Company culture is essentially the core of any business; it’s the backbone of organizational life. It shows in what we do, what we say and how we treat each other, as well as in our products, decisions and customer relations.
To be successful as business leaders, we need to create positive environments with shared values, goals and beliefs. The more clearly that we define the type of culture we envision and strive to honor, the more suitable candidates we can attract, who share similar values and outlooks.
So, how can we go about creating a winning office environment and a close-knit, engaged team? Let’s look at 20 tips on how to build a great company culture!
1. Identify your core values
To build an inspiring company culture, you have to identify your values as an organization. What type of environment and work relations do you consider to be ideal? What principles do you consider to be an integral part of your mission?
To create the best working environment, you must establish some core values and ensure that each employee (including — and in fact starting with — management) adheres to them.
To give you an idea of how you could define these, this is what online shoe and clothing retailer Zappos outlines as their core values:
- Deliver WOW through service
- Embrace and drive change
- Create fun and a little weirdness
- Be adventurous, creative and open-minded
- Pursue growth and learning
- Build open and honest relationships with communication
- Build a positive team and family spirit
- Do more with less
- Be passionate and determined
- Be humble
2. Hire employees that are a good cultural fit
Once you have defined the values that will be informing your team’s efforts, you can start to identify prospective employees who would make a good fit.
As pointed out by digital marketer Neil Patel, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh “notes that the people you hire represent your company even outside of work.”
“This is why it’s important to hire people who share your company’s values,” he continues. “One bad hire can affect an entire department and possibly dozens of customers. And it can happen quickly, acting like a virus that spreads.”
3. Help employees set goals
It’s important to invest in your employees and ensure they are happy. If an employee feels that they can keep learning and growing professionally within your company, they will be less likely to start looking for opportunities elsewhere.
In order to do this, you can have yearly reviews (or every six months if you prefer) to go over your employees’ workloads, ideas and aspirations. When you’ve got the information you need, you can set goals with each employee and come up with a plan to help them meet their targets by a specific date.
This can help them stay focused and motivated!
4. Identify your cultural ambassadors
There are always at least a few people in each organization who are a living, breathing representation of its culture — like a little ray of sunshine on a rainy day. Identify these employees, and get them to help everyone else understand who you are as a firm and what you stand for.
Engage with these employees regularly, encourage them to interact with others as much as possible (especially new joiners), and ask for their honest feedback — they can really help you improve as a company.
5. Give clear, positive feedback
Providing your employees with clear, positive feedback is vital in preserving their happiness and productivity. Sadly, many employees don’t fully understand what’s expected of them in the workplace, which can create confusion, frustration and, ultimately, disengagement.
Giving good feedback as much as possible can be a great motivator for your team, making them feel seen; however, it’s important to also point out where there is room for improvement. The more specific your feedback is, and the more positively you phrase it, the better you can help your employees get back on track.
6. Offer perks that your staff will actually use
Many corporations offer perks, but not ones that their employees actually care about. To avoid this, strive to maintain an open line of communication with your employees to identify what benefits they would appreciate the most.
If you have young, health-conscious employees, you could invest in providing gym memberships, in-house spa days or cycle-to-work schemes, for example.
Ideally, providing personalized work benefits can help your company boost employee happiness and stand out from the competition. Letting people choose, to an extent, which perks they want based on their needs has been dubbed “the future of employee benefits”.
7. Recognize and reward success
A fair, positive workplace is one that recognizes employees’ achievements and that rewards them for it — for example, by giving out end-of-year bonuses or extra paid leave.
While you want to ensure that you’re consistently giving standout employees the recognition they deserve, it’s a good idea to show appreciation to and share words of encouragement with everyone on the team.
“When employees feel cared about as people, I’ve found they do their best work,” reports John Tabis in an article for Fast Company. “They also stay longer, work harder and produce more, which makes caring an amazing rate of increase. It’s a win–win for everyone.”
8. Offer flexible working hours
Many companies don’t offer flexible working hours for employees to run errands, go to doctor’s appointments or take care of other responsibilities that can only be done during the day. This often rubs employees the wrong way, which can result in pent-up frustration, added stress and higher absenteeism rates.
Some flexibility in your team’s work schedule, however, won’t go unnoticed or unappreciated. All generations, from Gen Zers to Baby Boomers, appreciate the flexible working benefit, even if it is to somewhat varying degrees.
9. Embrace transparency
A culture of transparency allows employees to feel trusted, respected and more relaxed — the latter because they’re aware of what’s happening within the organization, and not constantly looking for clues or stressing about what’s being decided behind closed doors.
The future of the company dictates, to a large extent, the future of your employees. Honest and frequent communication with your team members can put them at ease, and also encourage them to come to you with their own concerns, ideas and feedback.
10. Compensate your staff fairly
Lack of competitive pay is perhaps the most popular reason why people leave their jobs. While cost of living has been rising dramatically, most employees receive a yearly raise of around 2% — five times lower than the average 10% increase (or sometimes higher!) that comes with changing jobs.
A great salary, however, is not the only way you can compensate your staff. Paid trainings, flexible work arrangements, unlimited PTO, employee discounts and bonuses are all excellent ways to show your appreciation.
11. Ensure the working environment is fun
It can’t be all work and no play! To keep your team engaged and happy, you’ll want to make sure that the working environment is fun and upbeat, encouraging people to interact as much as possible.
