The importance of workplace culture

“Culture is the sum of a company’s values, traditions, beliefs, interactions, behaviours and attitudes” according to the co-founder of communications platform Speakap the company responsible for a new survey on the importance of workplace culture.

The Culture Factor: Improving Employee Loyalty & Relationships surveyed over 1000 employees from a variety of professional backgrounds in both the US and UK and the results make for an interesting read. 34% of the UK respondents said their company is “stuck in its ways” and is not open to suggested improvements in culture.

Key to the study’s findings was establishing the factors which UK employees believe are indicative of a strong workplace culture.  The three highest ranking qualities were:

• Respect and fairness (45%)
• Trust and Integrity (24%)
• Teamwork (8%)

Whereas, the three lowest ranking qualities were:

• Access to management (0%)
• Results-orientated (1%)
• Responsibility and accountability (1%)

The study is quick to point out that workplace culture has very little to do with superficial perks such as free meals or ping pong tables (which are things that many businesses believe will attract future employees and retain existing ones).  It goes on to suggest that for some employees, such perks show that the company does not know what culture really means and it can have a negative impact on their experience. 42% of the UK employees surveyed stated that they would rather work a 60-hour week than work for a company that does not place adequate value on culture and 58% said they would take a job with a competing company if they put more emphasis on culture.

A strong workplace culture can lead to increased collaboration, good workplace relationships and greater employee loyalty.  Therefore, it is important that companies strive to make improvements if they are to avoid losing valuable employees.