20+ Useful Ideas to Improve Your Company Culture

Are you wondering how to improve company culture? You may have heard this is an important consideration for modern businesses. We will discuss what a company culture is, why it’s important, and provide several company culture improvement ideas you can implement.

What is Company Culture? 

Every company has an organizational culture, but how do you define it? A company culture is the lifeblood of the organization. It’s social rules that govern how the organization communicates with its employees, suppliers, customers, and its community. 

A company’s culture is reflected throughout the organization. The culture is found in these areas:

• Company purpose
• Company’s mission statement
• The work environment
• The employee experience

The company culture is invisible but can be felt by those who interact with the company. These individuals include employees, customers, vendors, and members of the public. 

Company culture includes the organization’s behaviors and beliefs. It includes the company’s policies, including whether employees have the flexibility to work from home, how team members communicate with each other, and whether the company offers health and wellness programs. 

Why is Company Culture Important for an Organization? 

What makes a good company culture? If a business owner wants their company to grow and prosper, then their employees need to do well first. The company culture must be one where employees are engaged in their work and their contribution to the company is appreciated. 

The O.C. Tanner Institute released a report that found companies with positive workplace cultures are:

• Four times more likely to have “highly engaged employees”
• Seven times more likely to have employees who are innovating and high performing
• Eleven times less likely to have experienced layoffs in the past 12 months

Workplace culture is directly tied to company success. A good company culture means higher employee retention rates and lower employee turnovers. Employees are engaged and they have a more positive employee experience. All of these factors mean a better bottom line for the company. 

There is more to creating a strong corporate culture than installing some game tables in the break room and having casual Fridays every week. It requires developing a plan of action and committing to it. 

The following are some ideas for how to improve company culture in the workplace.

Attract, Engage and Retain: The Employee Experience Advantage

In addition to ROI, employee experience measures help companies succeed at retention and recruiting.

1. Transparency throughout the company

Transparency is a positive step for employees and the entire organization. It creates an atmosphere where employees and managers can trust each other in their dealings, and customers can trust the company to stand behind its products and its policies. 

To encourage open and transparent communication between team members who may be in different time zones, LumApps’ employee experience platform makes internal communication easy. All team members receive important company messages, no matter where they are working and they communicate with their team members and other departments through the platform. 

2. Encourage strong relationships at work

It takes time and effort to build strong co-worker relationships. In some instances, companies need to use some team-building activities to break down barriers and help employees get to know each other. This strategy helps participants find out the things they have in common so they can feel more relaxed when interacting with each other on the job. 

3. Create opportunities for employees to share non-work interests

Employees need to have opportunities to be able to talk to each other about something other than their work. Creating opportunities for them to connect is a good strategy to develop trust, increases employee retention rates, and improves the company culture. 

Managers can start simply by chatting with an employee one-on-one after lunch and asking them about their interests when they aren’t working. The company can include communities of interest on its employee experience platform where team members can discuss topics outside of work with like-minded individuals. 

4. Assist employees in reaching their career goals

As a company, it’s important to give employees opportunities to advance in their careers. If top employees feel that they have learned all they can in their current position and there is no way they can advance further with their current employer, they will become frustrated in their work and start looking elsewhere. 

The best way to avoid losing great employees is to create career paths. Make these transparent so that employees know the steps required to advance in their career. Make employee career goals part of one-on-one discussions with managers. Provide employees with training opportunities so that the employee knows the employer is invested in them and their career growth. 

5. Encourage employee autonomy

One of the most effective ways to improve company culture is to get rid of micromanaging at work. It isn’t efficient and no one likes feeling as though their employer doesn’t trust them enough to do their work as assigned. 

There are several ways to allow employees to have more independence in their work. Here are some examples:

• Letting employees choose their work schedules (while ensuring that they are present for certain “core hours”)
• Allowing employees to work from home a few days per week or when they need to due to personal or family needs
• Giving employees the ability to make decisions independently within the scope of their job description
• Strongly discouraging bosses who micromanage and fellow employees who bully others from continuing this behavior.

6. Recognize and reward employee contributions

On the face of it, employees are rewarded for their company contribution every time they receive their pay. If no one ever takes the time to say, “Thank you,” or tell them they are doing a good job or that their efforts are appreciated, an employee may become discouraged. That person is less inclined to put forward any extra effort on the job. The employee’s job satisfaction level may become so low they may even look for work elsewhere. 

Identify the behaviors that demonstrate the company’s values and goals. Reward the employees who are exhibiting those behaviors. Let their fellow employees know about it. This strategy will encourage other employees to adopt similar behaviors and keep your top performers engaged in their work.

7. Provide employees with flexibility

Providing employees with flexibility is an excellent idea for improving company culture. It shows that the company realizes that their staff has a life and commitments outside of their work and that both are important. 

Work flexibility takes on many faces, depending on the employee’s stage of life and their needs. Pregnant employees and their partners may need to take time away from work for medical appointments. Parents may need to go to school events during work hours from time to time. An employee who also cares for a family member may need flexibility to work from home or on a compressed work week (3 x 12 hour days) to accommodate their employee and caregiver roles. 

Attract, Engage and Retain: The Employee Experience Advantage

In addition to ROI, employee experience measures help companies succeed at retention and recruiting.

8. Give employees a sense of purpose in their work

Humans have a deep-seated need for meaning in their work. It must have a purpose and be significant in some way. In modern times, having a sense of purpose is even more important for employees. 

