Can a Healthy Culture Boost Your Bottom Line? 5 Global Examples to Explore
Company culture is a key factor in driving employee performance and achieving organizational success. Research proved that creating a healthy company culture “that attracts star talent” can boost revenues by 33%.
Even more, employees who are not engaged or who are actively disengaged cost the world $8.8 trillion in lost productivity, according to a State of the Global Workplace 2023 report by US-based consultancy Gallup. That’s equal to 9% of global GDP.
It’s true, a company’s growth is determined by many factors; however, the amount of research that proves the extent of a business’ internal culture on its growth and sustainability is overwhelming.
Beyond the Buzzword: What is Corporate Culture?
Corporate culture, or company culture, is the business’ internal work environment. This includes people’s attitudes, behaviors, values, how they interact with each other, the likelihood of open feedback, and even how management makes it’s decisions.
Aspects like leadership style, employee engagement and retention, collaboration, and others all fall under the broad term of company culture.
Fresh graduates and seasoned professionals alike look to company culture as an important factor when considering employment. Not only that, they also believe a well-defined and positive corporate culture contributes to business success.
A US-based survey of 1005 employees of large corporations by Deloitte found that 94% of executives and 88% of employees believe a distinct workplace culture is important to business success.
But that’s not all. Roughly 38% of employees believe they’d “preemptively reject potential employers” based on public reviews of those companies, according to the Job Seeker Nation Report by Talent Acquisition and SaaS company, Jobvite. Moreover, 81% of employees, in the same survey, said they consider company culture when applying for a job.
7 Pillars of a Healthy Corporate Culture
There are numerous contributing factors to a corporate culture. That said, there’s a sort of checklist that can help a business build a healthy foundation for its internal environment.
A unified set of goals is first on the list. Some call it a mission and vision, others label it as a quest to change humanity. If the entire team believes and is working towards one objective, this will often supersede internal conflicts.
It’s senior management’s duty to remind and link all activity towards the company’s primary goals. More importantly, ensure all teams are aligned in this regard.
This joint mission tends to guide the company’s core values, the second essential element among the top-performing companies.
A business’ core values are a set of deeply-integrated principles that guide every action, not just operational but those towards the larger community. Moreover, this tends to have a larger impact on the internal relationship between employees and the public perception of the brand.
People and perks come in third. A primary sign of a healthy and successful corporate culture is that of employees who not only feel secure, but also appreciated, valued, and engaged.
This means providing them with a clear vision, mission, core values, learning and growth opportunities, and reasons to stay. A culture that promotes collaboration, supports its teams, and incentivizes them is a healthy culture that employees don’t want to leave.
Incentives can vary from vacation, mental health, and personal-time policies to childcare to flexible working hours and conditions, among others.
While it’s a part of people and perks, employee growth opportunities is such an important pillar in the stability of a company’s internal environment that it demands specific attention from senior management. Research has shown that companies that offer ample opportunities where employees can learn and grow are more likely to enjoy a healthy work culture.
Feedback comes in fourth on the list. Whether it’s feedback from managers to team members, or from top management to senior and middle managers or vice versa, addressed feedback, positive or negative, contributes strongly towards building a healthy company’s culture.
Companies with no clear feedback process, or even worse often ignore employee feedback, and lack the core element that fosters collaboration among employees witness a strong decline in internal communication.
External feedback loops are also a great tool to shed light on areas of improvement among the team’s priorities and communication needs, which ultimately translates to higher revenue.
Often viewed as the other face of the feedback coin, communication and trust are also core pillars in building a healthy corporate culture.
No business can grow without trust and the security of expressing one’s thoughts among other team members and senior management. To build trust, companies must constantly improve their internal communications.
The final pillar is employee engagement. There are many misconceptions about what employee engagement is and isn’t. It’s not about making employees happy all the time. It’s about creating a joint work experience where all team members are excited about the work they do.
Quiet quitting—the global trend of doing the bare minimum—is an expensive side-effect of lack of engagement.
5 Global Giants Where Corporate Culture Fueled their Success
Wildly successful companies are renowned for their progressive and healthy corporate culture.
Globally known for its unique headquarters, Google is an example of a company constantly working on shaping its corporate culture.
The tech giant’s HQ offers a gym, pet-friendly facilities, games, among other perks. The company itself offers unique benefits such as learning opportunities, bonuses, team-building events, among others.
Google’s values are part of its corporate culture. The tech giant builds products and services with a focus on users and their experiences.
That’s why its culture focuses on innovation, product development, and user experience. In terms of innovation, Google encourages its employees to take risks, be creative, and explore ideas.
Nike
Athletic wear company Nike is another example of a healthy work culture. The company believes in sports and how it impacts everyone’s life. Accordingly, their corporate social responsibility (CSR) work reflects that, “At Nike, we’re taking action to create a better world by investing in more active, inclusive communities, starting with the cities where we live, work and operate.”
Sustainability is part of Nike’s corporate culture. The company creates programs and initiatives to support its vision for sustainability and sports around the world.
Nike carries out its CSR initiatives through the Nike Community Impact Fund (NCIF). These initiatives span four verticals, namely empowering communities, protecting the planet, responsible sourcing, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Zoom
Video conferencing tech company Zoom boasts a company culture that fosters communication and collaboration from day one.
Zoom has created a ‘happiness crew’ at its on-site premises to support team members and maintain the firm’s culture.
That culture involves newcomers attending a relationship-building training session at Zoom’s HQ, along with teams volunteering for charitable events.
Zoom corporate culture supports teams and individuals alike. During its annual meeting, the company encourages team members to share individual successes and mention those who have helped them along the way.
CB Insights
Data analysis company CB Insights helps companies make decisions based on data and analysis. Because it relies on data, its company believes in investing in its employees’ growth and learning, specifically using new technology.
The company offers various training programs for managers, along with an educational stipend for employees. Not only that, but managers at CB Insights regularly sit down with employees to discuss their career growth.
CB Insights’ corporate culture is one that focuses on individual development, supporting its employees’ personal and professional growth.
Shopgate
E-commerce mobile shopping app Shopgate boasts an international corporate culture, built on mentorship and collaboration. The company promotes individual success, allowing individuals to propose ideas, which, in turn, supports their growth and lets them pursue passions and develop their talents.
But that’s not all. An essential element in Shopgate’s corporate culture is internal communication. Half of the company operates from Germany, while the other half operates from Texas, the United States.
This means there’s–at least–a seven-hour time difference between Shopgate’s teams at all times. So, maintaining strong communication is essential to Shopgate’s success.
The company’s corporate culture plays a role when they have vacancies. Shopgate hires candidates who ‘radiate passion,’ have a ‘hunger for learning,’ and share the company’s vision for its products and goals.
The Bottom Line
C-Suite executives tend to have an inflated sense of their work culture compared to their employees, one that’s not shared by most employees, according to Deloitte’s survey.
The survey of over 1,000 employees also found a “disconnect” between how executives and employees define their company’s culture. This disconnect was clear in how each group responded to questions about company culture in the Deloitte report.
Businesses that grew to become global powerhouses did so equipped with a healthy corporate culture.
