The Employee Experience: How Company Culture Shapes Satisfaction

Company culture and employee experience are essential to each other’s success. Together, they increase business productivity, reduce employee turnover, and increase employee satisfaction. Each company’s culture is different, reflecting the organization’s core values, mission, and vision, as well as other factors such as the specific industry, workforce characteristics, and marketplace position.

The Importance of Company Culture

In a way, company culture is like the personality of the company. It is the sum of all the team thinks, says, and does as you work together. Company culture forms even if you don’t do anything, but an unguided culture may do more harm than good in the end. On the other hand, fostering a strong company culture doesn’t mean having complete control over it. It is about nurturing the workplace environment so people can be productive and do their best.

Creating Your Company Culture

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to shaping a satisfying company culture. To create a workplace culture for your organization, you have to begin by listening to your employees, as well as your stakeholders and customers. Why are employees staying with the company? Why do customers buy from you? What do your investors think you’re doing right, and what needs improvement? The answers to these questions and more will help shape the foundation for your company culture.

Ready to create a workplace culture that aligns with your company’s values and priorities? Follow these tips to help build your foundations:

1. Define your values. Create a value statement that is explicit and intentional.
2. Be authentic. Your values and purpose will only “sell” if they are genuine. Your organization must be able to communicate your values and live them.
3. Create ways to listen. Whether the data you gather is anecdotal or quantitative, you will readily see when the culture works for your employees and when you may need to change. Surveys, hiring data, meetings, work groups, workshops, and conferences all provide valuable information about the team and the culture and how they work together.
4. Foster psychological safety. Many issues you may detect via listening stem from a lack of psychological safety. If your employees do not feel safe expressing themselves, reporting problems, voicing concerns, and taking risks creatively, it will negatively affect your company culture. Foster an environment where being open and speaking up are accepted and encouraged. Remember that a major part of getting employees to speak up is letting them know you are open to constructive criticism.
5. Remember that mistakes happen. If you want your team and organization to be more productive, innovative, and experimental in their approach to work, you need to approach mistakes positively. How a leadership team handles mistakes can make or break a company’s culture. When mistakes are made, examine them in the context of the core values and purpose of the organization and how you can learn from them.

Ready to bring top talent into your organization and enrich your company culture? Contact Career Foundations today to get started!