In one quote, Steve Jobs – The Father of Digital Revolution explained the importance of every working individual’s need to love his work. This is where the company culture matters. Culture maintains the employee enthusiasm.
Workplace should not be a place where employees dread to come every day. They should in fact look forward to going to their jobs. They should enjoy everything, be it the challenges, their co-workers or the atmosphere. While the work may be challenging, the culture and the atmosphere around shouldn’t add to the stress of the work. On the contrary, the culture should be designed to reduce the work related stress.
The cultures with start-ups are generally free and accepting but as some companies get bigger; the increased workload tends to create disconnect within the teams. With the growing size of business, companies are not able to maintain the same culture that it had during its initial years. The employees are far less involved in key decisions and their voice in the key business decisions is diluted. With time this becomes a part of the company culture. Employees go to work, do what they’re told, and just help their company achieve its dream. The employee’s impact on the business is minimal and he/she becomes “just another employee at just another company.” But this is not what productive employees want. They want to have a voice and a meaningful impact on the company and its direction.
The things that matter more to an employee rather than any perks, or even a high compensation are respect, voice and belief in the company’s values and mission. Here is how these values are an important part of the company culture and make an impact on the employee morale.
- 1. Respect – the number one thing that employees want is to feel respected and appreciated. Some very specific ways in which respect is demonstrated are:
Manager greeting the employee every day and acknowledging them on the first name basis
Management being transparent to the staff and keeping them updated of the strategy of the company
Celebrating birthdays - 2. Voice – Employees should have a say in the projects that they handle. They should have the freedom to think outside the box and their suggestions should be acknowledged.
- 3. Belief in the company’s values and mission – It is extremely essential that the employees and the company have their values and missions aligned because employees will not be able to work with dedication or spend energy on something they do not believe in or agree with. Belief in the company’s values and mission are linked to higher business performance, including increased profitability, productivity and client satisfaction.
he difference between a team and just a bunch of individuals is that the individuals see themselves independent from each other and work independently and on the other hand a team works together interdependently.
The new generation believes in working for a company only if they truly identify with the vision and mission of the company since this motivates them to work each day. Somebody has rightly said, “Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.”