A strong culture is one of the most important things your company needs. It is important to both keep current employees happy and to attract new team members. While it can be daunting to build company culture from scratch or reinvent a bad company culture, with enough dedication and effort, it is possible. We believe in the power of play and the use of games to help create company culture.
To first understand the goal for your company’s culture, it is important to understand what company culture is and what makes it good or bad. Think of company culture as the personality of a company. It includes the things your team values, how you treat your employees, the work environment, and your company’s mission, values, and ethics.
When someone asks a member of your team what it is like to work at your company, they are likely going to describe the company culture. So your company culture also encompasses how your workers feel about the company and its reputation. What are examples of company culture? Everything from workplace hierarchy, the amount of time off (or perks like unlimited time off), a dress code, the ability to work remotely, and leadership and communication styles.
A strong company culture can be one of your best recruitment and retention tools. With a 40 hour workweek, an employee spends more than 2000 hours a year at work. They spend about a third of their day working. So as much as they are invested in a paycheck, they also care about the kind of environment they are in, how they are treated at work, and what kind of vision they are a part of. More than ever, employees want meaning and purpose for their job satisfaction and overall well being. It is becoming more common for prospective employees to ask in interviews, “How do you describe your company culture?” as they decide where they may be a good fit professionally. It’s important that you’re able to not only articulate your company culture, but also create one that you are proud of—one that will attract the best applicants possible.