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New year, new decade, new workplace culture? We say yes! And offer 8 reasons why companies should make it their resolution to develop their corporate culture.
1. turn employees into ambassadors
"Where do you work again? I think I need to take a closer look at your company". This is how it sounds when satisfied employees talk about their employer in their networks and inner circles. However, satisfaction in the workplace is only created by actively working on the workplace culture - for example, by valuing the good performance and commitment of employees. But there are also other areas where you can actively shape your own workplace culture.
2. increase sustainability
Fridays for Future with Great Thunberg helped the climate movement to gain more attention, but now it is up to the implementation. In order to shape a sustainable future for generations to come, everyone needs to get involved and increase their sustainability. Many organizations are also committed to greater sustainability - but if sustainability is not lived as a corporate value, this commitment is of no use. And just like other values in the company, sustainability is a value that must be actively practiced and anchored in the culture. Our studies also show that the company's contribution to society is an important driver of employee satisfaction, especially for younger employees.
3. increase employee motivation
Developing a workplace culture requires both top-down action from management and the involvement of employees in the form of bottom-up action. This not only leads to holistic support and implementation, but also increases employee motivation. This is because they realize that their opinions are valued and have been included in the planning. Motivation also arises from the fact that employees move forward together.
4. salary becomes a hygiene factor
"30% less would be okay for me too" - but earning less wouldn't work because then his boss would also earn less and so would his bosses. That's what a banker said in an article in the Sonntagszeitung newspaper on January 12, 2020 about wages in the banking sector. This shows that it's not about high wages when we talk about satisfied employees. It's about employees enjoying coming to work because they feel valued and are proud of what they do. However, these values need to be lived - which requires an actively shaped workplace culture. Then the bosses and their bosses would also be prepared to earn less - with the same motivation.
5. customer satisfaction
Customer centricity is on everyone's lips, with companies focusing intensively on their target groups and placing them at the center of their activities. However, these customer-centric approaches are often designed by managers, but implementation is then the responsibility of the employees who ultimately have contact with the customers. And the more the value of "customer centricity" is lived in the workplace culture, the better it is implemented. But that's not all: employees in an outstanding workplace culture understand the meaningfulness of their work and therefore go the extra mile for the customer more often than average. Or to quote Richard Branson: It's not the customers who come first, it's the employees. Because satisfied employees make for satisfied customers.
6. innovation management
In a workplace culture in which employees are given trust, personal responsibility also increases - and with it the power of innovation. One example: in 2001, Paul Buchheit started a project at Google that "had to do with email or personalization". Within a day, he had programmed what was then called Project Caribou - and is probably better known today as Gmail. But this would not have been possible if Buchheit had not had the trust of his managers. But this is just one example of how workplace culture can be used to increase innovative strength.
7. equality
The year is 2020 and yet society is still not where it needs to be in terms of equality. Of course, many things are changing and most industries are working hard to achieve equality. But there are still areas of the world of work that are heavily dominated by men. Anyone who values their workplace culture and wants to develop it will not (should not) be able to avoid the topic of diversity and inclusion. After all, in order to fully develop the potential of all employees, all employees must be treated equally - the keyword here is fairness. Age, origin or gender must not play a role in this.
8. agility
We live in a world that is changing ever faster in socio-cultural, economic, technological and political terms. And keeping pace with the speed of these changes is a major challenge for organizations. Equipping themselves for this often means organizing themselves in a more agile way. In other words, dissolving the hierarchical structure and handing over responsibility and decision-making authority to the relevant employees - and this requires a development of the workplace culture. It's like a boat trip: in the past, you were on a calm sea and it was enough for the captain to give the orders. Today, you are on a wild ride where everyone has to react quickly to survive the rapids - if these people were to wait for orders from a captain, the reaction time would be too long.
