The importance of Culture in the workplace
Culture. It’s probably a word you hear often if you follow blogs on entrepreneurship or read articles on business and management. It is often spoken about in sporting circles when differentiating between what makes a world class team different from a great team. But what is it exactly?
According to Frances Frei and Anne Morriss at Harvard Business Review:
“Culture guides discretionary behaviour and it picks up where the employee handbook leaves off. Culture tells us how to respond to an unprecedented service request. It tells us whether to risk telling our bosses about our new ideas, and whether to surface or hide problems. Employees make hundreds of decisions on their own every day, and culture is our guide. Culture tells us what to do when the CEO isn’t in the room, which is of course most of the time”.
In short, culture defines what an organisation is. The most successful companies in the world are successful as a result of the culture they have created and the values they live by on a day to day basis. Take Nike for example. They live and breath their mission statement;
Bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world
*if you have a body, you are an athlete.
It’s a powerful statement but we see it in their products, their marketing, their diversity. When Colin Kaepernick was being ridiculed in America for taking a knee, Nike released their “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything. Just do it” advertisement, showing that bringing inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world was not just another line in their employee handbook but a real shared value of the organisation. They backed Kaepernick when the world was against him as it was the right thing to do.
On the contrary, the reason that some MNC’s have received negative publicity in the past is due to a negative outlook on their company culture. For example, “the case of Uber also illustrates the potential danger of building an entire company culture around one charismatic leader. Travis Kalanick is, by almost all accounts, a volatile, aggressive megalomaniac. He built Uber in his image — and his image isn’t good” (Startups.com). Although still highly successful, Uber has a very high employee turnover rate of their drivers, with SaaScout reporting in 2020 that “While 46% of Uber drivers are in association with the company for less than 1 year with Uber, [only] around 11% have been there for more than 3 years”. Although it is hard to find evidence of why Uber experience such a high turnover of it’s drivers, it can be logically attributed to poor company culture and working conditions for it’s employees.
For many, culture will not be a defining reason for choosing a new job or joining a company but it should be something that is taken seriously and discussed in conversations and interviews with potential employers.
Before ever stepping foot in a company, how they implement their culture and values can tell you a lot about how they treat employees. If culture is driven by employees, you can be pretty sure that the workplace environment will thrive. You will also get great feedback from current employees who work here and you will be able to hear the enthusiasm and excitement in their voice when you speak with them about their work.
Contrastingly, if culture is designed around one individual’s values, it can prove to be a lot more difficult to buy into as this individual’s values may not align with yours. Workplaces with a culture centred around an individual’s beliefs can often be tense, lethargic and lack enthusiasm. People working here can often be the employees who are ‘living for the weekend’ and get the ‘Sunday Fear’ when they think about going into work the following morning.
The bottom line for businesses is that culture seeps through all levels of employee’s and if it is taken seriously, can be a powerful tool for a company that improves happiness, productivity and retention of its employees.
In my own experience, I am very proud of the culture that has been created at Baker Finn. We have created a culture of teamwork, creativity, curiosity, hard work and ownership. This doesn’t happen overnight but it has happened as a result of likeminded people with similar personal values all aiming to be as successful as possible for a common goal. I was reenergised when I discovered the company are in the process of defining it’s culture and values and they wanted the input of myself and my colleagues on what we envisage the culture and values to be. I recently passed my 6 month probation period at Baker Finn Recruitment and this simple act of asking for our opinions on how to help shape the company moving forward has solidified my first impressions of the company, that being, it is one that truly values the people who work for it and their thoughts.
Baker Finn’s culture, values and mission statement will be a collaborative understanding of it’s employees so when we work with job seekers and clients, they can be confident that we don’t just talk the talk with regards to our values but we also live by the standards we had a hand in creating. Never forget, the people are the ones who drive culture and this will always be so.
References
https://neilpatel.com/blog/great-company-culture/
https://www.startups.com/library/expert-advice/best-worst-company-culture-examples
Fully Qualified Accountant (FAIA) and CFC-BRA | ACCA student and IPASS Fully Qualified | International Accountant | Sharing knowledge and following my passion for Accounting.
3 年I agree with you about the importance of the company's culture, and I would say that Baker Finn Recruitment is very lucky to have someone like you! Well done Alan, please keep writing articles. I really like this.
Managing Director Baker Finn Recruitment
3 年Brilliant article Alan well done ????
Associate Director of Recruitment Operations @ Baker Finn Recruitment | Digital Marketing, Human Resource Management
3 年I love this Alan! Well done. Can I ask did you post this at the top of the mountain? ?? ?