Company culture is the heartbeat of any organization. It influences how employees interact, collaborate, and achieve their goals. A well-defined and positive culture can increase job satisfaction, better performance, and a stronger sense of belonging among team members.

If re-evaluating your company’s culture is not high on your radar, it should be. Numerous studies from the Harvard Business Review, Gallup polls, and the Arbinger Institute show improving company culture boosts employee productivity by 46%, improves the retention rate by 40%, and elevates employee engagement by 38%. 

Creating a successful company culture is essential for driving success and team satisfaction. A strong, positive culture attracts top talent, boosts employee engagement, and enhances productivity. 

Here’s a step-by-step guide to help team leaders, HR professionals, managers, and heads of companies build an outstanding company culture.

1. Define Your Company Culture

Begin by identifying the core values and goals of your company. These should reflect what your organization stands for and where it aims to go. 

Ask yourself:

• What is our mission and vision?

• What values are most important to us?

• How do we want our employees to feel when they come to work?

Then, develop a concise culture statement outlining your organization's values, behaviors, and expectations. This statement should serve as a guiding star for all employees.

If you already have this statement, review it annually, determine if it’s accurate and helping you achieve your goals, and make changes as needed. 

2. Involve Your Team

Seek input from employees and involve them in shaping the company culture. Conduct surveys, focus groups, and one-on-one meetings to gather feedback and ideas. This inclusion fosters a sense of ownership and commitment to the culture and allows employees to share what they want the employee experience to look like.

Create opportunities for employees to contribute to cultural initiatives. Form committees or task forces that focus on specific aspects of the culture, such as diversity, sustainability, or community involvement.

3. Align Recruitment With Culture

When hiring new employees, consider their cultural fit alongside their credentials. Look for candidates whose values align with your company’s culture. The more you base hiring on a potential candidate’s values and credentials, the more likely you will retain this hire for longer.

Post your values and company culture statement in your recruiting information. Incorporate questions about cultural fit into your interview process. 

Ask candidates how they handle specific situations that reflect your company’s values. This will help you attract, interview, and retain the candidates you want and who will want to work with you. 

4. Build Up Your Organizational Culture

The relationship between employees and their immediate supervisors is crucial in shaping a company's culture. When leaders embody the company's values, it sets a standard for the organization. Employees are more likely to align their behaviors with the culture when their managers lead by example.

Clear and open communication between managers and employees reinforces company principles. Regular check-ins, updates, and feedback sessions help employees understand the cultural expectations and feel engaged in the company's mission.

5. Communicate Expectations & Be Transparent

Transparency builds trust. Keep employees informed about company goals, progress, and challenges. This transparency helps employees understand their roles and how they contribute to the bigger picture. 

As your company changes its values and goals, ensure your employees understand how those changes impact the expectations for their job performance and why those changes are being made. 

For example, if one of your new goals is to be more transparent as a company, you might ask your employees to provide regular progress updates. To some employees, this will sound like micro-management. 

To help all parties understand, you must include why this is an important part of the new company culture and how employees can meet the expectations.

6. Encourage Work-Life Balance for All Employees

Encouraging employees to maintain a healthy work-life balance is crucial for fostering a productive and satisfied workforce. A balanced approach should allow individuals to thrive both professionally and personally, promoting well-being and reducing burnout.  

Work-life balance means that employees can manage their time effectively, allocating sufficient hours for work while prioritizing family, hobbies, and self-care. Employers can support this balance by offering flexible working hours that enable staff to tailor their schedules around personal commitments, such as children's activities or health appointments.

Additional steps your company can take to improve employees' performance and happiness include creating remote working options and other work flexibility opportunities, implementing wellness programs, doing regular check-ins to help employees balance their workload, and leading by example. 

Managers and execs should respect working hours, take breaks, and go on vacations, too. 

7. Foster a Culture of Recognition

Recognizing employees' contributions creates an environment where they feel valued, which increases their overall satisfaction at work. Implement programs such as employee spotlights, where you highlight new hires on the company intranet, celebrate birthdays, and acknowledge personal milestones. 

Boost employee engagement by celebrating both team and individual accomplishments. Give shout-outs to the sales team when they hit yearly targets, congratulate the engineering team on successful product launches, and honor employees moving on for new opportunities or retiring. 

This reinforces the idea that every contribution matters and encourages a culture of appreciation.

8. Show Employees That Their Work Matters

Today's employees seek meaningful work that makes a difference. By clearly articulating how individual roles and tasks contribute to the company's overarching mission and values, employers can help employees find a sense of purpose in their daily activities. 

Discuss and reiterate the company's goals regularly and explain how each team member's efforts are critical to achieving them. This connection fosters a deeper sense of engagement and pride in their work.

Showcase examples of how the company and its employees make a positive difference in the community and industry. This could involve sharing success stories of how a product or service has benefitted customers or how the company’s initiatives have led to significant community improvements. 

By providing tangible evidence of positive outcomes, employees can see the direct impact of their work and feel motivated to continue contributing.

9. Design Opportunities for Relationship Building

From collaborative workspaces and online office platforms to mentorships and company-hosted social events, inviting more opportunities for employees to collaborate, learn about each other, and build solid working relationships is fundamental to developing a successful company culture. 

These strategies also enhance communication, camaraderie, a sense of belonging, and purposeful learning, ultimately contributing to a more integrated and supportive company culture that aligns with the organization's values. 

Once employees feel safe, comfortable, and supported by their peers and supervisors, they will put forth their best effort and perform well on the job. 

Looking to Hire Candidates That Fit Your Company Culture? 

Creating a successful company culture is an ongoing process that requires commitment and collaboration from everyone in the organization. Get help finding the people who will continue to build it up. 

One Tech Engineering is your trusted partner when seeking the best candidates in engineering, drafting, construction, manufacturing, and automation careers. Our experts streamline the recruitment process by presenting only the top three candidates for each position to save you time, money, and energy. 

You provide feedback on their suitability, and we refine our search accordingly, continuing to present three candidates at a time until the right match is found.

We’ve placed thousands of qualified candidates and know we can help you find the right talent. Call 952-884-9199 to connect with a recruiter today!