Company culture is the behavior, attitudes, beliefs, and shared values of a company and its employees. It comprises different elements: company vision and mission, ethics, goals, and leadership style, among others. Company culture offers guiding principles to your employees and customers. It also helps to attract the best recruits, hire, and retain them in your company. There are four types of company cultures: hierarchy, adhocracy, market, and clan oriented culture, although companies are opting to flat structures now because they have a few management levels between leaders and subordinates. This means they are more flexible.
- Culture Impacts Performance
Company cultures affect employee’s performance and their motivation to perform their duties. Employees who feel to be part of the company often work hard to achieve the company’s goals. Companies can track employee’s performance through culture management software while measuring the impact of its culture on productivity. Employees in companies whose values and beliefs are aligned with theirs tend to be highly motivated and perform best, leading to high productivity. And vice versa, some company culture may demotivate employees leading to low productivity.
- Culture Enhances Communication
Communication is essential in every organization and should be open and transparent at all levels within the organization. Culture influences the way employees interact with each other and how they communicate. Some organizational-like flat structures are said to encourage communication, unlike some culture which only allows top-bottom communication. Communication helps employees perform better towards achieving organizational goals as they can air out their grievances and avoid unnecessary conflicts with other employees.
- Boosts Employee Loyalty
A healthy company addresses an employee’s well-being. Employees who feel valued in a company are less likely to resign. An organization needs to nurture cultures that promote its core values, mission, and vision statement. Contented employees mean there is less or no turnover, which saves the company resources and time in the recruiting process. Strong company cultures create a sense of belonging in employees, which boosts their loyalty to a company.
- It Sets Out Your Company’s Internal and External Image.
Company culture determines how your organization operates or how you do business. People draw the assumption of your organization depending on their interactions within or outside your company. If your company culture is not strong, you may end up losing customers. An organization with a strong culture tends to have a competitive advantage by having loyal and strong brand names.
- Aid in Onboarding
Onboarding policies for employees include orientation, training, and performance management, which help recruits access resources and transition well into their roles. Some employees may have frustrating experiences when they do not access the information they may need to perform their job well. Companies use onboarding to ensure new employees understand their values, mission, and vision.
The above mentioned are some of the reasons why you should know your company culture. Note that company culture helps you come up with guidelines for your employees and customers. It is good for employees to research if a company, let’s say you intend to join their core values, beliefs, and behavior, align with yours to avoid conflict of interest.