A good place to start is to get creative with the office break room. Some ideas to make this space inviting, allowing employees to unwind on their own or mingle with one another, include adding in:
- Comfortable seating, such as recliners and bean bags (or even massage chairs!)
- Games that employees can bond over, such as foosball tables or a minigolf course
- Nap pods
- Different themed corners, such as a mindfulness corner or a fitness corner
You should also consider whether you're office space and meeting rooms in general are ergonomic for your team. By creating a simple floor plan template (like this user-friendly one by Canva), you can enhance team interaction with a strategically designed and optimized workplace layout.
12. Trust your employees
Leaders who don’t trust their employees are likelier to micromanage them, which can be incredibly damaging to any rapport that’s been established.
Micromanagement can cause employees to experience heightened physical and psychological stress, which then impacts their engagement, productivity and job satisfaction.
Instead, you should encourage leaders within your organization to provide enough space for team members to think, create and make decisions on their own. After all, your employees were hired for a reason, having stood out to you for their professional accomplishments and personal qualities.
13. Lead by example
Leaders should be the first to uphold the firm’s values and standards; they must be the strongest representation of the company’s culture and purpose.
Take Richard Branson, for example: he built Virgin Holidays through his passion for travel, luxury and having a good time, which is clearly encompassed by the company’s simple mission statement: “We’re all about creating magical moments that last a lifetime.”
Indeed, bosses and managers must be the biggest advocates for the values their company embraces. After all, how can you expect your employees to be enthusiastic and dedicated to a mission if you yourself as a leader don’t believe in it?
14. Be clear about your expectations
All companies will have a mission and certain processes that team members should be familiar with and adhere to. These should be clearly communicated when new employees join the organization and outlined in their employee handbook. Ideally, your organizational values should also be visible and evident in the way that things get done around the office.
This applies to the expectations you have for each role, too. The more clearly and precisely you let your team members know what they must be doing and how, the more time and resources you save and minimize misunderstandings and frustration.
15. Collect and listen to employee feedback
Considering your employees’ opinions is a big part of building a strong culture. It helps them feel valued, and they may even have some good points to suggest that you wouldn’t have thought of on your own. If you hire employees who make a good cultural fit like we mentioned above, your staff members will have skills that you admire, helping you drive your organization forward.
Annual surveys are the most common way companies gather employee feedback, although you can hold them biannually or quarterly if you prefer.
16. Arrange social events
Of course, in order to have a good company culture, you must encourage your employees to be social with each other. By arranging memorable parties and out-of-the-office activities, employees will feel more positive about their work, and will build relationships with the people they see on a daily basis.
Some ideas to consider (besides the obvious after-work drinks) include visiting escape rooms, going on scavenger hunts, hosting games nights or karaoke nights, or going on hikes. Another thing you may like to bear in mind is that volunteering with your team, even if it’s just a few times a year, can increase your employees’ job satisfaction dramatically.
17. Provide development opportunities
Much like poor remuneration and micromanagement, a lack of growth opportunities is another top reason why employees voluntarily resign.
Helping employees set and accomplish career goals within your organization, gradually taking on more responsibility and learning new things, shows your team members that you value them.
Carefully thought-out employee development plans allow you to do this. By assessing your employees’ strengths and learning styles, and identifying skills or knowledge gaps, you can come up with realistic, achievable targets that keep your staff happy and motivated.
18. Treat people fairly
Discrimination has no place in a healthy, positive workplace culture — and yet thousands of employees around the country become targets of discrimination each year.
According to statistics, racial and ethnic minorities are the group that most often experiences workplace discrimination around the US. This is followed by workers with disabilities, older workers, women and LGBTIQA+ employees.
If you want your employees to feel safe being themselves in the office, you need to educate your managers on identifying any unconscious biases they may have and improving their intercultural awareness and communication so that everyone on the team has access to the same support and opportunities.
19. Optimize your onboarding process
Your onboarding process sets a precedent for the kind of employee experience your team can expect. The more employee training and support you provide at this stage, the better.
As Casey Conway writes for Business News Daily: “Poor onboarding can lead new hires to question why they joined the organization and how it will help them accomplish their career goals.”
“Employees who have a poor onboarding experience are several times more likely to be disengaged at work,” she continues. “Disengaged employees cost businesses money — approximately 18% of their salary.”
20. Invest in employee wellness programs
A great culture is one that’s designed to keep company employees in the forefront, preserving their wellbeing, job satisfaction and productivity. The more looked-after your employees feel, the likelier they will be to want to give back to you.
Some employee wellness programs you can consider offering your team include tobacco cessation, weight management, financial education, health coaching and stress management programs.
Poor mental and physical health can become detrimental for your team members on an individual level, impacting their drive and output and compromising their quality of life. This, in turn, can mean harm for your business, too.
Final thoughts
David “Doc” Vik, founder of The Culture Secret and former advisor and coach at Zappos, said: “Keep in mind that, within all companies, there is already a culture. But it may not be what is wanted and, many times, the culture is created by default.”
And it’s true: if you leave matters on autopilot, a culture will be created, and it most probably won’t be one that empowers your employees or drives success to your company!
What steps do you take to create a positive office environment and an inspiring culture? Tell us in the comments section below, and don’t forget to share this article with fellow leaders or entrepreneurs!
This article is a partial update of an earlier version originally published on October 16, 2017, and contains contributions by Joanna Zambas.