Improving corporate culture is crucial to running a successful organization. Maintaining a vibrant, healthy, and positive work environment ensures your employees feel valued, motivated, and engaged — all things that are proven to be linked to higher productivity, job satisfaction, and retention rates. Investing in the health of your organizational culture and maintaining a positive work environment fosters happy employees, which in turn leads to a more committed and innovative workforce.
If you’re looking for tips on how to improve workplace culture, read on. The following list of effective strategies is designed to help you create a thriving, supportive environment for every employee in your organization.
1. Encourage and maintain open communication
Open communication is paramount to improving workplace culture. It helps you build trust, improve collaboration, and reduce turnover by ensuring employees feel comfortable and open to sharing ideas, concerns, or feedback. A Gallup review found that organizations that prioritize feedback and share employees’ strengths have 14.9% lower turnover and 12.5% higher productivity rates.
Example: Tech giant Google mastered the art of open communication at the corporate level with its TGIF meetings, which offered employees a weekly opportunity to interact and engage with leadership. Although Google ceased holding weekly meetings a few years ago, the concept is still an effective way to promote communication in your organization.
How to do it:
- Hold regular team meetings
- Conduct 1-on1 check-ins
- Create open-door policies to make leadership accessible
- Use communication tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams
- Offer training on effective communication skills
2. Maintain transparency
Organizational transparency informs employees about important company goals, challenges, and changes. Research shows companies that are transparent with their workforces achieve greater trust.
Example: Social media management platform Buffer prides itself on being open and transparent with everything from company salaries to revenue and other financials.
How to do it:
- Willingly share company goals, performance metrics, and financial status
- Communicate changes and decisions swiftly and clearly
- Involve employees in decision-making
- Be transparent about promotion and raise processes
- Encourage honest, open dialogue about challenges and successes
3. Recognize and reward employee achievements
Recognizing and rewarding employee achievements boosts employee satisfaction, morale, and motivation across an organization, which can increase employee engagement at work. One Gallup poll found that employees who are recognized at work are 10x more likely to be engaged in their jobs.
Example: Salesforce is a company known for its vibrant, positive workplace culture. Their “Trailblazer Program” recognizes high-performing and high-achieving employees who are dedicated to initiatives. Displaying badges on internal profiles as a form of employee recognition gamifies the workplace, motivates employees, fosters a sense of community, and encourages support by offering opportunities for colleagues to cheer each other on
How to do it:
- Implement employee recognition programs through awards and incentive programs
- Celebrate milestones
- Have a bonus, raise, or tangible reward structure
- Offer opportunities for career advancement and personal growth
- Publicly recognize all — even small — contributions
4. Foster a sense of community
A strong sense of community enhances teamwork and cultivates a strong company culture, making workers feel connected to each other. When people feel a sense of belonging, they’re more likely to be proud of and promote their place of employment. Research done by Harvard Business Review found that employees who feel they belong are 167% more likely to recommend their employer to others.
Example: Patagonia, an outdoor apparel and gear company, promotes community and positive company culture through environmental activism events and other activities that align with employee passion and the company’s vision and mission.
How to do it:
- Organize team-building activities
- Conduct social events
- Offer opportunities for cross-department collaboration
- Use mentorship and peer support programs
- Educate and celebrate cultural diversity and inclusivity
- Facilitate volunteer opportunities in the community
5. Promote work-life balance
Work-life balance is the idea that workers should have the bandwidth and opportunity to prioritize their personal lives as much as they do professional obligations. According to Mental Health America, healthy work-life balance is vital for employee well-being, employee retention, and productivity.
Example: Netflix promotes work-life balance for employees by offering flex schedules. They don’t mandate a traditional 9 - 5 workday or have a set holiday or vacation schedule. Instead, the streaming service allows employees to observe and celebrate the days and time off that are important to them.
How to do it:
- Offer flex working hours and remote work options
- Encourage breaks and vacation time
- Offer resources for managing workload and stress
- Create initiatives that promote both physical and mental health
- Model work-life balance at the leadership level
6. Invest in employee development
Investing in employee development is investing in your organization’s future. Training and career growth opportunities increase job satisfaction and improve retention rates. The stakes are high here — recent studies found that 74% of GenZ and Millennial employees will likely quit their jobs within a year because they want more development opportunities, and almost all (94%) of employees surveyed in a LinkedIn study say they’d stay with their company longer if they had better learning and development opportunities.
Example: Amazon leads the pack when it comes to employee development. With a commitment to invest over $1.2 billion in skills training programs by 2025, Amazon’s Career Choice program pre-pays up to 95% of tuition for high school diploma programs, college degrees, and industry certifications.
How to do it:
- Provide access to training programs
- Offer professional development courses
- Create clear career paths and growth opportunities
- Encourage continuous learning and offer tuition reimbursement
- Offer regular feedback and coaching to support employee development
7. Prioritize employee well-being
Making your employees’ mental and physical health a priority demonstrates that you value and genuinely care for them. It’s a way to recognize and thank them for their hard work. Learning how to improve employee well-being pays off, too. Studies show that every $1 invested in employee mental health offers a $4 return.
