The ideals behind business culture have become muddled. When it comes to defining and creating company culture, businesses have put an alarming amount of focus on superfluous perks in efforts to attract and retain a relatively fickle and ambitious workforce. The motive has been on keeping up with the Joneses, rather than on developing an organic atmosphere that maps to the business.
In 2017, tech companies topped the global chart as the industry with the highest employee turnover rate, in which 36% of all employees left due to being unsatisfied with the work culture. To solve the “acquire and keep” hurdle, many companies turn to fridges that were fully stocked with the latest IPAs and game rooms with life-size Jenga. However, this has minimal impact on long-term employee satisfaction, and in fact, may be hurting the workforce at large.
More and more, we’re seeing a workforce that lacks the skills and competencies needed not only to be exemplary employees, but to become powerful leaders. For companies and HR departments, the goal should not be for employees to end their tenure with a full stomach, but instead to leave with the confidence and skills needed to grow their careers, creating tomorrow’s group of experienced leaders, managers and department heads.
In other words, the goal is to create a resilient workforce that harnesses both the functional and interpersonal skills needed to drive company and personal growth forward. Skills that build both competence and confidence to help employees navigate tough feedback conversations, truly understand how to problem-solve and learn how to resolve common conflicts in the workforce.
The key ingredient in creating a resilient workforce is to embed a sense of accountability and ownership in the company culture across every level and within every department — right from the beginning. This is where companies should invest their energy and resources. Every employee, from the receptionist to the head of engineering, should understand his or her value and role in helping the company achieve its larger business objectives. From day one, everyone should feel like they have a stake in the company’s success. This doesn’t just stem from the office of HR. Companies need to live and breathe this sense of responsibility. While HR can help encourage the process and create guidelines for measuring success, the entire company bears the responsibility: from the CEO to the entry-level employees.
While this may seem obvious, it's not a common practice. I recently had this conversation with a first-time entrepreneur in Silicon Valley who immediately brushed off the idea. His solution for building culture was to plan fun company events, stock the fridge and closet with endless amounts of food and drinks, and create a game room to include the iconic and ubiquitous Ping-Pong table. Sadly, this was his answer to building a base of happy and engaged employees.
But company culture isn't a fast or simple installation. Instead, it is an investment over time that will not only help to attract the top talent who align with a company's culture, but also retain and develop current employees to be culture ambassadors.
Today’s greatest leaders, whether team managers or CEOs of trillion-dollar companies, will never remember how their previous companies offered eight different chip flavors in the break room. But what they will remember is working at companies that, through their innate culture around responsibility and ownership, prepared and trained them to handle the tough situations for their current roles.
I should also note that after sleeping on my advice, that first-time entrepreneur decided to focus his efforts on the long game. He is working to build a resilient workforce, knowing Ping-Pong just doesn’t cut it.
