The Importance Of A Strong Corporate Culture

The recent passing of a consulting firm employee in India, following allegations of excessive workload and pressure, has sparked widespread discussions and debates worldwide. The incident has raised serious concerns about the impact of demanding work environments on employee well-being and mental health.

Beyond the immediate human cost, the incident has had far-reaching implications for the broader business landscape. It has significantly impacted public perception of corporate culture, raising questions about the ethical standards and working conditions prevalent in many industries. The incident has also led to increased scrutiny from regulators and policymakers, who are now examining industry standards and considering new regulations to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future.

Analysing the root causes of the incident is essential to understanding how such a tragic event could happen. While excessive workload and a toxic work environment were likely contributing factors, it is crucial to investigate the underlying systemic issues that may have created a culture that allowed such conditions to persist. Inadequate support systems, a lack of accountability, and a focus on short-term gains over long-term sustainability may have all played a role.

The incident has dramatically shifted public perception of corporate culture. Many individuals and organisations now view corporate cultures with a critical eye, questioning the ethical standards and working conditions that exist within many companies. This heightened scrutiny has pressured businesses to demonstrate a commitment to employee well-being and ethical practices.

According to Deloitte, 94% of business owners and 88% of job seekers believe that company culture is key to their growth.

In the face of crises and economic downturns, it's easy for organisations to become so preoccupied with survival that they neglect the essential role of a strong corporate culture. The pressures of sudden change, increased workloads, and remote work can erode the very foundations that contribute to a thriving workplace. When faced with these challenges, companies may inadvertently sacrifice long-term success by overlooking the importance of fostering a supportive and cohesive culture.

Although sudden changes to strategy and adjustments of priorities may be required, it is important not to lose focus on supporting the strong culture that took time and great effort to build. As you know, your people hold the solutions to the problems your business is facing, and you will trust them to turn things around.

A neglected culture increases turnover rates, decreases employee productivity and reduces your chance of being able to attract the best talent - exactly what you don’t need when your organisation is in the midst of a tricky period.

It’s important to always maintain your corporate culture, however bad the situation is.

Beyond encouraging your employees to thrive and stay with you, your culture is also important when it comes to hiring talent. It is something that you need to communicate at the very early stages in your hiring process. It can contribute towards attracting a diverse range of professionals who will help your business navigate this difficult landscape.

Increasingly, job seekers are making the final decision of whether or not to accept an offer based on the company’s culture and if they see themselves ‘fitting in’.

In order to keep hold of and hire the best talent, your company culture needs to be enticing and exciting to job seekers and inspiring for existing employees so that it drives them to want to work as hard as possible for the company.

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What is corporate culture?

Defining your company's culture is difficult and measuring it is even harder. In short, it’s the values, beliefs, and attitudes that guide actions within a company.

Having a concrete vision of what you want your organisation to represent makes it a better place to work. Your cultural dynamic is of utmost importance to employees’ happiness. It also increases your appeal to clients!

Four key components are:

• Values: Your values sit at the core of your corporate culture. They offer guidance, shaping what your employees focus on in the workplace and providing direction on how they should do their jobs daily.
• Employees: Your people have to embrace your values. They are the ones living and breathing your culture. Every single employee should be willing to support the culture—a key consideration when you’re hiring new talent.
• Environment: The workspace plays a big role in shaping a culture. Now, with remote working much more prevalent, the goalposts have shifted slightly. But it is still your duty as an employer to help those remote workers create an office environment at home (or wherever they are based) that is aligned to your culture.
• Actions: Demonstrating how your business embodies its values is crucial. Relationships with suppliers, customers, employees and the wider community should all reflect your core values. Actions speak louder than words!

Beyond employee wellbeing, company culture has also been shown to have a tremendous effect on companies' financial performances. Managing workplace culture is a critical business function nowadays and in summary, a strong and positive workplace culture is important.

Ways to maintain a strong company culture during tough times

So you know what corporate culture is and a bit about why it’s so important to preserve, but how can you go about it?

