Company culture is the unifying element that holds everyone in an organization together. Culture encompasses the written and unwritten behavioral norms and expectations of those within the company.
Why Is Company Culture Important?
According to Alternative Board’s 2016 Small Business Pulse Survey, 93 percent of entrepreneurs believe that promoting company culture is good for productivity and creativity.
Recent studies have revealed that employees highly value company culture in their decision to stay with—or leave—a company. Moreover, it has been proven that employees who identify with and feel a sense of belonging to a company’s culture are more productive, happier and want to work for the company for longer.
Retaining employees who are happy and productive is not only good for employee morale, but also for your bottom line. High turnover is costly and can also harm your company’s culture and cause remaining workers to become disengaged and unproductive.
A positive and strong company culture not only improves retention rates, it also improves recruiting rates. Prospective employees care about your reputation as a company and are evaluating potential employers on their corporate culture. In fact, many millennials view cultural compatibility with a company as just as important as salary.
How Can I Improve My Company’s Culture?
According to Staples Business Advantage, companies can do the following six things to improve their culture:
- Inspire collaboration.
- Respect employee input.
- Improve meetings.
- Support telecommuting policies.
- Recruit strong leadership.
- Encourage sustainability.
These six suggestions are just a handful of ideas for improving your culture. For more information on company culture, contact Associated Underwriters Insurance.
