Wednesday 6 April 2016

How Workplace Culture Can Make or Break Your Employer Brand!

The one word that’s been trending in the corporate world and for all good reasons is “workplace culture”. Latest corporate researches uncover the fact that culture, employee retention and engagement are the top most challenges faced by business leaders.

 

But why?

 

Answer is quite simple! With global economy picking up fast, power is getting shifted from job creators to job seekers. Talented candidates get the power to select from multiple options available. So to be in the good books of these candidates, companies need to strengthen their employment brand and assure them that they are a great place to work at. Thus, now simply the job seekers are more interested in knowing what culture a company has, how happy employees and what steps they take to keep employees engaged instead of focusing on what the job description is.

 

Every company from a start-up to big conglomerate, are scratching heads to find out ways to prevent top talent from leaving. They are getting culture-driven and even realizing that focusing on this aspect gives significant payoffs!

Now the office spaces are becoming the vital part of making a great workplace culture. Mention of office space reminds me of the movie “Office Space” where the employees of an IT firm were disgruntled and repeatedly maltreated by the management. The real picture was quite true a decade back, but now businesses have started to believe that office culture and how management treats the employees, has a direct impact on overall company performance and productivity. To make a positive impact on these performance indicators, companies are increasingly taking the initiative to get more flexible, offer entertainment and lively office interiors for employees to help them release their stress and work more productively.

 

But, what culture actually means?

Is it the entire fun n frolic at the workplace?


Certainly not! It’s not always the fun activities going all around; it is also what happens at the floors when no one’s watching. It is set of behaviors, employee mind sets, values and how they feel about being a part of the company. Culture can also be demonstrated when everybody is on their desks and busy in their tasks. The very vibe of that place speaks loudly of its culture. The time at which employees get in and get out also explain the culture to a great extent.

The question is…How to achieve such culture at the workplace?

It is solely in the hands of the leaders. Their leadership demonstrates the culture. If you have a great bunch of true leaders, then it goes without saying that you have a great culture. If any discrepancy is there, work more on the leaders as leadership is the only driver of workplace culture.

With more tools available to engage employees, you can get on to the nerve of the matters that may affect the culture or put negative impact on employees. You need to understand that people are not motivated by perks or a good compensation only, it’s the passion, interest and zeal that brings them to work. So keep your employees happy and motivated!