What exactly is corporate culture? What are the benefits of having it in your company? And how do you go about it? We take a look at the benefits of developing a strong corporate culture.
What is corporate culture? This concept is frequently discussed in the working world, but rarely explained. Sometimes referred to as organisational culture, it is a set of values, knowledge, and behaviours shared by all employees of a company.
The corporate culture allows the company to stand out from the crowd and to unite its employees around a common set of values. It is an undeniable asset for strengthening cohesion within its teams and for motivating employees.
Many employees pay particular attention to the reputation of a company's corporate culture before considering joining it. Here are some tips on how to develop a strong corporate culture within your company.
Why create a corporate culture?
A survey on the subject was carried out in 2015 by the website RegionsJob, gathering 6,000 responses regarding the relationship between candidates and recruiters, with the following results:
94.2% of candidates go online to find out about the company they want to join, its employees, and the company's reputation.
56% specifically find out about the culture of the company they are about to join.
Corporate culture is not the exclusive domain of large companies. On the contrary, from SMEs to start-ups and VSEs, every organisation has an interest in developing its own corporate culture.
There are many benefits for companies:
It is one of the drivers of cohesion and team spirit among employees. Organisational culture makes an important contribution to creating and strengthening bonds between employees. It facilitates internal collaboration and dialogue to a large extent.
Corporate culture is a lever for performance by bringing out the best in each employee.
It improves the image of the organisation. Indeed, a strong and unique corporate culture tends to build employee loyalty. It helps to facilitate recruitment by bringing in different individuals who share the company's values. It is a vector for attracting talent. Conversely, a toxic corporate culture is a reason for resignation.
Organisational culture contributes to consumer brand image. Consumers are generally sensitive to the values conveyed by companies, but also by those that they carry internally. It is therefore a good way to differentiate oneself from competitors.
This non-exhaustive list is just a glimpse of the potential of a well thought-out corporate culture shared by employees.
How to develop a corporate culture?
An organisational culture cannot be imposed, it must be transmitted. Employees must make it their own, not be subjected to it. Implementing a corporate culture involves several essential steps.
Transmit values through management
At every level of the company, the manager must absolutely play an active role in transmitting the organisation's values. In addition to supervising the work done by employees, he or she must convey the company's values on a daily basis.
This requires close and transparent internal communication. Formal and informal meetings, individual interviews with employees, weekly reviews, training sessions, and company events are all opportunities to imbue employees with the company culture.
Setting an example
As a manager, it is essential to apply the corporate culture at work yourself. How can you expect employees to adopt the company's values if their manager does not respect them?
How you behave in the workplace, how you communicate with your team, how you dress, how you deal with conflict...these are all ways of embodying the organisational culture of your company.
Being in agreement with the principles and values advocated by the company makes the manager all the more legitimate in promoting them to employees. Employee trust and commitment are strengthened as a result.
Organise corporate events
Corporate events are an excellent way of conveying the company culture to employees. They also help to build team spirit and cohesion among employees.
There are a multitude of them:
Sports events ;
Seminars ;
Training courses ;
Social or environmental missions;
Team building activities;
Company meals...
In conclusion, we strongly recommend that you think about the corporate culture that you wish to put in place. It is an essential tool for strengthening the cohesion of your teams, attracting talent, boosting the productivity of your employees...
Your employees will also feel more at ease at work and will contribute to a good image of your company. For the good of your organisation and your employees, corporate culture is not to be neglected.