Example: Johnson & Johnson’s Wellness 360 initiative goes beyond basic health insurance benefits. It offers employees access to resilience training, financial coaching, and more to ensure their mental, physical, and emotional needs are being met.
How to do it:
- Provide comprehensive health benefits and mental health benefits for employees
- Create wellness programs like fitness classes and health screenings
- Offer resources and support for managing stress and burnout
- Reimburse for gym memberships
- Offer meditation or yoga practices
- Foster a culture of work-life balance
- Encourage self care
- Destigmatize and normalize the importance of meeting mental health needs
8. Create a safe and inclusive environment
Inclusivity and safety are essential to creating an environment where employees feel respected and valued. Diversity is also good for business—diverse workplaces lead to better decision-making, innovation, and profitability.
Analysis by McKinsey & Company shows that companies with gender-diverse executive and leadership teams are 25% more likely to have above-average profitability. A Gartner report shows that inclusive, diverse teams are up to 12% more productive. Josh Bersin of industry-leading research and advisory company Bersin & Associates notes that companies prioritizing diversity and inclusivity are 1.7 times more likely to be innovation leaders.
Example: Microsoft maintains a steadfast focus on increasing representation and providing a culture of inclusion. The company reports that nearly all employees (98%) have completed D&I learning courses on allyship, unconscious bias, and privilege in the workplace.
How to do it:
- Promote gender diversity in the workplace and implement inclusion training for all employees, at every level
- Ensure policies promote equality and prevent discrimination
- Create employee resource groups (ERGs) to support underrepresented communities
- Implement a zero-tolerance discrimination policy
- Immediately address and resolve issues of harassment and discrimination
9. Uphold your company’s core values
Identifying your company’s core values helps you maintain a consistent, positive work culture. Employees who see their company’s values on display through everyday actions and decisions are more likely to be engaged in and committed to their jobs.
Example: Online shoe and apparel retailer Zappos built a business model around its strong culture, which prioritizes customer service and employee happiness. The brand is proud of its 10 core values, which, in its words, are “more than just words. They’re a way of life.”
How to do it:
- Clearly define and communicate core values that are important to your organization
- Integrate values into every aspect of business operations
- Reward employees who are aligned with values
- Let core values guide decision-making
10. Lead by example
Leadership behavior sets the tone and models expectations for entire organizations. Leaders who display positive behavior tend to have employees who emulate and promote similar values, significantly influencing overall culture.
Example: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella exemplifies leading by example. His focus on empathy, collaboration, and continuous learning effectively revitalized Microsoft’s corporate culture.
How to do it:
- Model the attitudes you want to see in your team — and ensure leadership does the same
- Be transparent, ethical, and honest in corporate and company actions
- Actively engage with employees at every level
- Seek feedback aimed at improving leadership’s approach
- Identify and address toxic leadership immediately
11. Support creativity and innovation
Encouraging creativity and innovation in the workplace leads to new ideas and solutions that can successfully drive companies forward. Studies show that more creative companies see exceptional revenue growth when compared to non-creative competitors and are more likely to establish a significant market share.
Example: 3M maintains that a key driver of the brand’s success is their 15% Culture, which encourages the workforce to spend up to 15% of their work time on creative or innovative projects of their choosing.
How to do it:
- Allocate time and resources for creative projects
- Include brainstorming sessions in meetings
- Encourage risk-taking and experimentation without fearing failure
- Reward innovation
- Provide platforms for sharing ideas and solutions
- Solicit diverse perspectives and ideas
12. Encourage employee feedback and involvement
Companies that include employees in decision-making openly demonstrate how much they value and respect their workforce. When organizations ask for — and then listen to — feedback, employees gain a sense of ownership and feel empowered in their roles, which leads to increased engagement. Gallup research suggests that companies with high engagement rates can outperform their competitors by 147%.
Example: Toyota corners the market when it comes to garnering feedback. The company’s Kaizen philosophy — Kaizen is the Japanese word for “change for better” — encourages all employees, at all levels, to offer input and suggestions for work process improvements. The philosophy stems from the belief that no idea is too small and that incremental change can result in noteworthy organizational improvement.
How to do it:
- Conduct regular surveys designed to gather honest employee feedback
- Create channels for anonymous feedback
- Act on feedback and concerns to show appreciation for input
- Involve employees in decision-making and strategic planning
Create a supportive company culture with Talkspace
Improving company culture starts by making employees feel valued and supported. The effort is a hallmark of a strong organization and can foster an environment where your workforce performs at its best.
Establishing a focus on mental health is a critical component of a positive company culture. Offering mental health support is easy with Talkspace. By offering online therapy for employees, you can show that you care about employee well-being and creating a positive, resilient workplace culture.
Investing in mental health resources and prioritizing the holistic health of your workforce offers many benefits, including job satisfaction, increased productivity, and enhanced retention. Request a Talkspace demo and try our mental health benefits calculator today to learn more.
Sources:
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