Like all living things, for a company to evolve and develop, it must cultivate an environment conducive to sustainable growth and long-term success—in other words, you need to be in the right conditions to thrive. These conditions can be best understood as your corporate culture. Your corporate culture encompasses the shared values, beliefs, and behaviors that define your work environment and guide your decision-making.
But what does this really mean? How do you know if you have a corporate culture that supports your long-term success and sustainability? In this guide, we’ll walk through five key indicators of a strong, positive corporate culture and share some tips for improving yours.
1. High Employee Engagement and Low Turnover
If your company has many highly engaged, productive, and loyal employees, this can indicate that you have an exceptional corporate culture that inspires people to stick around. These individuals are motivated by more than just their paycheck—they’re proud of the work that they do and want to support your company’s goals in new ways.
Double the Donation suggests several popular strategies for maintaining and boosting employee engagement, such as:
- Hosting culture events. Employees are more likely to feel fulfilled and enthusiastic in their roles when they’re supported by a close-knit community of colleagues. Give them the chance to build and strengthen connections with one another by allocating a budget for in-person or virtual events such as trivia contests, escape rooms, scavenger hunts, and book clubs.
- Providing growth opportunities. While you want your hard-working employees to stay with your company for the long term, this shouldn’t mean that they should stagnate in the same roles and responsibilities. Support your employees in their career journeys by creating mentorship opportunities, hosting workshops, or allowing them to pursue continuing education.
- Promoting autonomy. By welcoming employee ideas and providing them with opportunities to take on leadership roles, you can help them feel more invested in the outcomes of their work. You can even take it a step further by setting flexible work hours or adopting a hybrid format that allows them to work in an environment where they’re most productive and focused.
Aside from measuring employee retention, you can use performance reviews and metrics such as attendance or customer satisfaction scores to get a pulse on how engaged your employees are.
2. Clear Mission and Values
What makes talented employees choose your company over others? Chances are, it’s not just the pay. Three in four U.S. employees want to work for a company that’s having a positive impact on the world, and nearly half of Gen Z and Millennials would consider taking a pay cut to work for a company that shares their values.
If your company has a clear mission and values, then it’s easy to provide employees with a sense of purpose, align them on the importance of their work, and foster a sense of unity in the workplace. One of the most powerful ways to put your values front and center in your corporate culture is by giving back to the community.
According to Uncommon Giving’s workplace giving guide, there are several types of programs you can launch to promote social impact among your employees:
- Matching gifts. Match the gifts your employees make to eligible nonprofits at a 1:1 ratio or higher to multiply their generosity’s impact.
- Payroll deductions. Enable employees to automatically deduct part of their paycheck to donate to a charitable cause.
- Corporate volunteering. Broadcast local volunteer opportunities and plan team-wide volunteering events to get your employees out in the community.
- Volunteer grants. Reward volunteers who dedicate their time and energy to nonprofit causes by donating to the organizations they support after they reach a certain number of service hours with them.
Pro tip: Survey your employees to learn about causes that are close to their hearts. Then, focus your workplace giving initiatives on those specific areas to show that you care. For example, if you find out that many of your employees are passionate about promoting health equity within your community, you might partner with a local nonprofit that runs a mobile health clinic, providing the organization with pro bono services or hosting in-kind donation drives for them.
3. Diverse and Empowered Teams
While a good company culture should unify your employees, this doesn’t mean that they should all come from identical backgrounds or have the same ways of thinking. Having diverse teams ensures that you always have fresh perspectives, experiences, and ideas to shape your culture for the better.
When hiring new employees, use several recruitment channels to reach a wider candidate pool, including job boards and career fairs. During interviews, ask them questions related to your corporate culture and values—not just to see if they would be a good fit, but also to assess how they might contribute to it with their past work experience and personal background.
At the same time, create policies and opportunities that encourage employees to share their thoughts. For instance, you might have managers hold one-on-one meetings with their direct reports once or twice a week. These meetings allow employees to share updates, give and receive feedback, and ultimately feel more connected to their team’s overall goals, which can be especially important if they work remotely.
4. Excellent Employee Well-Being
On any given day, your employees are managing deadlines, juggling personal commitments, and fielding various communications on their devices. High employee well-being is a clear indicator of an excellent corporate culture, demonstrating that your company is committed to caring for its employees and their overall happiness.
Promoting well-being in the workplace can take many forms, including:
- Reminding employees to take regular breaks throughout the day.
- Creating a wellness program that provides access to gym memberships and nutrition classes.
- Offering mental health resources, such as counseling services or mindfulness apps.
- Engaging employees in wellness challenges, including walking a certain number of steps per day or getting a certain number of hours of sleep each night.
Another way to help your employees feel good physically and emotionally is to encourage them to volunteer. Whether they’re lending a hand during a community cleanup or socializing kittens at an animal shelter, volunteering allows people to make new connections, get active, and find a sense of purpose in their lives.
5. Frequent Recognition
Your employees are the backbone of your company’s success. By having practices in place to recognize them for all that they do, you can boost morale and a sense of belonging in your workplace.
There are various recognition strategies you can apply to make your employees feel valued, including:
- Naming an “Employee of the Month”
- Sending small gifts, such as a gift basket or a branded water bottle
- Planning an employee appreciation event
Remember that your corporate culture is never fixed in place. Rather, it’s shaped by your employees, strategies, goals, and policies. This means that there’s always a chance to grow and room to improve.
