The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that employees, on average, are staying with their current employer for an average of 4.2 years. Age has an impact on this statistic as older workers tend to remain with organizations longer than the average (55 to 64 year olds average 10.1 years), while younger workers make moves more frequently (25 to 34 year olds average 2.8 years).
Surveys show that a company’s culture directly impacts workplace retention and turnover rates, which can ultimately effect the bottom line since turnover is a leading expense for employers. Recognition-based cultures, encouragement of employee autonomy, flexible scheduling, workplace transparency, and continuous feedback all have significant influence on retention.
Company culture is described as the written and unwritten behavioral norms and expectations of those within the company. Like muffins and cupcakes, or turtles and tortoises, even biscuits and cookies, culture and expectations amongst different organizations may be similar but are nearly never identical.
If you were asked whether the culture within your company is weak or strong, how would you answer? What measurements is your answer based on - or do you even have any? If your employees were asked the same question, what do you think their answers would be? Do you already know what they would say?
Culture is usually so complicated to think about that most people aren’t sure where to even start. If this is the position you are in, or if you have started but are stuck in the middle of the evaluation process, we encourage you to download the Company Culture HR Toolkit. This resource offers:
- 8 Ways to Improve Your Culture
- Common Mistakes that Ruin Culture
- A Screening Process Checklist for a Good Cultural Fit
- Company Culture Evaluation Survey (this will help you answer, and know how your employees' answer, the question about your culture being weak or strong)
It’s the little things that make the big differences. Again, no two organizations are the same so you need to implement elements that fit your environment and audience. A few ideas to get you started might include:
- Offer small group lunch and learns.
- Introduce a 'dare to try' award for someone who steps out of their comfort zone.
- Put a bucket of ping-pong balls by the exit door with a bucket labeled 'good day' and a bucket labeled 'bad day' and have each person drop one ball in the appropriate bucket at the end of each day as they leave.
- Create a 'Vision Board' where employees can post: ways they make a contribution (maybe include the organization and/or community), objectives they achieve, learning opportunities they take advantage of, and goals they meet.
- Try 'Ideas and Ice-cream'. Employees are in the trenches every day and usually have some really great ideas that never get shared. Invite employees to an afternoon of ice-cream and ask them to share those ideas they may have.
If you could use some additional guidance and tips for creating an environment your employees are excited to come to everyday and don’t want to leave...
Please join us for our complementary webinar Thursday, June 27th at 11:00am PDT
How to Build a Great Workplace Culture
When registering for this webinar, please ensure that you put Bennett/Porter & Associates in the “referred by” registration field.