How to improve company culture: 10 proven tips

Published

Nov 20, 2024

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There’s little about a business that its culture doesn’t influence.

A good organizational culture can make you a beacon for the best and the brightest, driving business performance, customer loyalty, and innovation. A toxic culture will repel high-performers, and often leads to a host of thorny issues—high turnover and damage to your brand, to name a couple.

There is no ideal organizational culture. That varies by industry, company size, vertical, location, and other factors. A 25-person startup will look vastly different from a 15,000-employee bank, but both can be great places to work if they empower employees with feedback, transparency, and flexibility.

So, how do you make sure your organizational culture falls into the ‘good’ category, and not the bad?

Read on. We’ll explore the foundations of a positive corporate culture, examine tried-and-true ways to improve yours, and share how technology can help you track, accelerate, and automate your efforts. Let’s dive in.

What makes a positive company culture?

Workforce culture boils down to the shared norms, values, and behaviors that govern life at your company. It matters because it shapes how employees experience work—and by extension how motivated they are, whether they see a path for career growth, their sense of community, and a host of other factors.

The sum of all those perceptions ultimately impacts business performance. Happy, engaged employees who feel a sense of belonging are less likely to quit, and more likely to contribute in positive ways. Here are a few hallmarks of positive corporate cultures:

Clear communication and transparency

Transparency builds trust. It helps people feel connected to the work they’re doing, so they can get behind it. And it ensures that employees get straightforward, honest explanations about the strategic direction of the company, including insight into why key decisions are made and accountability from leadership for when things don’t go as planned.

Transparency in practice amounts to more than clear, well-thought-out executive communication (although that’s important too). Companies with great transparency cultures go out of their way to make sure that employees feel safe to speak up and be inquisitive without fear of retaliation. Some companies provide dedicated forums where employees can ask questions, share ideas, and seek understanding—Town Halls, for example, or Slack channels that provide a direct line to execs and responses everyone can see.

Employee recognition and appreciation

Employees that are recognized for their achievements—and for acting in ways that align with corporate values and culture—are more likely to feel appreciated and less likely to leave. They can also serve as culture role models for their peers.

Recognition can come in a variety of formats—company-wide shout-outs and awards, manager feedback, or peer-to-peer congratulations. The important thing is that you have systems in place to recognize and reward wins and behaviors, ideally as they’re spotted, so they can be positively reinforced.

Opportunities for growth and development

High-performing employees—the kind that push the business and their fellow colleagues forward—are looking to advance their own careers just as much as they’re looking to advance the organization. To that end, top contributors need not only challenging work but opportunities to do more of it at increasingly senior levels. Companies with cultures committed to promoting and developing talent build that ambition into their employee-development plans and HR policies so that their workforce can level up without having to leave for another job.

Growth and development can come in a variety of forms, from education budgets that foot the bill for classes and coaching, to internal training and mentoring programs, to stretch projects that give employees the chance to prove their skills on a project slightly beyond the scope of their traditional responsibilities.

Work-life balance and flexibility

You can’t have a positive company culture if everyone is operating on the edge of burnout and scared to take a day off work. Companies with good workplace cultures recognize the value in employee wellbeing—both for their employees and the health of the business. Why? Because a workforce that is rested, meeting their obligations at home, and free to pursue their hobbies and passions is more likely to be creative, motivated, and engaged at work.

Time off and healthy boundaries are one way to demonstrate a commitment to employee wellbeing, another is trust. Flex policies that give employees autonomy to set some or all of their own hours helps people manage the often overwhelming mix of personal and professional obligations. That’s invaluable to someone who is as equally high performing at work as they are at home and looking for an employer who understands that.

Why should you improve your company culture?

Improving your company culture can pay dividends in the form of happier, longer-tenured employees doing better work—which can have meaningful impacts on the bottom line. Here are a few reasons why your workplace culture is worth improving:

Attract and retain top talent: Nearly 80% of adults surveyed by Glassdoor said they’d consider culture before applying to a job. You can bet the most ambitious among them want great cultures that offer them a place to thrive.
Enhance collaboration and teamwork: Collaboration breakdowns are a risk to your business—and have been cited by executives as a major source of failures. It makes sense: staff that works well together is less likely to filter into productivity-zapping silos that breed redundancy, turf wars, and misalignment.
Reduce stress and burnout: A stressed-out, burned-out workforce is less productive, less creative, and prone to psychological and physical illness, according to the American Psychological Association. Better to orient your culture toward well-being so folks have the energy to contribute creatively.

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10 easy ways to improve your company culture

If your company culture needs a reset, or if you’re looking for ways to create a positive one as you scale up, good news—there are a ton of practical steps you can take to set things in the right direction.

