“Culture influences behaviour, and is therefore significant to the performance of an organization.” 

Work culture is the beliefs, customs, and behavior of a group of people within a work environment; such as a team, department, or the organization as a whole. It is created through the behavior of everyone working in an organization, from the CEO to the entry-level employees.

To the individual staff, organizational culture instills purpose, a sense of value, and shared commitment. In a strong culture, the staff will coordinate smoothly in accomplishing organizational goals and respond within the framework of the organization’s values and principles. The staff works with each other and for each other to attain mutual success. This helps the individual identify with the institution, thus gradually contributing to an organization’s collective personality.

Culture is as important as your business strategy because it either strengthens or undermines your objectives. 

In simple terms, a positive work culture promotes productivity, engagement, and improved employee experience. A hostile work culture, in contrast, can affect productivity levels, increase attrition rate, and lead to employees feeling disconnected from their work and workplace.

We spend a significant amount of time at work, so it is only natural that the environment we spend so much time in would have an important impact on us.

Positive work culture contains six elements:

  • Caring for colleagues and being interested in their wellbeing.
  • Supporting colleagues and offering compassion and kindness in times of need.
  • Forgiving mistakes and not assigning blame.
  • Working to inspire each other.
  • Finding and emphasizing meaningful aspects of the work.
  • Prioritizing trust, respect, gratitude, and integrity.

Benefits of a positive work culture

There is a multitude of studies that demonstrate that a positive work culture directly leads to better health for employees, reduces attrition, increases loyalty, and promotes better job performance.

Let’s explore exactly how a positive work culture can benefit an organization:

1. Improved employee health:

Studies have shown that positive social connections at work are crucial for the health of employees.

When a person experiences positive social connections within their workplace, they tend to have fewer illnesses, quicker recovery from injuries, less likely to experience depression, better cognitive functions, and overall, better job performance.

2. Reduced attrition:

In 2014, research by Dutton et al. in the University of Michigan’s CompassionLab underscored the importance of empathy in the workplace: “Most empirical research examines how compassion benefits sufferers. Compassion heals, allowing people to recover physically from illness and bodily harm and psychologically from grief. Also, evidence suggests that compassion in the workplace calls up positive emotions (e.g., gratitude), reduces anxiety, and increases a sufferer’s attachment and commitment to the organization.”

By consistently demonstrating empathy, leaders are able to facilitate employee commitment and reduce the attrition rate.

3. Increased loyalty and reduced negative behaviors:

Research on leadership shows that when leaders go out of their way to help, especially when they don’t have to, their employees respond by becoming more dedicated, loyal, and self-sacrificing themselves.

A manager who is willing to go above and beyond can create a strong dynamic with their team, produce better results for the organization’s goals and improve the wellbeing of the people they lead.

Not only does this behavior increase loyalty, but studies show that it increases positive behavior in employees; such as picking up shifts to help teammates, seeking increased responsibility, and taking extra care to represent the company in a positive manner.

Helpful behavior demonstrated by managers can also decrease negative behavior; such as, acting rudely towards other employees and dismissing requests from supervisors, or neglecting their work.

4. Better performance outcomes:

Research on the inconsistency of organizational conditions shows that when employees trust their leader and feel that their job is secure, they are more likely to experiment, and cultivate innovation.

When an employee feels that they will be penalized for failing or even asking for help, they are going to rigidly stick to prescribed behaviors, even if those behaviors are out of date, not the right fit for the project, or inefficient.

How to create a positive work culture?

1. Create or formalize the vision of your organization

The main vision or central mission of your company can help you unite people. It can also help you employ people who have similar beliefs and create teams with the same values.

Of course, not every company will have an inspiring cause and not everybody you hire will believe in it. But by having an explicitly stated vision you can transmit a clear picture of what you are doing and why you exist, which can help you attract the right people to build a shared sense of purpose.

2. Be clear about company values

This is crucial. Your organization should be absolutely transparent about what its values are.

Not only that, it is important to demonstrate how the company and leadership are living by those values on a daily basis.

3. Employ people who fit your culture

If you hire a high performer who does not fit your cultural expectations, they will negatively affect it. The same goes for current employees.

In cases where an employee is not behaving in accordance with your organization’s culture, leadership should work with them to try and adjust their attitude and help them change it. But if it doesn’t work, consider letting them go.

4. Encourage trust, empathy, and support

Leaders can promote trust through their actions.

By being consistent, open to feedback, showing appreciation, participating in active listening, trusting employees to make the right decisions, and being honest (but fair), managers can create a culture of trust and reap the benefits.

Empathy is all about connecting with those around you. Provide your employees with tips on empathetic behavior, such as:

  • Noticing how people are doing
  • Being an active listener
  • Asking thoughtful questions
  • Avoiding making any assumptions or judgments
  • Recognizing someone’s feelings, even if you don’t necessarily understand them

Many organizations have found specific empathy training to be valuable, since this is a learned skill and not a fixed trait, so making it a priority in your company culture will be reflected in your work culture.

5. Create dedicated spaces for socialization

In her 2018 study Fostering Social Connection in the Workplace, Julianne Holt-Lunstad recommends that employers create spaces dedicated to socialization and implement strategies to foster high-quality interactions. Spaces for socialization can include ping-pong tables, open-plan offices, or employee social hours. However, this kind of unstructured space may not necessarily lead to meaningful interactions. That is why structured strategies can be more effective.

Structured strategies can include leadership training, connecting employees in mentor-mentee relationships, and encouraging relationship diversity in both cultural and organizational roles.

6. Demonstrate commitment to supporting employees

Those in leadership positions should regularly show their commitment to their team.

This can be through support with up skilling or moving into higher positions, being flexible during times of personal strife, or even decreasing their salary to save jobs.

When employees can see their leader’s dedication to them, their loyalty will in turn increase and create a better work culture.

7. Encourage communication

From a simple check-in message on a Monday to yearly reviews, employees can perform better when they have regular, clear communication with their managers.

Create an environment where communication is valued, and show your employees through your actions that if they come to you with a problem, you will do your best to help solve it.

It is important to balance this with empowering employees to solve problems and make decisions on their own.

By creating a non-judgmental, supportive, and solution-oriented environment you will find that your team will soon pick up those same characteristics.

8. Provide support for physical and mental health

An organization can work to make healthy activities more accessible for their employees through partnerships with gyms or sports equipment stores, creating internal sports activities, or offering to pay entry fees to sporting events like marathons.

In-house vaccination drives can be organized to provide flu shots. Some companies work with mental health providers to offer discounted rates for services.

9. Have clear lines of communication and defined processes

Your organization should create documents, accessible to all employees that outline the process for dispute mediation and HR complaints, as well as information about benefits, compensation, vacations, relocation, and bonuses.

All of these common topics should have a clear explanation, and employees should know who to turn to if they have an issue or question.

10. Provide training and personal development

Personal development should be prioritized for employees. The organization should provide continuous training for employees not only in hard skills directly related to their roles but also in soft skills like leadership, communication, problem-solving, and creativity.

11. Set a good example through leadership

Leadership, management, and HR should show their commitment to the organization and its values through their actions and decisions. In essence, this is leading by example.

Employees are quick to notice when leadership does not practice what they preach, and they are less likely to follow these values themselves if they do not see their leadership following them.

Conclusion:

Although hard skills or competencies like professionalism, integrity, communication, planning and organizing, continuous learning, technology are important, it is equally significant to develop soft skills. These include kindness, compassion, respect and so forth. In other words, a good EQ is as essential as a good IQ.

-Shamika Gharat