While salary and job scope are clearly important factors for employee satisfaction, they are not enough to retain and grow an excellent workforce over a longer period of time. Businesses that succeed in the long run always have a great company culture and care about their employees and their opinions. Why would anyone otherwise ever bother working there? After all, the word spreads fast in Singapore. If you are unsure about what a great company culture entails, take a look at the following points.
Monster has launched the Work-Life Balance campaign to raise awareness on this issue and to encourage job seekers to go for the jobs that help them manage their work and personal lives in a more efficient manner.
For more videos of the Work-Life Balance, series click here.
- Clear company values
If you have been working in your current role for a while but are still not able to articulate exactly what the company’s values are, then something is off. Either no one ever talks about these values or the business has not defined them in the first place. Either way, it’s a bad sign. On the contrary, if you exactly know what the business stands for since day one, then you can consider yourself lucky – you are in a good place. - No office politics
Gossip, backstabbing and passive aggressiveness are the best ways to destroy any company culture. While you can’t control what your co-workers are doing, you always have the choice to not take part in toxic behaviour. If you believe that your company generally has a great company culture, but that office politics are a problem within certain departments or teams, then take a stance and don’t tolerate negative gossipping and biased favouritism. - Your company invests in training
It’s no secret that employees that are well-trained for their roles will be more motivated and confident about doing their job. Companies that invest in training its employees either for the roles they’re in or for roles they’ll be promoted into clearly values effort and believes in individual growth. If that sounds like your company, then it definitely has a good culture. - Plenty of qualified job applicants
Everyone wants to work for a great company. But why do some businesses struggle to fill open roles, while other companies receive great CVs from well-qualified applicants even though there is no job opening? As employees are in a way authentic ambassadors of any business, the reputation of a company always travels fast, be it deplorable or amazing. And a great place to work will naturally receive more applications. - Regular company events
Bosses that value harmony in their companies will know that employees need to bond and get along. While lunch and coffee breaks are great for quick chats, non-work-related events will help co-workers to get to know each other. Be it holiday events, a full-day team activity or Friday happy hours, fun events are a strong pillar of any great company culture. - Low turnover rate
Does your company have a high turnover rate at the entry and mid-career level, while the senior leadership remains intact? If so, chances are high that there is little room for career progression and a stubborn leadership team is not going to do anything about it. If you recognise this pattern in your company, then it might be time to look for opportunities elsewhere. - Mentorship
Connected to the previous point, great leaders are never insecure about other people succeeding. In fact, mentorship programmes and clear paths for career progression are signs that your company not only has a great and positive culture but also values its employees.
When it comes to company culture, it’s important to remember that not everything is all good or all bad. Surely there are positive signs in every business. So, if you do believe in the positive signs, start building on it. Be the change you want to see in the world.
