Company culture plays a key role in retaining employees. A strong culture, one that provides challenging work, opportunities for growth, connections, respect, and recognition is more likely to keep employees engaged and on board.
In our pre-pandemic world of work, when (if you recall) people gathered in person for meetings and workshops and hallway conversations, new hires had myriad opportunities to assess the culture they’d just signed up for.
Today, not so much.
Many employees who have been hired in the past two years have never met their co-workers or even their leader in person. They haven’t received the welcome basket in their cubicle, asked for help in locating the coffee station, checked out the cafeteria, smiled for their employee badge or done all the other things that new hires typically do.
Many are feeling adrift and unconnected.
So how can leaders – and seasoned employees – help news hires get connected and engaged in the culture? Remember – employee retention begins on Day 1.
Develop a clear and consistent definition of the culture. A great culture is more than fun after-work events, casual dress, and catchy slogans. It’s how employees, customers and the outside world perceive an organization based on its attitudes and behaviors. It’s where all employees feel valued, connected, challenged, and recognized. And it stems from leadership behavior at all organizational levels.
Communicate the culture. Make it easy to describe. Make it real. Do a periodic check-up to ensure that all parts of your culture are healthy and if not, review, adjust and get back on track. Every new hire (including remote ones) should receive an orientation that includes a discussion about company culture, vision, mission, and values. Consider having long-term (positive) employees/leaders describe the culture and give examples of how they’ve seen it demonstrated in their experience.
Demonstrate the culture. Make it an expectation that all interactions leader-leader, leader-employee, employee-employee align with the company values and promote the culture. Give new hires a strong start by helping them understand how their role contributes to the overall success of their team and the organization.
And last, but certainly not least, remember that it’s about the PEOPLE, PEOPLE, PEOPLE. Hiring the brightest and the best does you no good if you don’t take care of them. Be clear about their roles and responsibilities. Help them understand the values and the culture. Keep developing them, provide them with new challenges, and develop a work environment where every level of the organization is valued, connected, challenged, and recognized.
Till next time, keep it real.
Karen