1. Conduct regular ‘culture check’ surveys

You may have a hunch about how employees perceive your company’s culture, but you need data to be sure. Feedback surveys can help you probe sentiment around the key determinants of company culture in order to assess what’s working and what’s not.

You can ask questions like:

Are you comfortable sharing ideas and feedback?
Is communication from management clear and transparent?
Are you able to strike a healthy work-life balance?
Do you feel respected and valued?
Do you get recognition for doing a good job?

Put some thought into what you want to ask, so that you can ask the same questions on a regular basis and track progress over time. The ratings and feedback you get should point you toward how to improve your workforce culture. You can also solicit feedback from people who leave voluntarily to understand whether cultural factors sent them packing.

2. Define and live core values

Don’t assume values are widely known and shared. Invest time in developing, documenting, acting on, and evangelizing them. Every leader needs to exhibit them and tout them as much as possible—only then can you hold the rest of the organization accountable.

Values can be shared externally as well to draw in job applicants who would thrive in your work environment. Consider incorporating values into employer branding campaigns, listing them on the “about us” page of your website, and adding them to job descriptions.

New hires can be screened against your values during the interview process by asking questions that probe whether they share similar values (when was the last time you did something awesome in a team?) or by confronting them directly (why do you think teamwork is important at work?). For existing staff, you can incorporate values into 360-degree reviews by asking everyone to rate how well their colleagues demonstrate them.

3. Create transparent career development plans

If you want to create a culture of career advancement and growth, build development into the way you manage, review, and promote staff. Having a clear and accessible career-development process ensures that employees know that their career advancement is just as important to the organization as it is to them. It could also prevent your most ambitious employees from seeking opportunities elsewhere if they have a good sense of when a promotion is coming and what they need to do to get it.

Career development plans start with transparency around what’s expected of every role and level of seniority in the organization—an approach sometimes referred to as competency management or career laddering. The idea is: show everyone (in a document or matrix) what skills and competencies are expected at every level, and then measure their performance against those criteria on a regular basis.

Ideally employees have a manager or mentor who can be fully candid about where they’re falling short and help them find ways to close the gaps. Some organizations build these assessments into their annual or bi-annual review process, so that career advancement is discussed for every employee, not just those seeking it out.

4. Provide flexible work arrangements

Flexible work arrangements let employees decide—to varying degrees—how, when, and where they work. That can be a boon for productivity, as employees are free to decide how they can do their best work. It can also lead to better work-life balance, if employees have the power to choose—within the boundaries set by HR or managers—when they’re working or to shave commuting time out of their schedules. Employees with families can better accommodate their demanding personal lives.

There’s evidence that flexible work leads to higher employee satisfaction, which can improve workplace culture. A 2023 study by ADP Research found that 82% of employees surveyed in the UK who have flexible work arrangements say they are satisfied with their jobs.

Increasingly, flexibility is the expectation in some industries and countries. The same ADP study found that in the US, for example, 60% of workers expect some or total flexibility to choose whether they work from home or in the office.

5. Offer a robust employee recognition program

Turnover is not only expensive—costing up to 200% of an employee’s salary—but it can drag on your workplace culture. When top performers leave, their influence can cause others to question the business and do the same, potentially triggering a brain drain.

One way to keep employees sticking around longer is to make sure they’re recognized for doing good work. Gallup found that employees who receive high-quality recognition were 45% less likely to quit over a two-year period.

To reap the maximum benefits of recognition, consider building a policy around it so managers have a framework to go by. High-quality recognition is authentic and personal, and equitable in the sense that it’s given based on performance and output, not to whoever’s closest to the boss. Regularly setting clear goals and KPIs can make it easy to identify and reward employees when they meet or beat expectations. That approach both eliminates bias and ensures that employees will be recognized when they’re expecting it.

6. Foster a feedback-rich environment

When employees get feedback on a regular basis, they have a way to grasp how they’re performing, what they can do better, and how they can grow. And that’s critical to keeping staff engaged. According to one Gallup survey, four out of five employees who received meaningful feedback in the past week were fully engaged, even if they worked remotely.

Feedback could vary widely based on managers’ approaches to delivering it. That means setting some standards about what type of feedback should be given, how often it should be shared (frequently, and often right away), and how to deliver it is a good idea if you want to impact your organizational culture.

To level the playing field and expand the number of employees who feel comfortable giving feedback, consider training everyone on the SBI model, which stands for Situation (give a specific example), Behavior (tie it to a behavior), and Impact (state the effect).

7. Invest in continuous learning and skill development

Great workplace cultures aim to make the company and its people better by investing in continuous learning and development. The benefits are obvious: a more-skilled workforce is likely a better performing one, and staying up-to-date on best practices, new tools, and ways of working keeps teams agile, efficient, and effective.

You can go about creating learning and development initiatives in a number of ways.

