GAIN COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE BY BUILDING YOUR COMPANY CULTURE
Having a great company culture can give your business a definite competitive advantage. A company with a well-defined, positive culture also will have more engaged employees, better defined expectations and a more cohesive team.
You’ve invested substantial time, energy and money in staffing your business with great employees, then compounded that investment with the training, benefits and other perks you provide your staff. You can’t stop there. Mindfully and intentionally create your company culture in order to achieve the results you want.
Attract a larger pool of talented job candidates
Everyone wants to work for a great company, and each person has in mind what makes a company “great” to him or her. Who hasn’t heard of the generous office perks at Google, from free haircuts and gourmet cafeteria food to extensive leave and benefits? REI is in the news for paying its more than 11,000 employees to take off work on Black Friday, encouraging them to spend the day outdoors instead. You don’t have to be a Fortune 500 company to have a great company culture, you just have to create it intentionally .
Decide what’s important, communicate that to your team, and stand by it with your words and actions. When your company culture speaks for itself, that will help you become an employer of choice, drawing job candidates to you and making recruiting great employees much easier.
Reduce turnover and boost morale
When you have a positive culture that accurately reflects your goals and the direction your company is headed, your team can tell. Employees are engaged in their work and understand how their contributions fit into the bigger picture. Communication is emphasized, goals are set and employees are held accountable. Happy employees stay longer, are more loyal to their team and the company, and often become ambassadors for your brand, promoting not only your products but also the company itself as a desirable employer.
Where should you start?
No two company cultures are alike, and they shouldn’t be. Your employees, your location, your history, your vision, and your mission are unique to your company as the products and services you provide for your customers. Talk with your key employees and the influencers at your company to help develop your mission and vision statements, and make “course corrections” on a regular basis.
If you work with a Professional Employer Organization (PEO), your HR Manager can help you with an employee survey to identify what’s most important to your team members and pinpoint problem areas, as well as assisting you in communicating survey results to your team. Designing your company culture doesn’t have to be a tedious process; a PEO has a wealth of HR, benefits and other expertise from which to draw, and can guide you as you build the company culture that will give you a competitive advantage.