about it before?
That’s a big question, and of course it can seem like a daunting task. However, like most things HR, if you break it down into more manageable chunks it doesn’t have to be complicated. Start by trying to understand what your current culture is like within the business. How do your leaders manage their teams? Do you put a focus on teamwork, or do you prefer your people to be more independent? Do you like autonomy or do you prefer the human touch?
Once you understand where you are now, you can start thinking about what you’d like your culture to be.
There are countless benefits to having a company culture that truly reflects the business and the people within it. For starters, it means that everyone is on the same page and understands what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. But it also means that when it’s time to hire new people, you’ll naturally attract those who think in the same way that you do, and you’ll be able to make choices based on a good fit.
How can I start improving my company’s culture?
There are many ways that you can begin changing your company’s culture, these types of changes take careful time and consideration. You must make sure that you are taking the right steps fir your employees and your business, here are some examples:
Lead from the front
With SMEs in particular, company culture is heavily influenced by the company owners and leaders, think about the example you are setting in terms of; consistency, attitude, customer service style, respect, inclusion and general treatment of colleagues and customers.
Your team will emulate your behaviour to a certain extent and therefore practicing what you preach is essential in establishing a positive workplace culture.
Include staff in setting company values
A great exercise to address company culture and “reset” employees’ attitudes is to hold a company value setting session. This is a chance for all employees to contribute to devising a company values or ethos statement, which can then be used for ensuring new staff are aware early on of the companies expected values and behaviour requirements and for existing employees, it sets the tone of how you want your business to operate going forward.
Enhanced parental leave
The number of job postings that offer enhanced parental leave have doubled since last year, according to new data.
Enhanced parental leave is defined as being above the statutory minimum required in the UK. And this can go a long way towards attracting and keeping the best talent.
It’s important for employees to feel supported by the company they work for, and paid leave programmes lead to improved wellbeing, productivity, and loyalty.
Flexibility or a four-day week?
While a third of employers have cut a day off their standard working week, new research has found that jobseekers would rather have flexible working instead.
45% of people said that the term ‘flexible working’ in a job advert was enough to make them apply, whereas 40% said they’d be more swayed by ‘four-day working week’.
Whilst there isn’t much in it, what the data does show is that people are still favouring a better work/life balance, so it may be the key to attracting the best talent to your business.
