Company Culture and the Employee Experience

When thinking about how to attract, retain and engage employees, leaders often fall into the "perks and policies" trap. In Gallup's experience, leaders can transform employee experience, and build exceptional employer brands, when they focus on the way work gets done and employees' day-to-day experiences, or in other words, their culture.

Gallup defines culture as “how we do things around here.” It is the collective attributes and habits of your individual contributors and how they are applied. A workplace culture is not inherently good or bad, however it is important that it is clearly defined and consistent from leadership to employees through to customer experience. Your company culture may not be toxic, but it may be confused if it is sending conflicting messages, expectations, and actions. Actions always speak louder than words, and the most influential messages are conveyed by leaders' actions.

Having a solid understanding of your company culture is important for recruiting new staff. Your organization's reputation is a primary reason why highly talented individuals want to work for you. Organizations must select, engage and develop employees in ways that reinforce company purpose, brand and culture. Throughout the entire employee life cycle, from attraction and hiring to onboarding, development and promotion, organizations need to be consistent when delivering messages about what is unique and important to their organization.

Some questions management might consider to sort out this business of culture include:

• Is our culture well-defined and clearly communicated?

• Are employees actively embracing and exemplifying the culture in daily work life?

• Does our culture drive performance and results?

• Is our culture consistent across all units?

• Does our culture influence employees to do what is best for customers and company reputation?

• Can our customers identify our culture after interacting with our employees?

You can get a better understanding of what your culture actually is by performing engagement surveys with existing employees. Your newest employees will have the most fresh perspective. An understanding of your employees’ Strengths can enable and expedite knowing your individual contributors and the role they play. Also, conducting exit interviews with employees who are leaving will give you an honest look into their culture experience.

At Hire Standard we start each day sharing a positive experience or thought. This simple habit came from one of our team members that has Positivity® as her top CliftonStrengths® theme. It helps us all to keep perspective and gratitude regardless of what the day has in store and it builds rapport as a team. Routine, tangible behaviors can define your company culture and give your team a sense of belonging, wellbeing and purpose.