When people feel that their work matters, they are more motivated and they are more fulfilled. It’s possible for an employee to find purpose in any work. The managers and executives need to provide the connection to that purpose. When employees are shown how their work benefits others, they feel proud of their contribution and feel a sense of purpose. 

9. Foster a team atmosphere

One of the best ways to improve company culture is to start thinking of everyone as part of the same team. They aren’t groups of people who work at the same place. Everyone is on the same side and is working toward the same goals. 

When all effort is applied toward common goals, the result will be exponentially better than when individuals are each working toward their own goals. The entire company will be more successful, which translates to success for all team members. 

10. Give feedback regularly

Feedback is a powerful tool for improving company culture. It should be given and received regularly. There are a couple of problems with feedback. 

• Feedback needs to be specific so that the receiver knows exactly what they are doing well so they can continue in the same manner. 
• Feedback also needs to include areas where the recipient can improve, without descending into attacking the person’s character.

11. Ask employees for their feedback

Give employees a platform where they can share their opinions. Managers and company executives should be open to listening to employee ideas for improving the workplace, reducing conflicts, and how to improve the company culture. 

Some companies hold town hall meetings where ideas can be discussed between management and employees. Not all employees want to discuss their concerns in front of the entire company; they should be able to approach anyone on the management team to discuss their concerns. 

12. Encourage collaboration between employees

A modern workplace culture that encourages collaboration is one that actively practices communication and sharing knowledge between teams and departments. This approach breaks down silos that may exist between different departments. 

Employees should be encouraged to speak to their fellow team members and their manager if they need help with their work. Waiting until they get close to or past a due date only puts the entire team under stress. Collaboration tools should be easy to access and use on the employee experience platform. 

13. Make training interesting by introducing gamification

Are your training materials dull and out of date? If they haven’t been updated in some time, your employees will likely find them difficult to follow and lose interest quickly. 

Gamification makes learning fun by adding fun activities to training materials. It keeps employees interested in the material, which is the point of online training. 

14. Embrace diversity and inclusivity in your workplace

It isn’t enough that your company acknowledges employee differences. It’s crucial that people’s differences be honored with dignity and everyone feels respected. Employees should not feel they are discriminated against when being considered for promotions or in any other way at work. 

Ideally, the company should reflect the community it serves. Having a racially diverse team means employees from different backgrounds and viewpoints have an opportunity to contribute to the workplace, professionally and personally. 

15. Build relationships with new employees

New employees need to go through a formal onboarding program to ensure that they complete all the HR forms required to start their new job. They also need to be introduced to the company culture. There isn’t a manual that can teach them about it; the new hire learns about it by interacting with their co-workers and supervisors. 

A new hire’s first impression about their new workplace will linger after they settle in. If the new employee is welcomed by other employees taking the time to socialize with them, the new hire is more likely to develop a positive impression and remain with the employer long term. 

16. Encourage mentoring to engage senior employees with junior ones

More senior employees will often be happy to share their knowledge with new hires, who can benefit from a mentor’s point of view and their professional connections. Mentoring indicates to employees that your company values collaboration between everyone on staff and that it considers professional development important. 

Match mentors with new employees in the same department (not necessarily on the same team). The idea is to expose new employees to someone who can help them by sharing ideas and expand the new employee’s knowledge. 

17. Make the workplace a psychologically safe environment

A place is psychologically safe when people feel they can be themselves and express their ideas without fear of being judged or ridiculed. The workplace is much more pleasant when employees feel recognized for their work and included in events being scheduled by the employer. 

A psychologically safe environment is one that doesn’t tolerate anyone being disrespected or harassed. It gives everyone an equal chance for success. When an employee makes a mistake, the incident is treated as an opportunity to learn, not to humiliate and punish. 

18. Address employee mental health

Employee mental health is just as important as their physical health. It doesn’t matter whether an employee works in the office or virtually. They can still feel stressed and burned out due to work pressures. Managers should be checking in with all their team members regularly and taking steps to discourage an “all go, no quit” mentality in the company. No one wants to create a culture where employees sacrifice their health to get their work done. 

There is nothing wrong with employees being ambitious in the career goals they set for themselves. These goals also need to be realistic and reasonable. Ensure that employees are taking advantage of the paid time off, flexible work hours, and wellness days they are entitled to as part of their benefits. 

19. Encourage all employees to be authentic

Everyone has a unique personality and way of seeing the world. No one who goes to work wants to be seen as just a number. There should be some standards around what is acceptable behavior at work, but employees should be encouraged to be their authentic selves. A positive employee culture shows employees they are appreciated for their authentic selves. 

The more employees feel accepted just the way they are, the more comfortable they will feel at work. Team members will be happier and more productive during work hours, too. 

20. Remain focused on the company’s core values

The company’s core values are more than just something mentioned on the website or a plaque in the CEO’s office. They are the company’s reason for being and should form the basis why it operates the way it does. 

If your goal is to improve company culture in the workplace, keep your company core values at the forefront of every decision made in that regard. It doesn’t do any good to say that your company values transparency and honesty, then acts in a manner completely opposite to those values. 

21. Make improving company culture a priority

Many companies say they want to improve company culture but don’t give it the time and attention required to make real change happen. A company’s culture needs to fit with its mission statement and its values. It needs to be something that everyone in the organization is familiar with and demonstrates daily if you want to improve your company. 

Company culture improvement ideas aren’t something that the company tries once and then stops doing. They should be a constant part of the company’s activities and the business grows and changes with time.  

Attract, Engage and Retain: The Employee Experience Advantage

In addition to ROI, employee experience measures help companies succeed at retention and recruiting.

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