Great Salary. Great Perks. But What About the Company Culture?
by Vasundhara Sawhney, Senior Editor
“You should’ve responded to my email when I sent it,” my manager said on what could have been a happy Monday morning.
“It wasn’t urgent,” I almost blurted out.
The previous night he had emailed me at 9 pm looking for an update on a project that had been running for three months. At the time, I was enjoying my weekend, sitting in a dark theater, watching the new Transformers film while devouring a giant tub of caramel and butter popcorn. What kind of person checks their phone during an epic robot fight scene?
I took a deep breath. “I sent out the weekly update before I left work last Friday.”
“I wanted a one-line update on that particular project. You really expect me to open an Excel file on my phone and scroll down to find that one project I needed the update on?”
It turned out my manager wasn’t the only one who communicated with this kind of urgency. The more people I spoke to, the more I realized it was a top-down problem that percolated from boss-to-boss, all of whom expected their direct reports to drop everything and answer an email as soon as they hit send.
It was a cultural issue, and at the time, I saw no way to change the company culture. Unless I wanted a pang of anxiety to accompany every message in my inbox, I would need to leave the company.
It wasn’t the right fit.
Company culture is often overlooked — and yet it is among the most important criteria for evaluating a job offer. Simply put, culture is an organization’s DNA. It's the shared values, goals, attitudes, and practices that characterize a workplace. It's reflected in how people behave, interact with each other, make decisions, and do their work. It impacts everything — including your happiness and career.
Whether you’re entering the job market for the first time or switching roles to find a more suitable work environment, take the time to learn about the culture of every company you apply to. You’ll be spending the majority of your waking hours at your job. It makes sense to give some thought to what kind of place you'll thrive in and the kind of people you'll most enjoy interacting with.
This week, I want to recommend the following article: How to Find Out If a Company’s Culture Is Right for You by Kristi DePaul
Like what you just read? Our team of global editors shares personal stories, practical advice, and fun stuff from the internet in a weekly version of this newsletter, sign up here!
Great reminder - company culture is key to determining if the organization is a "fit" for you - toxic positivity is also something that exists in many organizations and can be difficult to identify during the recruiting process.
Ex General Manager HAL Freelance consultant Guidepoint/Vedak/Insighton/GLG Member MRO Digest Forum
2 年Majority of the people switch jobs due to salary hike without even bothering for the work culture they are going to get into. I have come across the organisations in European countries where bottom most employees call their bosses by name and vice versa ( rarely seen in any organisation across India) . And where this happens the relationships and freedom to freely communicate with each other automatically enhances. My personal take on this is if you create such an environment in the organisation the toxicity will cease to exist. And there will be an environment where each one understands their role and responsibility and will not try to create artificial urgency in the sight of pleasing seniors.
Upright Goals for Dummies!
2 年False integrity- the real foundation of EVERY company on this planet - reflection of Dr Jekyll / Mr. Hyde structure- the very reason of (what’s your problem you can’t solve no matter what). Leave theses sentient programs behind or their future will be your.
AI and partner ecosystem strategy @ ZEDEDA
2 年Usually, such 'artificial' urgencies can be traced back to a middle manager presenting to a senior executive. They would be panicking and trying to cram as much information as possible in their speaker notes as they want to come across as fully prepared. The executive would be oblivious to the domino effects of their royalty-like demands on their subjects. The middle manager would remind the employees that they have been 'given' flexibility during the weekday, so it is their duty to drop everything when the need arrives. Of course, it is not true flexibility if it's not on employees' terms. Thanks for raising the point Vasundhara Sawhney (she/her). These kinds of behaviors are very much part of the toxic culture (in addition to harassment, bullying, gaslighting, exclusion, etc.)