Business Culture Meets Company Culture
By next year, millennials will make up half of the American workforce. This generation has its own set of opinions and values shaped by their life experiences, and they bring this unique perspective with them to the office. This is no different than other generations before them. However, because there are so many more millennials, than any other generation, in the workplace today, they have a strong influence on our business culture. For this reason, it’s important that you respond proactively.
To do this correctly, you must identify your company’s culture. If you don’t, you won’t benefit from all that the next few years has the potential to offer you.
A company’s culture includes a variety of elements that, when taken together, comprise the personality of a company, or define a work environment. Google search for commonly used words to describe today’s ideal office culture, and you’ll see things like collaborative, fun, and positive. You shouldn’t just pick the first three to five words that sound good to you and slap them on your website though. Your culture should feel very important and real to you and influence everything from how you do business to who you hire. So, take some time to define it.
I want you to have a well-established company culture, so let’s delve into details and specifics. Below are three areas of focus to help you identify and define your company’s unique culture.
- Finding Meaning at Work
Your people care deeply about mission and purpose. So much so that millennials say they will take an average pay cut of $7,600 for a job with better career development, more purposeful work, better work-life balance, or a better company culture. What this means is that today, your people take your company culture to heart. If a business defines itself as innovative, it better be able to back it up. It also generally means that your people aren’t content with sitting in a cubicle lost as one of many. They want to be heard, contribute and they want to be recognized as unique individuals and meaningful partners.
Jeff Ruby
Founder & CEO of RedRock Leadership
How you deal with this depends on how committed you are to shape and protect your culture. I recommend encouraging everyone, and especially anyone in leadership, to take a personal interest in others on your team. Prioritizing the well-being and personal growth of other members of the team will help them know that they matter and will encourage them to take ownership at work and foster intrinsic motivation.
- Corporate Social Responsibility
People in the workplace today are willing to spend more with brands that support causes they care about. Does your business donate money to charities, or offer opportunities to volunteer as a group? Your people want to be part of something greater than themselves and they want to know that their employer believes in giving back or paying it forward.
- Work-Life Balance
This is a big one. Today, people want to work somewhere that prioritizes health and happiness. Again, this can be shown in different ways. Maybe your office has green space and encourages employees to take breaks throughout the day to breathe fresh air; maybe you offer standing desks and exercise balls instead of chairs; maybe you have flexible hours, allow working from home, or have a generous PTO policy.
As you can see, I am an advocate for allowing today’s business culture to help shape your company’s culture. As I said earlier, your company’s culture should be very important to you and define what you want your business to look like. To attract and retain top talent though, you must think carefully about how your company portrays itself. Today, people’s values are different. Take the time to understand how they are different and create an environment that will attract those who will help transform your culture so you can attain the level of growth you want and deserve. If you have any questions on transforming your company culture and unleashing the potential for exponential growth, contact me today!