Why Company Culture Is More Important Than You Think
Company culture is more important than most small business owners think. Even if you can’t offer the world’s best health insurance and fringe benefit package, you can still provide an amazing company culture that your employees and potential employees will appreciate. If your employees don’t enjoy where they work, they’ll leave. In fact, they are 15% more likely to leave your company than employees who enjoy where they work.
What Is Company Culture?
The best way to explain company culture is to ask you to think about a job that you absolutely hated. You hated going to work every day. Why did you hate it? Were you micromanaged? How was the communication with company leaders or management? Did you feel appreciated? Did you feel overworked?
Now, think about a job that you enjoyed. You liked going to work each day. How were you treated? What were the differences in the environment between the job that you hated and the job that you liked?
Company culture can be positive or negative. It defines whether your employees look forward to coming to work every day. Company culture doesn’t have to mean having a ping pong table in the middle of the office or mid-day naps for your team members. Company culture can be as simple or as complex as you make it.
Encouraging a Positive Company Culture
Above all else, a company culture should be positive. It should provide energy, enjoyment, and challenge your employees instead of draining them. Millennials currently make up the largest portion of the workforce. Their priorities in life are much different than the majority of previous generations. In order to capture and continue to harness the talent within the Millennial generation, their ideas and priorities must be embraced.
Positive company culture starts with open communication. How are your employees treated when they have a question, a concern, or a complaint? Are their concerns dismissed? Do you listen to what they’re saying and look for ways to improve the company?
Trust is another important concept of establishing and maintaining a positive company culture. Are your employees micromanaged? Do you delegate projects and responsibilities and turn over control? Do your employees have the necessary power to make decisions and to help fix problems that your clients have? When employees feel trusted by their employers, they are happier. They feel like they are able to institute change and do their job well.
Company Culture Ideas
If you’re looking for more ideas on how to improve your company culture so that you can attract and retain the best talent, you’re not alone. Some ideas that you can use to improve your company culture include:
- Provide snacks once a quarter (or more) for your employees to show that you appreciate them.
- Invest in quality (and tasty!) coffee and tea service.
- Consider implementing flex time for your employees.
- Consider the idea of allowing employees to work on a remote on a n occasional or regular basis.
- Find a worthy cause to volunteer company time to such as volunteering as a team at a local food bank.
You could also ask your employees what they would like out of their employment experience with your company.
Grow Your Business the Cost-Efficient Way
If you’re looking to grow your business, consider Clients ARM remote services. Choosing to partner with Clients ARM means that you get the benefit of our more than 30 years’ experience. Since we work from a remote U.S. location, partnering with us is cost-effective. On average, our services cost around 40% less than hiring a permanent employee. Interested in learning more? Contact Clients ARM today for your free, no obligation consultation.
