Company culture is defined as your company’s personality. Is communication fast-paced or lackadaisical? Are daily decisions high stakes or made on a trial and error rationale? Would you describe employee relations as purely professional or do they take on a personal nature? Company culture reverberates throughout both day-to-day processes and more long term business operations. Culture is the dial that controls success levels of the organization, and a toxic culture can make or break a company’s bottom line.
A healthy company culture will benefit your bottom line by motivating employees and smoothing out lines of communication. A hostile company culture leads to employee push-back and overall disorganization. Take an active role in shaping company culture and you will see the difference in your bottom line. We have identified three key areas where company culture most affects your bottom line: personal investment and engagement levels, quality of intra-organizational communication, and day-to-day individual productivity levels.
Can effective company culture tools encourage personal investment?
An employee’s personal investment in the mission, values, and overall success of your organization is likely your best window into company culture. High levels of personal investment might be the result of any number of things. A typical benefits package might affect an employee’s commitment to the success of the company as a whole; if people feel provided for, they are able to focus more on their work than the added responsibility of insurance plans for them and their families. Another driver for personal investment in organizational health and success might be the presence of stock options. Equity is a proven driver of productivity and motivation at work. Coaching and mentoring is another key aspect of encouraging personal investment. If your company culture encourages positive feedback and/or constructive criticism, it is likely to lead to a stronger sense of belonging and ideal employee-manager relationships.
Culture leads to strong lines of communication
The quality of internal communications is directly correlated to company culture. A healthy culture leads to smooth and open dialogue with efficient response times and a friendly tone. If your company culture facilitates positive relationships between employees, they will be more inclined to collaborate and support each other in their roles. This brings us back to coaching and mentoring. A healthy employee-manager relationship will consist of quality coaching and careful mentoring. If an employee feels that their manager is invested in their success, they are more likely to perform well and seek out positive feedback. If company culture fosters these positive relationships and healthy communication channels occur on a company-wide level, your bottom line is going to benefit.
Healthy culture improves productivity
At the end of the day, individual productivity levels are going to have the most significant effect on your bottom line. If 20% of employees are performing 80% of the work, then you have 80% of employees performing at levels that are less than optimal. A healthy culture that evenly allocates work will minimize burnout, drive collaborating, and mitigate unhealthy competition. Company policy can also drive productivity. Open and value-based policies will leave employees with more room to operate in a manner they are most comfortable with, and thus produce a better product in less time. Though, stricter operations based policy may box in employees and sap motivation. It is easier to create a product that you are proud of when you are given a list of ideals and standards to embody. When employees are given strict regimens on how to operate and several hoops to jump through, this will likely stifle productivity. Instead of going above and beyond expectations and focusing on the quality of their work, employees will only feel worried about not stepping out of the line, creating a culture of anxiety.
Personal investment, lines of communication, and productivity are three organizational health factors that are most affected by company culture. They drive almost all business operations and can make or break your bottom line. Actively shaping your company culture to improve upon these three areas will visibly benefit your employee engagement rates and drive success. For more culture tips and to stay up to date on compliance trends, follow Emtrain on LinkedIn. And tune in to our live show, Always Learning, held every second Tuesday at 10:30am on LinkedIn. For a deeper dive into company culture, download this e-book Check the Drama at the Door.
