What is Company Culture? Part 1:
According to the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), culture consists of shared beliefs and values established by leaders, and then communicated and reinforced through various methods that ultimately shape employee perceptions, behaviours, and understanding. This is a good definition, but it’s helpful to break it down further to reveal its impact on an organisation.
Shared beliefs and values constitute the foundations of company relationships. Leaders communicate and embody an organisation’s shared beliefs and values, which are then reinforced through employee behaviours as they strive towards fulfilling mutual goals and personifying the organization’s mission.
Without question, exceptional workplace culture boosts engagement and performance. The impacts of a toxic and dysfunctional workplace culture versus a healthy and cohesive one has a significant influence on individual and team stressors and effectiveness.
What’s missing from the toolbelt of many leadership teams is how to establish and operationalise a healthy workculture with consistency and success.
- 79% of professionals in Australia would not work at a leading company if it meant they had to tolerate badworkplace culture
- 87% of job seekers consider a company’s culture before applying for ajob
- 92% of people would consider changing jobs if offered a role with a company with an excellent corporate reputation.
Work flexibility is a key part of culture, especially since 2020. Organisations need to reiterate that they value employees and acknowledge their lives exist outside of the workplace. When an employer offers flexibility with its employees, it is a motivator. Flexibility can include working locations, times and/or days. Can the employee finish the work in a four-day work week? If so, consider that flexibility. Can the employee come in earlier and leave earlier or the opposite? If so, consider that flexibility.
Having an open and honest dialogue where the employee and supervisor can discuss needs and expectations will help identify a flexible plan that supports not just the employee but the company as a whole. Individuals seek to effectively balance their personal and professional lives, and flexibility helps achieve that balance.