FAMILY TYPE CORPORATE CULTURE; DOES IT REALLY EXIST?

In the corporate environment are people of varied cultural background and when they gather, a new culture will emerge – cultural diffusion. That new culture may not exactly represent the desires of the organization. Hence, the need for a clearly well-defined corporate culture.

Corporate culture descends. It must come from the top.

Over the years, many Employers of labor have adopted a ‘Family Type’ corporate culture. The idea is often that as families, employees are committed and are ready to give their all for the success of the organization. For this to work, the Business owners also will have to treat the employees as families.

This concept can be successful just within its possibilities, but I doubt its longevity when faced with real issues. Especially at this progressive age where employee loyalty is diminishing.

With reference to go.gov.sg/ssg-wsg , I share in the argument against calling employees family. Although, I am careful enough to acknowledge that it can be an effective culture if properly introduced. This is not to take away from the misguided thoughts below;

1.??????That Family Culture Unite Employees: At this stage of ‘social revolution’, employee’s loyalty is justifiably in doubt. People just want to work, be respected, get paid and get home on time. There is already an adopted belief that there is a difference between colleagues and friends let alone family. I often here and see opinions like “Normalize knowing that we can be colleagues and not friends and that is fine”.

It is therefore evident that in the face of professionalism, not everyone is looking for family at work. Insisting on having ‘family’ relationships at the workplace, can create discomfort for those who prefer to keep things professional. For many, their real families and friends already give them that sense of belonging and so they are not in need of family at work. Such discomforts can strain the supposed unity that it is thought to uphold.

Remember, people with this thinking are also Top Talent that you need in the workforce.

2.??????That Family Culture Increase Performance: Primarily, healthy families are driven and built with love. Siblings love themselves without expectations. Parents don’t draw out a strict Key Performance Indicators (KPI) nor conduct periodic appraisals and drop them off or disown them when they don’t meet expectations. Any family that does that is considered an unhealthy family. Performance and Productivity does not form the crux of a family relationship.

Work environment is very different. Employers are in business to make profit. This makes the work place fundamentally transactional. No Work, No Pay. No employer will continue to pay an employee without certain expectations on the Job. If this is the case, you cannot call your employees family. It does not work.

Parents look after their children unconditionally till dead. Employers will look after employee as long as they keep to the KPI and work extra hard.

3.??????That Loyalty in Family culture implies long term loyalty: People become family by birth or by a decision to spend lives together. This screams lifetime commitments. This is truly the opposite of the work place. Employees can become relic of the past when the work for the same company for a long time.

I often advise, plan your exit from your entry.

Working in a company for long does not guaranty your continued stay when it no longer benefit the company. They will surely dismiss you. Thus it’s now normal for employees to have several jobs over their life time.

When employees are seen as ‘family’, it begins to put moral pressure on them to stay in jobs that might no longer be suitable for them. More like an abusive relationship. Even family members who have decided to spend lives together do come to an end when there is an abuse, except for some who have not attained that stage of self-actualization. ?

What is more? In a short term, such misguided moral pressure may cause them to miss out on other opportunities and growth. And in a long term, they may stagnate and become overly dependent on the company. At the end, it becomes a lost to both parties.

When they call you family, then there is a certain expectation. That as a family member, you will always go extra mile. At work, this may mean: responding to emails after work hours or working while on leave, or doing things beyond the job scope or reporting to work during holidays.

Sooner or later, discerning employees will sense the insincerity and will leave. Retaining top talent becomes a problem.

Your employees will never be your family. (Unless you run a family business)

Nevertheless, as acknowledged in my opening discuss, employers can create an enabling environment that people love coming to work.

How?

Below are three adopted principles that can be of help. Note, this is not written on note of finality.

-?????????UNDERSTAND AND RESPECT EMPLOYEES BOUNDARIES

This entails accepting that the relationship will always be transactional on some level. Employees will have personal pursuits beyond their full-time jobs. All employees cannot see your business as theirs nor exhibit an entire family system in their operation. It is fine for employees to be less emotional and that commitment cannot be sustained via lip-service family culture.

-?????????INVEST IN YOUR EMPLOYEES

If you want people to stay, give them the opportunities to grow, and reward them accordingly as their capabilities develop. Employees want to see growth, they want to see a clearly defined path and have what to reach out to.

Build a strong reward system than a punishment frame work. Let employees be driven by the benefit of productivity – Reward, and not the fear of punishment. Where employees do the right thing for fear of punishment and not for the reward that comes at the end, then you have built a workforce dominated by eye service. Things will go south in your absence.

You want increased productivity, pay attention to Human Capital Development.

-?????????Spend on employees’ development: if you are not taking the liability for their trainings, at least create an enabling system that promotes that. Grant and approve examination leaves and appreciate publicly those that are making efforts to upskill in their field.

The question in the mind of many employers has always been:

“What if I spend time and money training my employee to be better, only for them to leave my company?”

-?????????The answer is quite simple; accept that there is mobility of labor and respect their decisions on exit.

Of course you can invest on your employee’s growth, treat them in the best possible way and they still leave. It is very likely your employees won’t work for you forever. People outgrow places or there are better opportunities elsewhere or they just want to try something new. If you truly care for their growth and development, be happy for them when they find a place that suits them better for that season of their lives. Employees who leave under such fair treatment will always remain top ambassadors of the organization. They will promote your business even from outside of your workforce. In many occasion, they can come back to work for you.

Rather than trying to get people to stay under the false promise of ‘family’ it is far better to accept that employees may never be family. But you can treat them well regardless.

The dynamic market landscape we play in, should influence how we do business. The world is changing. How we do business should change too.