Host trainings and workshops: Kickoffs, summer retreats, annual planning conferences—all of these are opportunities to upskill your workforce and demonstrate your commitment to growth in the form of manager workshops, training, innovation sessions, guest speakers, and more.
Give everyone an education allowance: An education budget for work-related training, courses, and coaching ensures that employees have the funds to deepen or broaden their skillset.
Set aside time for learning: Learning isn’t just a matter of budget, it’s a matter of time. According to a study from Deloitte, less than 1% of workers say they have time available for learning-related activities. Company-wide learning blocks or policies that explicitly allow employees to set aside time every week or month for upskilling ensures employees actually take advantage of your learning policy.
Preach a growth mindset: A large aspect of development simply boils down to believing that you’re capable of tackling new and increasingly complex challenges. Make sure the message is clear from management and HR: We think you can do it, and we’re committed to helping you along the way.

8. Encourage employee resource groups

Employee resource groups (or ERCs) are employee-led groups aimed at fostering diversity, inclusion, and support. Typically they’ll be led and attended by employees who have something in common like ethnicity or gender. They can be a great way for staff to find common ground and build connections, and at the same time give back to the outside community in the form of volunteering or charitable giving.

ERCs often have lofty aspirations to affect transformational change inside organizations, but are less likely to do so in practice, according to McKinsey, which found that employees in effective ERGs are much more likely to report a high inclusion score (83%) versus those in ineffective ones (53%). Notably, employees who are not in ERCs out-score those in ineffective ones (75%)—signaling that ineffective ERCs are actually a risk to your workplace culture.

So, to give your ERCs the best chances of success, you can support them in ways like these:

Provide financial support
Encourage them to be clear about their group’s goals and purpose
Ensure they’re aligned with your broader diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategy
Show strong executive support

9. Create wellness initiatives

A healthier workforce is likely to be happier, more productive, and more engaged—and less likely to drive up healthcare costs or take sick days. In fact, according to Gallup, some 75% of medical costs can be chalked up to preventable conditions.

There are a thousand ways you can encourage wellness among your employee base, but here are a few to spark some ideas:

Fitness challenges that incentivize folks to use the gym a certain number of times per week or month
Weight loss challenges designed to motivate staff to shed extra pounds
Mindfulness seminars that teach breathing and meditation techniques to help manage stress
Nutrition seminars that focus on healthy eating
Sponsoring recreational sports and fitness groups
Subsidizing gym memberships, fitness subscriptions, and sports expenses

Use data to drive culture improvements

It goes without saying that your workplace culture is the sum of a wide range of inputs, from how transparently your leaders communicate to whether or not you’re living your values as an organization. But even so, there are ways to measure effectiveness in key areas to make sure your culture initiatives are hitting the mark, and take corrective action if they’re not.

Consider using tools that can help you keep watch on key culture indicators like turnover and engagement, and send culture surveys to gauge whether employees feel empowered, trusted, respected, and included. Collecting this data ensures you’re not operating with any delusions about how employees are experiencing life at your company, and empowers you to take corrective action if there’s anything putting your organizational culture at risk.

How to fix and address negative company culture

If you’re reading this because you have a cultural issue that needs fixing, you’re not alone. Cultures fluctuate along with business performance, leadership attitudes, and even external factors like the macro economy and political movements, which can creep in and wreak havoc.

Regardless of the cause, you’re right for wanting to fix it. A toxic work culture can send top performers fleeing, hinder productivity and creativity, and tarnish your brand.

Fixing workplace culture starts by recognizing the problem, gathering feedback from employees to identify core issues, getting leadership on board with fixing them, and making a plan of action to turn things around. Then comes the hard, cross-functional work of defining the culture you want, the values and behaviors that will get you there, and implementing the programs, policies, processes, and technology to support it all.

The best HR software to improve your company culture

Improving your organizational culture is no small undertaking, but it’s a lot easier if you have the right tools and software to help you do it. Platforms like Rippling can help you survey your workforce so you can tap into employee sentiment—and take action to drive change.

With Rippling you can:

Build and send culture surveys in a matter of minutes. Choose from a library of templates, or build your own from scratch. Opt to send them to everyone, or break out a segment of your workforce for targeting.
Trigger workflows based on survey responses so you can flag issues and intervene before they spread or get worse.
Automate surveys based on key employee milestones, like at 90 days after onboarding, or at one-year anniversaries.
Analyze survey response data to track sentiment over time, and view responses through the lens of other employee data stored in Rippling, like by salary band or gender, to spot trends.
Anonymize responses for important but potentially sensitive surveys, like those for DEI.

Surveys are only one piece of what Rippling can do. You can bring all of your HR tech into one, unified platform where you can manage talent, onboarding, expenses, and more.

Start improving your workplace culture with Rippling.