The heart of your company is people, and your employees embody the company culture you create. Your company culture should be an extension of your organization's the core values and reflect the personalities of your team.
Surprisingly, the 2014 report on employee engagement from TINYpulse found that 64 percent of the 200,000 employees surveyed say they do not feel like they have a strong work culture. How are so many organizations failing at creating a strong, unified company culture?
Here is a list of common issues companies face with building and maintaining their culture:
Poor Work-life Balance
Your employees have lives outside the office. They enjoy having dinner with their families and camping on the weekends. When work invades their personal lives, they are not happy.
A 2015 survey from Staples found that burnout is a top factor contributing to poor productivity, with 69 percent of employees listing it as a hindrance.
Keep workloads manageable for you staff to avoid overwhelming them. Also, discourage employees from staying connected on their time off. Technology creates the opportunity for everybody to be always "on," which inevitably results in burnout. Enforce curfews to discourage off-the-clock work, like sending emails or creating presentations.
Sometimes, burnout is inevitable. Establish an open door policy by permitting all levels of employees to address their concerns with direct supervisors and senior management at any time. The main goal is to enable problem solving throughout the entire organization.
For example, if employees report a feeling of exhaustion and being overworked, leadership can have an open discussion with them to recover and prevent future burnout. They can agree on actionable steps, such as redistributing tasks or creating more realistic deadlines.
This willingness to openly communicate about workplace issues creates a strong relationship between leadership and the workforce that is founded on trust and mutual respect.
Unclear Values
Core values, a vital piece to the company culture puzzle, tend to fall through the cracks for most organizations. A 2015 Achievers study found that 61 percent of employees don't know their organization's cultural values. When your staff doesn't know the values of the organization, they may struggle to understand organizational goals. Core values should guide how your company does business. If it's unclear what the driving force is, then employees can feel disengaged.
Employees need to see the big picture to understand the importance of their role on the team. When they see how their daily tasks and responsibilities contribute to larger organizational goals, they are more engaged and motivated.
Your company values inform the big picture. Communicate them clearly to all levels of the organization. This means more than just hanging up some posters. While making them visible with signage is a great first step, you need to go above and beyond. Integrate those values into policies and practices. When you put them into action and leadership upholds them, employees notice and use those values as a compass for decision making.
For example, L.L. Bean uses the following statement, known as L.L.'s Golden Rule, to direct their practices: "Sell good merchandise at a reasonable profit, treat your customers like human beings, and they will always come back for more."
Their satisfaction-guaranteed practice puts this sentiment into action, offering refunds and exchanges to anybody dissatisfied with their purchase.
With specific, action-oriented values, employees can apply ideas into their work and drive the business forward toward success.
Lack of Internal Mobility
Employees join companies to grow and develop their professional skills. When you fail to create opportunities for career growth, employees can get discouraged. This problem is prevalent.
The Staples survey found that 44 percent of employees are very unhappy with management's support of them building their career, despite it being a major contributing factor to a positive company culture.
Additionally, a 2015 report from Lee Hecht Harrison found that 40 percent of organizations say they rarely or never provide professional development.
Talent mobility in the internal process of moving employees to different roles within their company at all levels, which may include department changes or promotions to leadership roles. Providing opportunities for advancement drives motivation, engagement, and productivity. When employees feel like they're being invested in, they reciprocate to grow individually and to contribute to achieving organizational goals.
Talent mobility demonstrates respect and trust for employees and shows support for their future. It creates a strong company culture that encourages growth mindsets and an interest in goal achievement.
Help employees define their personal goals and make an action plan for them. Provide them with training to build their skill sets so they can progress and achieve their career goals. Offering flexible scheduling or allowing them to work remotely creates an opportunity for them to go back to school if they want to pursue more education.
You can also create a mentor program, in which you assign senior level employees to advise those who express an interest in advancement. Mentors can provide unique insights and help employees develop their business acumen and expand their knowledge.
How are you improving your company culture?
Kes Thygesen is the co-founder and head of product at RolePoint, an internal talent mobility and employee referral platform. Connect with him and RolePoint on LinkedIn and Twitter.