Quite often, simple human actions can really help keep morale high and ensure that the true spirit of your business carries on breathing throughout your teams. The key things to consider are:

• Let your employees have a voice. Never assume you know how they are feeling or what they need. Encourage them to tell you and really listen to what they say. This will show them that you care for their interests and increase their trust in you as their leaders—and this can have a knock-on positive effect on performances!
• Honesty is always the best policy, and transparency is crucial. Even when things are bad, and people are more sensitive to what’s happening, your teams have the right to know what’s going on. Let them know that “We’re all in this together.”
• Psychological safety refers to the belief that one can speak up without fear of punishment or embarrassment. In a psychologically safe environment, employees feel comfortable sharing their ideas, concerns, and mistakes without fear of retribution.
• Show that you’re controlling what you can. When so many external factors influence the situation, it can be easy to park all the blame on them and claim it’s out of your control. While this may be the case, you should still focus on what you can control, like the tone of the working environment and the tasks each employee should be completing. This will massively ease the concerns your workforce may have.
• Release your creativity. Too many businesses resort to careless changes as a quick fix when their situation needs salvaging. Instead of making wholesale changes to your culture, be thoughtful and devise creative solutions to preserve your organisation's spirit.
• Showing your support for employees—supporting the well-being of employees is an important aspect of management in any organisation at any time, but it is especially key in difficult times when individuals will all have unique worries and concerns. Showing you care instils a level of trust that will permeate the whole business.
• Regular communication— Above all else, making regular contact with your employees is integral to maintaining a strong company culture. If a large portion of your workforce is working remotely, avoid long emails. Why not give updates via company-wide conference calls or post video updates on your intranet? Having a real person deliver the information is much nicer and easier to digest than reading through an email, which can be deemed soulless!

In short, these considerations are common sense and you really should be thinking in this way already. But when the situation is difficult, a rush of blood to the head and rash decisions occur more often than you may think.

Stay calm and remember that empathy should always remain central to your culture.

4 indicators of an organisation with “strong corporate culture” and how you can improve yours

Every organisation will have different expectations of what constitutes a good corporate culture. This said, there are a few consistencies that seem to contribute to establishing a positive environment:

1. Tone from the top: Senior management should take clear responsibility for setting the core values and expectations for the organisation, and subsequently their behaviour should reflect these.
2. Accountability: All employees, regardless of their position, should know the core values and expectations and be aware of the importance of upholding them.
3. Innovation: Decision-making should consider a range of views at every level of seniority by encouraging open discussion; an inclusive culture advocates innovation.
4. Incentives: Compensation that rewards behaviours that support core values and expectations, whether financial or not, should be available to all levels of employees.

But beyond these, how exactly do you go about developing a good culture or improving your existing company culture? Well, here are 6 simple steps you can take…

1. Establish regular work processes: Employees should share their work processes for specific tasks to establish a common way of working, saving time, conflict, and questions.
2. Focus on people, not profit: The company's Culture must have a clear purpose that is communicated to everyone, and leaders must passionately follow it.
3. Develop what already exists: Stay true to your business values; don’t try and force a culture based on a misguided perception of what you want it to be.
4. Communicate your culture: Guidelines that unpack core values reinforce your culture across the workforce and suggest how employees should act.
5. Reward those who help others: Create a culture where common values of caring and sharing are not just words but actions.
6. Foster social connections: A sense of social connectedness at work boosts employee satisfaction and increases engagement with tasks.

If all else fails and your organisation is still struggling to establish an identity, you may consider enlisting the help of a third-party organisation. Numerous organisations exist dedicated to helping companies create shared cultures and goals, embrace transformational change, and communicate better with their employees and stakeholders by developing engagement strategies.

A positive company culture plays a key role in a business's day-to-day functioning, and managing it is widely considered a critical business process.

A positive culture will reduce the risk of misconduct, promote innovation within teams, enhance reputations, and help attract and retain talent.