When talking about good corporate culture, many people would imagine bringing "fun" things into the office, whether it's ping pong tables, game consoles, soft beanbag chairs, free food and drinks, and other entertainment. It's true that these things are one factor that helps add positive energy to team members, but corporate culture is more than just fun and relaxation.
Today, Ngern Tidlor would like to invite everyone to get to know the true meaning of corporate culture, including what factors promote that culture to become good culture, and the importance of having organizational culture that supports both people and the company to go far together.
So what exactly is corporate culture?
Corporate culture is something that reflects the company's values and various behaviors of people in the company, such as work atmosphere, dress code, work methods, to making decisions on big matters.
The culture of each company will differ according to what is given importance and appropriateness. For example, a Creative company that gives importance to creativity, the corporate culture will reflect creativity through giving freedom in dress code, working without many hierarchies because giving importance to good ideas more than, etc.
Organizations with corporate culture and goals that answer needs will attract more talented applicants than. From a Glassdoor study, it was found that about 77% of working-age people will study the company's culture before applying for a job, and even more than 56% give more importance to organizational culture than compensation, because people naturally want to work with companies and colleagues who have similar attitudes and goals already.
What should good corporate culture be?
As said, each place's culture differs according to appropriateness, so we cannot definitively say 100% what kind of culture is the best or most appropriate culture. Each house will have different beauty, but what must be good the same is a strong basic structure. So what are the basic structures of good corporate culture?
Vision
Great culture starts with a powerful vision. This short phrase is like a compass that determines the direction of employees' work. Having a clear vision will make employees know how to work to reach the set goal.
An example of a good vision is "We will make everyday life better for many people" of IKEA that is both short and to the point, and determines the direction of the company that they came to sell good quality furniture at cheap prices and suitable for everyone's lifestyle, or the example of Ngern Tidlor that says "At Ngern Tid Lor Public Company Limited, we do everything to promote and improve people's quality of life, with the belief that access to fair and transparent financial services is a right that everyone deserves to receive. We deliver financial opportunities by offering products and services that are suitable for customers, simple, convenient, and fast, through employees' sincerity" which although long, every word written has clear meaning, employees can read and understand easily, and makes them have a clear goal to wake up every morning to work for customers every day.
Value
If vision is determining direction, values are the rules, regulations, and methods to reach that goal.
For example, McKinsey & Company has a set of values in terms of customer service, treating colleagues, and maintaining professional standards listed point by point, and Ngern Tidlor that has 7 values, giving importance to creating opportunities with employees and customers, including fun work style. These values are not written just for beauty or rhyming, but have detailed explanations for employees to read and understand clearly.
Heads who listen
For those who are heads, what should be done a lot is to "listen" whether it's listening to new ideas when the team presents work, or listening to concerns of subordinates or employees, and then see if there's anything we as heads or the company can help or improve to make everyone happier with work.
Employees who see the same shared goal
No matter how good the vision or rules and regulations are, if people in the company don't believe and don't follow, it's useless. So we must pay attention from the step of selecting employees into the company, because ability can be trained but attitude is difficult to train.
Freedom
Everyone likes it when they have freedom and are trusted to do things by themselves without people constantly commanding, and if the company gives freedom to employees and encourages them to be able to try initiating things by themselves, everyone will dare to speak, dare to think and dare to try, and dare to decide by themselves.
Sense of humor
Don't forget to leave space for sense of humor and fun, because no one should want to come work in an office that is serious, frowning and scowling 24 hours. If everyone is close enough to joke with each other, a work atmosphere where everyone is comfortable will occur. What follows is everyone will dare to express opinions and use the creativity they have to propose new ideas that may extend to new innovations.
Reward effort
No one likes it when they intentionally work hard and no one sees the effort. Therefore, don't forget to reward people who deserve it. Start creating this culture easily by mentioning praise even in small matters like making coffee to bigger rewards according to work results.
The importance of corporate culture
It should be somewhat pictured what a company with good organizational culture looks like, but good corporate culture not only makes employees happy but also increases Productivity in their work, reduces resignation rates, and also affects the company's growth, including these happiness will be reflected in customer satisfaction too!
Productivity increases
A study by Warwick University found that happy employees will work 12% more while unhappy employees will work 10% less. Employee happiness will be linked to employee "engagement" they have towards their own work. Asking how corporate culture is directly related? Let the research from Denison University be the answer, where this research revealed that employees in companies with strong corporate culture will have Engagement 72% higher than companies with weak one.
Employees will stay with us longer
The more the company has clear image and goals, the more it will attract people with the same goals and concepts to come in, and when they come in and encounter a good environment that makes them feel they are part of the organization, why wouldn't anyone want to stay long, right?
Customer service
Employee happiness has positive effects on many things, which is not very surprising, because if we are happy with work, we will work intentionally. When we work intentionally, people who work with us, whether colleagues or even customers, will be able to feel that intention through the work that comes out well. Simply put, if employees are happy, customers are likely to be happy.
Summary
Strong corporate culture cannot be created overnight, and it's not just listing rules point by point telling everyone to follow and that's it. Good corporate culture will pass through careful consideration of what is most important for the organization both in the present and future. If you understand your own vision and can answer the question of what the organization's goal is, attracting capable applicants with the same goal is no longer difficult.
If you want to learn more about creating corporate culture at Ngern Tid Lor Public Company Limited, and the ways we have taken action, come join TIDLOR Culture Camp and exchange learning about values with us!
- Corporate culture creation workshop that can actually be applied
- Q&A with Khun Piyasak Ukritnukun MD Ngern Tid Lor PLC
- Join the Open Box leadership meeting
- Visit Ngern Tid Lor office
Interested contact 02-792-1888 ext 5050 or fill in information here to wait for a callback from Culture Gangster
Thank you for information from: Forbes.com, Greatplacetowork.com, Qvalon.com, Indeed.com