When employees think about benefits they primarily think about benefits which have a financial value or are in some way tangible, so is it possible for workplace culture to be a benefit?
What is workplace culture?
Vasundhara Sawhney is her article, ‘Why Company Culture Matters’, for the Harvard Business Review provides a fantastic definition of workplace culture when she says, “Simply put, culture is an organisation’s DNA. It is the shared values, goals, attitudes, and practices that characterise a workplace. It is reflected in how people behave, interact with each other, make decisions, and do their work”. The American business figure and management guru Marvin Bower gave an even simpler definition of workplace culture in his book, ‘The Will to Manage’, when he described it as, “The way we do things around here”.
Culture as a benefit
Whilst it isn’t immediately apparent, if you consider the impact of a positive workplace culture on employees, then how it can be seen as a benefit becomes clearer. Employees whose workplace culture is engaging, inclusive and progressive will be happier at work. When employees are happy at work then they are more motivated and more productive. In itself this is a benefit for employees as they look forward to going to work each day and giving their best. Additionally, if an employee’s performance and productivity are linked to their pay then having a positive culture and what that then creates can actually result in financial benefit.
When a company has a progressive, forward-thinking culture this can also be a benefit for employees when it comes to their personal and professional development. Employers who foster such a culture see the value in helping their employees to grow, learn and progress in their careers. This then leads to employers supporting their staff to undertake job related training and additionally qualifications which enhance their skills, knowledge and ability to advance up the career ladder along with its associated benefits.
Employees who are part of a workplace culture in which staff are happy, enjoy a positive work life balance and are supported in the workplace with also benefit as their wellbeing will improve. If staff are part of such a culture then their levels of stress at work will be lower and it is widely accepted that companies with a strong and up beat culture will have lower levels of staff absence.
The CIPD’s Good Work Index 2023 report found that, “most people like their work and find it satisfying, however as many as 6-9 million workers experience poor-quality work in some major areas of their work and that there has been no significant improvement in job quality in the past four years”. For culture to be seen as a benefit it is vital therefore that employers create a culture and working environment in which staff are motivated and enjoy high levels of job satisfaction.
If we consider all of the alternatives to the above then it would paint a pretty miserable picture. When an employer either has no distinct, established culture or worse when they have a culture that is out dated, irrelevant or even toxic then the impact on employees is going to be huge. Staff working for employers with negative cultures are likely to be demotivated, disengaged, unproductive, unhappy and dissatisfied. Those characteristics will then lead to staff having higher levels of absence and the employer will have high levels of turnover as staff look elsewhere for a better working environment and culture. A toxic culture could be damaging reputationally for a company as well if they get a bad name in the local area and an employer to avoid and it can also impact on customer satisfaction. Taking into account all of those potentially negative factors around culture then it further strengthens the case for culture to be considered a form of employee benefit because when an employer gets it right, culture really delivers for employees on a variety of levels.
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Why not also check out our blog on a similar topic Workplace Culture In A Remote Working World
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