Company culture, consisting of everything from your core mission and values to the way you engage with your teams, is becoming increasingly important to potential employees as well as customers. In fact, many workers now prioritize culture over material benefits and even the pay rate. But how do you know if you’re doing a good job in building a positive company culture?
Here is a five-step action plan to assess your culture
Evaluate Onboarding
If you want innovative, highly engaged employees, it’s vital to set the tone from day one. Evaluate every step of the process, from who greets new hires and shows them around to what types of training methods you use. Revamp the entire experience to focus on personalization, engagement, and creative participation.
Check Leadership’s Agility
Today’s managers need to be more flexible and open to change than ever before. If your leaders are stuck in old ways of doing things, it can be tough to attract and retain top talent, especially among younger workers. Take your executives’ concerns seriously, but don’t let the company fall out of relevancy simply due to the fear of change or unwillingness to embrace it from the top.
Rethink Incentives
While bonus checks remain a powerful motivator, they’re not the only option for incentivizing employees. Instead, find creative ways to personalize incentives. For example, you might show your appreciation for someone who loves baking with a gift certificate to a cake decorating class. If the sheer number of employees makes this difficult, consider offering gift cards to one of five or 10 different places. Recognition also goes a long way, such as selecting an employee of the month. Or try giving non-financial rewards such as an extra break or an afternoon off.
Pay Attention to Teams
Building strong, cohesive, dynamic teams is a powerful way to improve your company culture. But few teams come together well on their own. Focus on team outings, especially to places such as escape rooms that require communication and working together. Also be sure to set ground rules on topics such as respectful speech, giving everyone the opportunity to participate, and delegating responsibilities.
Ask for Feedback
An excellent way to assess your existing company culture is to talk to your employees about how they see the business’s successes and challenges. Ask questions such as what’s holding the company back or how the organization can improve over the next year. Hearing a lot of negativity typically means that a negative attitude has become pervasive, while tepid responses or forced positivity may indicate that employees are afraid to speak freely. Either way, it’s important to reopen the lines of communication and start modeling respectful openness from the top.
Need New Talent?
If you’re ready to bring on new temp-to-hire, temporary, or permanent employees, Pirate Staffing is here for you. Learn what we can do to help, and then contact us to get started.
